Show date: 19 March, Saturday 2005
Gates open: 14.00 local time (12.00 London time / 13.00 Europe)
Local artists start: 16.00 local time (14.00 London time / 15.00 Europe)
Main program starts: 17.30 local time (15.30 London time / 16.30 Europe)
Webcast at www.tiscali.co.uk starts 21.00 local time (19.00 London time /
20.00 Europe)
Tv broadcast on SABC2 starts 21.00 local time (19.00 London, 20.00 Europe)
Show ends approx: 23.00 local time (21.00 London time, 22.00 Europe)
No live radio/ television broadcast will be available internationally.
Fancourt prepares for Queen + Paul Rodgers, by Levente
17-MAR-05
Hello,
I've pretty much spent my whole day with Queen (well, near them), so I am
glad to give you a detailed account of how they spent the last day before
the Big Show.
Soundcheck started around 10 am, with Roger using the yellowish kit and
hitting it like he was 20. They spent some 2 hours onstage. The technical
part obviously bored them, but playing the songs very clearly was fun for
the whole band. Their renditions of the Queen and Paul Rodgers tracks were
roaring and kicked serious ass! I could say by the way they sounded that the
long rehearsals in England plus the adrenalin make their stage presence so
strong we havent seen for a while. Such is their strength that I was
thinking its like a brand new sports car, test driven in a secret track
before the race day - it is a total winner and everybody knows it, and the
race is yet to come. I've made a promise not to publish what songs I heard -
I think the band would want it this way. Well okay.... Roger tested his
drumkit by playing Staying Powers intro, but it was not rehearsed with the
band... for the serious fans, I am able to say that I heard a vocal backing
track for a song from '78.... Brian and Roger will have an acoustic duet....
they rehearsed something poppy from '86..... I heard something from '91.....
they played a rocker from '76.... and a Free classic other than All Right
Now!!! All shall be revealed tomorrow! Plus... they did a duet with singer
Katie Melua. I must say she was astonishingly brilliant, singing solo on a
Queen track - very much to the same effect as Kelly's version of No One But
You, the song got a new life with her. Katie sings great and looks great, if
they had met her before Paul now we would be waiting for a Queen + Katie
Melua tour! All in all, even the toughest critic should approve Paul as a
very good collaborator with Brian and Roger, the guy is all power and smiles
and endless positive energym therefore I am happy to say that owning a Queen
+ Paul Rodgers concert ticket is a very good investment! They will blow
Fancourt + The World away tomorrow and they know it.
After a lunch break all artists (over 20 of them!) met Mr Nelson Mandela for
a photo session. A quite big crowd of international press people circled the
cast and did millions of great shots in the fine garden of Fancourt. No
interviews were possible. It must be said that absolutely everybody treated
Madiba as some phenomenon, a God, or at least the greatest grandfather one
can imagine. He was treated and approached with such delicate care, like he
was made of the finest china. And the great man himself was modest, cracked
jokes and politely accepted the flow of owerwhelming thanks and well wishes
- from some of the worlds biggest pop and rock stars! Almost all of the
artists wanted a shot with him, the same way fans do it with them. Madiba is
such an icon amongst the superstars that it was funny to see how little some
of them feel beside him. Madiba of course recognized Roger and Brian, and
wished great luck for Paul whom he met the first time today. I am sure that
great shots of Madiba, Brian, Roger, Paul and Will Smith will get published
in many newspapers around the globe - for now I can only supply you with
some of mine, not up to the highest standards. Nelson rocks!
For the fashon conscious, let me say that
1. Paul Rodgers has the coolest sunglasses ever (notice, that Roger
abandoned wearing his today - afraid of the comparison, maybe?:-)
2. Roger has the coolest shoes ever (21st century blue suede) and matching
hypercool white shirt with secret symbol on the back
3. Brian wore Adidas sneakers and a shirt full of sea fish!
After Madiba left, the organizers and the artists had a 'strictly no media'
event, meaning they gathered for 15 minutes in the conference hall. People
believing in spiritual things will be glad to learn, that apart from the
media, a very beautiful creature was wandering around the building: a male
peacock. The fancy little fellow caused great surprise, I could not help but
think that he very well could be Freddie Mercury's reincarnation, curious
what the others are up to.
After the top secret meeting the artists all got into the biggest BMWs and
Mercedeses ever made, to visit different local health care institutions.
Brian, Roger and Paul made a 15 minute road to Sabine Plattner's Children
and Family Care Centre in George. Some 50 children were waiting for them and
received them with a huge cheer. In a second all hell got loose and the kids
started to push for Brian's autograph. When it became obvious that the stars
won't get into the building before Brian finishes signing all kids shirts,
Paul and Roger came to his rescue and with pens from their bodyguards joined
Brian in the line of duty. They were absolutely and genuinely happy to make
the kids happy, and did a pretty decent job of signing their names a million
times while keeping a real smile on their faces. Before reporters could ask
questions, the kids burst into We Will Rock You, for which they got
applauded by the band. Some big drops of African rain started to pour during
this, so all ran under a very small roof, thus even physically people got
closer very quickly. This was of course a media event to let crews produce
news about how young ones manage in this part of the world, but it very
quickly turned into something so warm and heartfelt that even the toughest
media people got some chat with the kids and all formalities were forgotten.
