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Reviews > Queen + Paul Rodgers Concert Reviews > 10-13-2008 - Evening Times - Glasgow

They are the champions
by Jonathan Geddes

IT MAY have seemed a strange combination when first announced, but Queen and Paul Rodgers thrilled a sell-out crowd at the SECC on Saturday with a string of classic hits.

Former Free frontman Rodgers was an unusual choice as the late Freddie Mercury's replacement, but he seemed comfortable all night. His gruff, bluesy vocal is a world away from Mercury's theatrics but on the funk of Another One Bites The Dust, the thump of Tie Your Mother Down and the clap-a-thon of Radio Gaga he showcased his own capabilities.

Guitarist Brian May took constant advantage of the walkway that stretched from the stage into the crowd, delivering solos as big as his famous hair, and also found time to mention that his mother was born in Pitlochry, joking that the group might even play "a Scottish folk song" at one point.

The band's other founding member, Roger Taylor received his moment in the spotlight too, delivering a drum solo as his kit was assembled in a stand-out moment of the lengthy set.

Sadly, the middle of the show sagged, with material from new album The Cosmos Rocks poor. Surf's Up, School's Out was even worse than its awful title, and We Believe more Cliff Richard than arena rock, while there were old numbers, such as Crazy Little Thing Called Love, on which Rodgers' howl didn't work.

Luckily, on Bohemian Rhapsody, the group made the wise decision to let a video of Mercury handle the vocals, with Rodgers taking over for the last portion. It was a compromise that worked, as did a closing classic rock run of All Right Now, We Will Rock You and We Are The Champions, which proved a fitting finale.