With a new album in the pipeline - the first new studio album to carry the Queen name since the Freddie Mercury sessions – Queen is heading back on the road for a four-month tour, once again in the company of musician/singer/songwriter Paul Rodgers who joined the band for the highly successful 2005/2006 world tour, the European leg of which ended with the band’s spectacular London Hyde Park open air concert before going on to play the US and Japan.In all, the band’s tour was attended by more than a million people.
Together Brian May, Roger Taylor and Paul Rodgers have recorded their first album’s worth of material, jointly written and produced. With the title yet to be disclosed, the album is being readied for release September 1, two weeks ahead of the start of the tour.The Queen + Paul Rodgers 28-date arena tour will take in 14 countries in just seven weeks, and take the band to Northern Eurasia, Central and Southern Europe, and the UK, and is expected to wind up at the end of the year with the band’s highly anticipated return to South America, the setting of some of its most historic tours in the early 80’s.Queen’s historic Latin America dates set new world records for the numbers of the audiences it attracted. At the 1985 Rock in Rio concert the band played to an unheard of audience of 300,000 and was watched on television by nearly 200 million people throughout the South American continent.The 2008 tour kicks off mid-September in Russia with two dates at Moscow’s SCO Olympic Arena, moves on into Poland for a massive free concert at the historic Gdansk Shipyard, and then follows a path through Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, Switzerland and the Netherlands before arriving in the UK early October for 6 dates including London’s 02 Arena on October 13.The UK dates see the band additionally play Nottingham, Glasgow, Cardiff and Birmingham with a final UK date at Liverpool Arena on October 18 before continuing on to Spain, Hungary, Serbia, Czech Republic and Austria for seven further dates.
Tracks on the new Queen + Paul Rodgers album will include ‘Say It’s Not True’, previously released at the end of last year by Queen + Paul Rodgers as a special World Aids Day download for Nelson Mandela’s 46664 HIV AIDS charity , plus a ‘first’ for a Queen album – a cover version. The remaining tracks are all newly written by May, Taylor and Rodgers during the late 2007/early 2008 recording sessions.One of these tracks, C-lebrity, will receive a sneak preview when the band make a by-demand return to the UK’s ITV Al Murray’s Happy Hour for the final show on April 4.Queen’s last studio album release was “Made In Heaven†released in November 1995 containing the last recordings with Freddie. The album became the band’s biggest selling studio album, with world sales in excess of 20 million.Queen’s “Greatest Hits 1†album has achieved the distinction of being the UK’s biggest selling album of all time, having sold a staggering 5,407,587 copies in Britain alone (source: VH1/The Official UK Charts Company. November 2006).
Paul Rodgers’ voice is one of rock’s platinum assets and as a multi-instrumentalist and songwriter as front man of Free and Bad Company and as a solo artist he has written, produced and recorded some of radios biggest hits.Between them, Queen and Paul Rodgers have released more than 50 albums during their long careers and sold in excess of a staggering 300 million records.
Tickets for all UK dates will go on sale at venue box offices and usual ticket agents from Saturday April 5.Official UK tour hotline: 08700 11 26 26 www.ticketzone.co.ukPre-registration tickets available from Wednesday April 2 at www.queenonline.com www.queenpluspaulrodgers.com www.paulrodgers.com
UK ticket prices: £49.40, £39.50 (check venues). A Phil McIntyre Entertainment Tour.The Cosmos Rocks over Europe at:
EUROPE LEG 1:
Tuesday 16 September Moscow SCO Olympic Arena RUSSIA ...
Wednesday 17 September Moscow SCO Olympic Arena RUSSIA ...
Saturday 20 September Gdansk Shipyard POLAND ...
Sunday 21 September Berlin Velodrom GERMANY...
Tuesday 23 September Antwerp Sportspaleis BELGIUM ...
Wednesday 24 September Paris Bercy FRANCE ...
Friday 26 September Rome Palalottomatica ITALY ...
Sunday 28 September Verona Arena ITALY ...
Monday 29 September Zurich Hallenstadion SWITZERLAND ...
Wednesday 1 October Munich Olympiahalle GERMANY ...
Thursday 2 October Mannheim SAP Arena GERMANY ...
Saturday 4 October Hannover TUI Arena GERMANY ...
Sunday 5 October Hamburg Color Line Arena GERMANY ...
Tuesday 7 October Rotterdam Ahoy NETHERLANDS ...
UK Friday 10 October Nottingham Arena...
Saturday 11 October Glasgow SE&CC ...
Monday 13 October London 02 ...
Tuesday 14 October Cardiff Arena ...
Thursday 16 October Birmingham NIA ...
Saturday 18 October Liverpool Arena ...
EUROPE LEG 2
Wednesday 22 October Barcelona Palau Sant Jordi SPAIN
Friday 24 October Murcia Estadio Municipal SPAIN
Saturday 25 October Madrid Palacio de Deportes SPAIN
Tuesday 28 October Budapest Sportarena, HUNGARY
Wednesday 29 October Belgrade Arena SERBIA
Friday 31 October Prague 02 Arena CZECH REPUBLIC
Saturday 1 November Vienna Stadthalle AUSTRIA
QUEEN were back touring on the circuit for the first time since 1986, joined by former Free/Bad Company singer, songwriter and musicial Paul Rodgers playing concerts across the UK and throughout Europe. The tour covered over a dozen countries over a six week period, followed in July by 4 major outdoor concerts including London’s Hyde Park on July 8, a venue they last played in September 1976 when playing a free concert, they attracted a record audience of 150,000 to the Royal Park.