When the perfect frontman, Freddie Mercury had died of AIDS in 1991, it closed the curtain on rock band Queen as a growing force forever.  However, the show must go on, and over a decade after Freddie's passing, the remaining members (minus original bassist John Deacon) have found the will to carry on.  In 2004, when Queen and legendary Bad Company/Free lead singer Paul Rodgers joined up at the UK Hall of Fame awards to play some Queen songs, something clicked between Paul, guitarist Brian May and Roger Taylor, which sparked the idea to join up for a lengthy yearlong world tour.  Paul Rodgers handled the challenging vocals with a new and bluesy panache and over all the band's tour was a success.  To commemorate this tour, this new band "Queen + Paul Rodgers" released a double CD and DVD both named Return of the Champions, which was fantastic. 

Then Queen + Paul Rodgers entered the studio to create a new studio album, The Cosmos Rocks.  Overall, this new effort was not well-received, although I loved it.  Then to support this new CD, the band went on tour.  This Live In Ukraine double CD is a part of that tour.  When I looked at the song list, I was a bit dismayed that the new songs were virtually ignored by the band.  I really didn't want to bother with a total rehash of what Return of the Champions had already done.  One day at Best Buy, I noticed that this 2-CD/1 DVD set was selling for only $15.99, so I picked it up just to have it.   I listened to it on the way home in my car, and then went home to watch the DVD, and I found that I enjoyed it despite my preconceived ideas.

Happily, for the most part this felt fresh compared to four-year-old Return of the Champions CDs and DVD.  First off, the energy from the mammoth sum of spectators is palpable.  This Ukrainian concert was a free one in hopes to raise awareness for AIDS, which is still a growing problem in this part of the world.  It turned out that about three hundred and fifty thousand people came to watch the show, and about 10 million more at home since it was televised.  The band ran through a setlist of 28 songs, 20 of these were performed on Return of the Champions.  Yet with a couple of the similar titles, we get newer and fresher renditions.  Hammer to Fall for instance was slowed down to a bluesy ballad before, and now we get a pretty faithful rocking rendition to the Queen version from The Works.  On Brian May's '39, Brian comes to the front of the stage again alone, but is then joined by the rest of the band (minus Rodgers) to complete the song.  '39 was a wonderful surprise for me; I loved the addition of accordion and stand-up bass.  It sounded more like the A Night at the Opera version, but brighter. 

To touch upon the history of Paul Rodgers, there were five songs performed instead of the four from ROTC. Bad Company's beautiful acoustic ballad Seagull was a smart addition to the set list.  It is not one of the more famous songs known from Bad Company, yet here with just Paul at the microphone with his acoustic crooning out the gem is a highlight even if you've come here exclusively as a Queen fan.  You would figure that classic rock radio would be all over a song like this and including it within their rotation, but again Queen is passed off as a guilty pleasure instead of relishing in the respected glory, which should be theirs.  The rest of the Paul Rodgers setlist consisted of his well-known songs, like All Right Now, Feel Like Making Love, Shooting Star and a wonderful version of Bad Company with Rodgers at the piano. 

It wasn't all that fresh and new, we also had the usual songs that I suppose would be impossible for Queen to drop from the setlist.  Songs like Another One Bites the Dust and Crazy Little Thing Called Love may have been big hits in the 1980s, but when played live; they lose any magic, which may have been associated with them at some point.  Something just doesn't translate from the record to the stage, even when Freddie was alive and performing these songs, they were a drag.  Yet having said that, who the heck does Paul Rodgers think he is changing the intro to Crazy Little Thing Called Love, he may have been in the band, but he is still a slave to the craft left behind by the master. 

The band opened with abridged versions of One Vision and Tie Your Mother Down, two audience-pleasing rockers that feel much better in their condensed version.  So, when they then tackle The Show Must Go On, a wonderful tribute to Freddie and Queen written by Brian in 1990 for their Innuendo album, it's like now we're enjoying the meat of the concert, after getting that quick ‘hello' out of the way.  Queen + Paul Rodgers have dropped a couple of Queen songs that some may love, but I feel like it's a breath of fresh air.  It's A Kind of Magic and Radio Ga Ga, both written by Roger were dropped, perhaps to make room for the two new Cosmos Rocks tunes included.  C-Lebrity is a fine example of what this bringing of these two rock legends together may bring about.  It's very Queen, yet also something that is easily something Paul Rodgers can get behind.  Taylor, May and Rodgers wrote all of the songs on Cosmos Rocks, so just about all of the songs have this same feel.  Cosmos Rocks included these high-energy hard rock tracks to work well on stage, and it's exactly what happened. 

The same thing happened with the almost-title track Cosmos Rockin'.  Despite the corny lyrics, the song is quite satisfying.   One thing about the Queen shows that sucks usually is Brian May's way too boring & too long guitar solos.  They usually go around 11-12 minutes in length, but he cut it mercifully down to four minutes.  But May is still going to get his time in with just him, his guitar and the audience somehow.  He added the two-minute guitar solo Bijou, which he recorded for the Innuendo album.   At the end of the track is where Freddie makes his first appearance, where his voice can be heard singing the two lines of lyrics that come with Bijou.  He then performed Last Horizon, a song from his solo record Back to the Light.  It's a four-minute guitar track that sounds more like the music from the future where they worshipped Bill & Ted than any Shrapnel record. 

The usual suspects must make their appearances, I'm talking the numbers We Will Rock You & We Are The Champions.  I really appreciate the way that the band includes Freddie Mercury in their performances today.  Bohemian Rhapsody is performed by Freddie and the band, Freddie on tape and the Queen band live.  It is a wonderful effect that makes you believe for these six minutes that Freddie hasn't been gone for 18 years.  So, I learn a new lesson in my life as a Queen fan, never judge a book (or CD) by it's cover.  Live in Ukraine is definitely worth picking up first for the fanatics of Queen, and even for the casual listener as they will recognize many songs on these two discs. 



Queen + Paul Rodgers
Live in Ukraine
Released: 06/15/2009
Length: 120 minutes
Record Label: Hollywood Records
Tracks:
  Disc One
   1. One Vision
   2. Tie Your Mother Down
   3. The Show Must Go On
   4. Fat Bottomed Girls
   5. Another One Bites the Dist
   6. Hammer To Fall
   7. I Want It All
   8. I Want To Break Free
   9. Seagull
   10. Love of My Life
   11. '39
   12. I'm In Love With My Car
   13. Say It's Not True
  Disc Two
   1. Shooting Star
   2. Bad Company
   3. Guitar Solo
   4. Bijou
   5. Last Horizon
   6. Crazy Little Thing Called Love
   7. C-Lebrity
   8. Feel Like Making Love
   9. Bohemian Rhapsody
   10. Cosmos Rockin'
   11. All Right Now
   12. We Will Rock You
   13. We Are The Champions
   14. God Save the Queen
  DVD
   1. One Vision
   2. Tie Your Mother Down
   3. Show Must Go On
   4. Fat Bottomed Girls
   5. Another One Bites The Dust
   6. Hammer To Fall
   7. I Want It All
   8. I Want To Break Free
   9. Seagull
   10. Love Of My Life
   11. '39
   12. I'm In Love With My Car
   13. Say It's Not True
   14. Shooting Star
   15. Bad Company
   16. Guitar Solo
   17. Bijou
   18. Last Horizon
   19. Crazy Little Thing Called Love
   20. C-lebrity
   21. Feel Like Making Love
   22. Bohemian Rhapsody
   23. Cosmos Rockin'
   24. All Right Now
   25. We Will Rock You
   26. We Are The Champions
   27. God Save The Queen
 

Recommended: Yes