Queen + Paul Rodgers in Cologne
Today, the greatly anticipated concert by Queen + Paul Rodgers was held in Cologne's Rhein Energie stadium.
We arrived pretty early at 18:00 hrs and bought some tour t-shirts. They're kind of a must as you don't know whether Queen will ever tour again. Almost immediately after we had picked our spot inside of the arena the heavens opened and rain poured down on us. We got ourselves a rain"coat" for EUR 3,- each which helped a little. But not much. Really. It was not (only) us, the entire crowd was really bothered by the ugly weather. It stopped raining for a while but dark clouds were right above us. Probably that's why Queen + Paul Rodgers started playing at 20:00 hrs. As always on this tour, there was no supporting act. Unfortunately, both facts kind of lead to a very boring kick-off. The crowd was not heating up at all. Brian May and Paul Rodgers were looking at each other in disbelief. The crowd was simply quiet. Some friendly applause after the song, but almost no one sang along, or clapped their hands or anything. Maybe most visitors were just to old for that and had forgotten how it is to participate in a rock concert. Anyway we tried our best to cheer everyone around us up but it did not really help.
The concert was floating forward until the rain began again. The sunlight was almost gone now and darkness surrounded us. Maybe both wet and darkness inspired some people to go along. Because all of a sudden the mood was changing and the crowd got more enthusiastic. Finally. Pheeeew. It would've been a disaster if they had not.
The rest of the concert was fabulous, although Paul Rodgers seemed to have some problems with his voice. But anyway, it was a great thing to see Queen live - at least once in my life...
A particular special was We Will Rock You. Since the German version of the musical is hosted in Cologne, the actors joined Queen for this song. It was kind of cool to see so many people on stage - their outfit was really great. They also added some additional spice to the song.
Click below to see the setlist. I will also add some pictures, once they are provided to me by a special someone... :-)