Interview with Brian May (Kurier, Austria 27-FEB-05) - English Translation:

KURIER: Would you have ever thought playing again the Stadthalle in Vienna under the name Queen?
BRIAN MAY (guitar): That was never planned. I had totaly written off my Queen life besides our "We
Will Rock You" Musical. But then I got an an Invitation to the Fender-Festival, and there I
played with Paul Rodgers also. Later I passed a tape of this appearance to Roger Taylor and he also was
fascinated. A few weeks later both Queen and Paul Rodgers should perform at the HALL OF FAME
Show in London . And we thought it was well worth a try - and suddenly there was this Click, this
certain Chemistry, and then we realised that there is so much more to come.

Now this tour is only exceeded by U2 in ticket sales .
I had hoped hat we still move a few people but that we sell off the largest concert-halls in Europe within
record-time, is almost unbelievably.

Why are there no additional concerts?
This tour was developed kind of spontaneously, and in many cities we could only take what was left in
between other concerts, and we can only play a certain number of concerts in a row, in order to
preserve Pauls voice. But we talk about some additional Open Air Shows in the summer.

Why is John Deacon not playing on this Tour?
Off course it would have been great, if he was with us for this tour. But he choose the retirement. So we
can't do anything about it. John enjoys his life far off the music-business, but off course he is in our
hearts, as well as Freddie is!

No Freddie Mercury, No John Deacon - some critics call this Queen tour a Rip-Off.
That is Queen, because Roger Taylor and I are Queen! Our main concern is to play great Music -- great
rock-music. We now feel that with Paul Rodgers we could deliver very good rock music , something which
is missing within the Musik-Scene for a long time. And the critics should respect that! Given the
figures of advance bookings at least the Fans do!

Will Paul Rodgers be the only singer on this tour?
No, Roger and I will also take over on vocal parts. And Freddies voice will be heared too, occasionally.

Will we also hear your all-time-favourite "Bohemian Rhapsody"?
That is a very difficult decision, which we haven't decided yet. Because this is too much Freddies Baby.
So Paul must decide whether he wants to sing it or not. But fortunately we do not only have this one hit.
So the most difficult part of this tour is not: What do we play? But: What do we leave out?
But we will be definitely playing more Queen than Free and Bad Company Songs.

You haven't been on the Road with Queen for 19 years now. Which Songs do you look forward to play at most?
"All Right Now" and "Can't Get Enough Of Your Love" and all the other great Songs by Paul Rodgers!
That is the real pleasure and the most exciting thing of this tour, to be able to perform the Songs from his great career too.
This is so much more exciting than playing our Songs. But now, thanks to Paul
I rediscover many of the great Queen Songs again. And also Freddie has not been that close to me -
as in the last few days.

Is this tour the Final chapter for Queen - or even a new Beginning?
This tour marks not the End of The Queen-Saga, it is a new beginning.
This partnership with Paul Rodgers opens so many new doors for us - doors that had been closed for
too long. There will be further concerts, also in the USA, which we haven't played since 1982. And there
might be new music - with Paul Rodgers, too. And maybe we will already play some of this new songs
on this Tour.
Interview: Thomas Zeidler
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