Good Company - Portsmouth 16th November 2012

An excellent night was had by all at Portsmouth last night. Not going to harp on about how good the show was but the, highlight of the night (well to me anyway) was when Brian was handed an Ukelele by Pete, Brian Told a little story of "how he first learned to play the Uke' before trading it in for a guitar", He then went on to play & sing "Good Company"

As far a I know, it's the first time EVER he's sang this song live at a gig, & played the Uke', live at a gig for that matter.

Pure excellence!!!!!

Also I am looking to TRADE any recordings from this tour (or any other recording I don't have in my collection), I have some recordings from this tour, all complete, if anyone is interested in a trade.

He said on Twitter its the first time he has ever done Good Company 'in public'

Here it's the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxKJnXVf55s

Except for "Seaside Rendezvous", all the songs from the ANATO album have been performed live by now.

I am currently working on Born Free tour recordings and I might be sharing a full lenght thing within a couple of weeks.

Excellent, now i can improve my own Uke playing of this song :D

[QUOTE] [b]A Word In Your Ear wrote:[/b]

An excellent night was had by all at Portsmouth last night. Not going to harp on about how good the show was but the, highlight of the night (well to me anyway) was when Brian was handed an Ukelele by Pete, Brian Told a little story of "how he first learned to play the Uke' before trading it in for a guitar", He then went on to play & sing "Good Company"

As far a I know, it's the first time EVER he's sang this song live at a gig, & played the Uke', live at a gig for that matter.

Pure excellence!!!!!


[/QUOTE]

I have PM'd you. :-)

excellent version!!!!

Brilliant, Brian, brought a wee tear to the eye, that did. Wish they had included a couple Scottish dates on the tour though. Maybe next year. X

That was great wish i was there loved the mess up also made me smile.

[QUOTE] [b]A Word In Your Ear wrote:[/b]
As far a I know, it's the first time EVER he's sang this song live at a gig, & played the Uke', live at a gig for that matter.
[/QUOTE]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vHZU_HcXDo
0:48 is a ukulele banjo for a few seconds, if that counts haha

[QUOTE] [b]tomchristie22 wrote:[/b]

[QUOTE] [b]A Word In Your Ear wrote:[/b]
As far a I know, it's the first time EVER he's sang this song live at a gig, & played the Uke', live at a gig for that matter.
[/QUOTE]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vHZU_HcXDo
0:48 is a ukulele banjo for a few seconds, if that counts haha[/QUOTE]

Yeah, He used to do that Ukulele Banjo thing in Leroy Brown, but I meant just a proper Ukulele. as far as I know, the only time he's ever played one live in front of a paying audience.

Yeah, its a different instrument from the one he used for the Leroy Brown break.

There are no documented live versions of GC by Queen so yes, maybe this is the first time a Queen member plays the song live in public. Dr May's, whose memory's sometimes quite off, got it right this time.

[QUOTE] [b]michael donnelly wrote:[/b]

Brilliant, Brian, brought a wee tear to the eye, that did.
[/QUOTE]


To me, this is what is sad about what's left of Queen post Freddie. Brian and Roger have a wonderful catalogue to choose from, people are emotional about these great songs but they always play the same old tunes. I remember the excitement when Taylor Hawkins got Brian and Roger on stage and they played Long Away. People on this board loved it! I think Brian and Roger like the adulation too much to take a chance on having fewer people show up if they don't know the songs, so they trot out all the greatest hits for the millionth time. If I was Jim Beach I'd have them do an intimate venue and do all the gems like Good Company, Drowse, White Queen etc. BTW, flubs and all, that was fantastic.

Totally agree. I'm still stunned we got SSOR / KYA and WWRY Fast on the AL tour.

[QUOTE] [b]Sheer Brass Neck wrote:[/b]
To me, this is what is sad about what's left of Queen post Freddie. Brian and Roger have a wonderful catalogue to choose from, people are emotional about these great songs but they always play the same old tunes. I remember the excitement when Taylor Hawkins got Brian and Roger on stage and they played Long Away. People on this board loved it! I think Brian and Roger like the adulation too much to take a chance on having fewer people show up if they don't know the songs, so they trot out all the greatest hits for the millionth time. If I was Jim Beach I'd have them do an intimate venue and do all the gems like Good Company, Drowse, White Queen etc. BTW, flubs and all, that was fantastic.

[/QUOTE]

For established musicians smaller more intimate shows are almost always labours of love and conviction in one way or another. I think often of Taylor Hawkins pounding out stuff with the Coattail Riders with everything he had for about 28 people on a Monday night in a Toronto bar. For Brian the Kerry Ellis stuff seems in large part to be about the challenge and frehness of roles like mentor, producer, arranger, provider of accompaniment and co-creator of new music combinations and energies. Similarly both Brian and Roger traded larger crowds for a shot at having their solo efforts heard. So they're both capable of 'going there' under the right circumstances, which makes the fact that they haven't telling, despite essentially assured success and fan interest.

Beyond broad and vague statements about being proud of what they accomplished as Queen I have never had the sense that they adequately valued the brilliance and worth in the finer details of heir own history. You see it for example in Roger's expressed attitude about an anthology (an uninspring future obligation to a record company) and Brian's position on unpolished rarities. So many album tracks are emotional to us but who knows what they represent to the band. The past, staleness, artistic compromise, tensions, regret, failure, boredom, nothing - all possible in varying degrees. Given what we can glean about band attitudes to the things that are important and valuable to serious Queen fans a series of intimate shows seems unlikely, even cynical.

That was great!