The children were the happiest in the world today, I think all their poor
backgrounds and lack of proper family, proper care in their childhood got
chased very far away by the sudden friendship of the musicians. All of them
had hand shakes and kind words and signatures, they got to sing We Will Rock
You with Paul Rodgers and its writer Himself, then everybody left - and
this is where the world must follow and not forget, that the reason while
this exciting day has happened is to secure a better world for millions of
Africans TODAY.
Madiba, all the stars, The Plattner family and many unsung heroes are
donating a lot of their time, money and positive energy for this 46664 SA
event to raise funds and awareness - do what YOU can, then please let
everybody know this 46664 event IS a desperate cry for attention and
17-MAR-05
Queen have arrived to sunny South Africa today, on one of the hottest days this month. See cover of today's local paper - even in Africa they are HUGE.
As is the stage: final design appeared today, and the sound and lights were
thoroughly tested. Annie Lennox spent a good 1,5 hours running through a
'best of' selection in the afternoon and I must say her set's gonna be
impressive! Other artists like India.Arie and Katie Melua also arrived today.
Queen will be the first to take the stage tomorrow for a proper soundcheck,
then they are meeting Madiba. Later Friday afternoon the band are scheduled
to go to a local healthcare centre with Mrs Plattner, wife of Fancourt owner.
This is to get a glimpse of how poor communities cope with HIV/ AIDS and
what can be done to help them. Local band Prime Circle will join Queen at
this visit.
Hopefully I will deliver a great deal of material by Friday evening!
Cheers til tomorrow
Final Stage
George Herald
Fancourt prepares for Queen + Paul Rodgers, by Levente
16-MAR-05
Only 2 days to go. An impressive flees of huge, shiny BMWs have been
speeding between the airport and Fancourt throughout the day. It was
announced that all Golden Circle tickets are already sold out. African
Children's Choir (AIDS orphans) will perform with Queen. Will Smith will
also be performing besides his MC duties, as will his wife, Jada, with her
band 'Wicked Wisdom'. SABC Africa will show the concert from 7pm (local
time)
for the sub-Saharan region.
Cheers til tomorrow
Fancourt prepares for Queen + Paul Rodgers, by Levente
16-MAR-05
I've prepared a little schedule for the main event as there is many
contradicting info around - even myself made a mistake in my first posting,
as local time in George is NOT the same as in London. There's some confusion
surrounding the SABC2 broadcast as well: yesterdays article mentioned it
will stop at 17.30, while the tv guide on the stations own web site states
it will not even start before 21.00. The latter info might be correct, so
the webcast and the broadcat will be symultanious and will carry the last 2
hours of the show, very possibly starting with Mandela and ending with Queen
+ Paul...
Fancourt prepares for Queen + Paul Rodgers, by Levente
15-MAR-05
I have some more info about Fancourt! A decent local paper called The Herald
carries a two-piece article today, based on information from the Club's spokeswoman. It is said that
- many international celebrities will make an appearance, including actress Ashley Judd
- some 10,000 tickets have been sold so far and another 10,000 will hopefully be sold
- the sound system will be 1,5 times bigger than the one used in Cape Town
- gates will open at 2pm, regional artists will be playing until 5.30 pm, when the main show starts.
- the concert will continue until 11pm (from 2pm, that's 9 hours!), but the African tv broadcast ends at 7pm.
This is it for now. I am waiting for the official press info from the 46664
office that will certainly contain some good info. I am enclosing another pic
that shows just how funny the terrain really is. And I think it's not been
mentioned that Fancourt is a huge estate, and within that the Bramble Hill
Course will be the exact home for the show (this is Fancourts Golf Academy,
by the way.) Ah well, one more: Fancourt has its own mineral bottled water,
but that might not be really interesting
Field
Fancourt prepares for Queen + Paul Rodgers, by Levente
14-MAR-05
5 days to go and the stage structure at Fancourt is set up, with very much
the same construction that we saw at Cape Town. There will be a catwalk into
the audience, but no huge Mandela portrait yet, so changes to 2003's 46664
design might occur. Visuals are taken care of by Robbie Williams (who is not
the singer but an English designer). Riggers were hard at work on Monday to
put the lighting up, and as the photos show, no PA system were present yet.
It is notable that the field in front of the stage is huge, nearly endeless,
so it will easily accomodate the passangers of the 10,000 vehicles that are
expected to park nearby. The terrain is a real golf field, meaning it has
got a little lake, small and bigger bumps here and there, so it's quite
different than your average venue!
The backstage area is made of white tents, nothing too fancy, from the
outside at least. Vehicles bearing the 46664 stickers are already going
about the huge Fancourt estate, and will carry celebrities pretty soon. Very
likely the main Fancourt building will be sealed from the public, who will
be able to enter the venue via the gate that you can see on the 'entrance'
picture.
I enclose a picture about the tiny George airport too, which is national
only, with maybe 5 flights a day. It has got scheduled flights to the big
cities of SA, and also boasts a nice part for private planes. This is where
the artists will arrive in the coming days. Fancourt is a 5 km drive from
here through a fairly uninteresting field, with some cows enjoying the grass
and the great sunshine of the South African Autumn. The area is very much a
retreat for rich European expatriates, with the Indian Ocean on the corner
this is one of the most beautiful and luxurious part of the whole continent.
Roger will easily find nice sailing opportunities close to the venue :-)
Rehearsals are scheduled to start on Wednesday, and a press conference will
take place sometime Friday afternoon. The concert itself will begin 16,00
local time on Saturday, which is in accordance with London's time zone.
Will inform you again soon!
VIP Aerea
all Pictures © Levente
