I was at fridays show in cologne (absolutely fantastic), between 25 and 30 k people were there. I think that's pretty good considering we lost Freddie 25 years ago, they have been touring a lot, and there is no new album to promote.
RheinEnergie Stadium is also by far the biggest venue for a QAL-standalone show on the entire tour, with a capacity of 45.000 for concerts. Even in south america they booked much smaller venues, so I did not expect it to sell out anyway.
They sold out Lanxess Arena in cologne on the first european leg in january 2015. I was there too, it was absolutely packed! It's one of europes biggest indoor arenas, and in the Top 10 of the most successful in the world as well, so that show was considered a triumph! (see Pollstar ranking of Top 200 Arenas: http://www.pollstarpro.com/files/charts2015/2015YearEndWorldwideTicketSalesTop200ArenaVenues.pdf)
The same band in the same city on (pretty much) the same tour adding another 25.000+ people in my opinion is a success.
slightlymad1970 · Member since
Another update, the next show in Helsinki, Finland is Officially Sold Out!!!
Viper · Member since
[QUOTE] [b]slightlymad1970 wrote:[/b]
So the German newspaper states that the Cologne audience was 45,000. Wasn't Rock in Rio Portugal a sellout 72,000. It would be interesting to see the figures for these shows though, any figures for Barcelona? the footage seems to suggest a near sellout there too. So I wouldn't say low sales just yet!![/QUOTE]
At Rock In Rio the attendance was 74,000. A sellout!
kosimodo · Member since
Near solled out (38000?) in Denmark where according to the press Adam saved the concert with an inspiring performance.
I was in Cologne and the venue looked half empty. I have to say that this was definitely the last time I spent so much money on QAL. It gets worse each time. Backing vocals from the tape, nothing but Greatest Hits and medleys - even Radio GaGa was shortened. The intro was lousy, there was no enthusiasm from the band at all, The sound was a nightmare. We hardly could hear the guy sing, (Block 4, east tribune). Of course the rain did not add much to the excitement but basically the show was very second grade, a shame really. If you watch the full show on YT - this was exaxtly like the show sounded for us, only louder. The best sound came from the tapes, really.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGtLApt74mk
bluenile · Member since
^ so sorry to hear that! i know the feeling. i went to the 2012 moscow show and the sound was just like you described... so, so disappointed.
but then i saw them again in 2014 during their NA tour, and with great sound it was like an entirely different show. best concert in my life. i couldn't resist and went to another show, a third show, a fourth sho?w... spent all my money on them (actually borrowed money from friends, crazy time...)
it's really a risk. i don't know about other people but simply seeing them on stage (or simply being there with thousands of other fans) does nothing for me. i got annoyed so many times in the past when i attended a show with high expectation and got terrible sound... i was lucky that for all the 2014 QAL shows i got at least ok-ish sound. if they ever tour NA again i'll still save up to see them, but if i knew beforehand that it'd be another moscow experience, i'd definitely say no.
pedryl · Member since
I've seen them in Cologne this year and I'm looking forward to the gig in Poland. To be honest, Cologne was the best of all Q+AL concerts I attended (Wroclaw, Frankfurt, Berlin, Cologne). It may depend on your place in the stadium I think.
I also took some photos. I hope you'll enjoy them:
https://flic.kr/s/aHskADr8HB
YourValentine · Member since
Hello bluenile - it's cool that you were in Moscow in 2012, I was there too and you are right, the sound was really bad. I think in Moscow the reason was the half empty hall and all the curtains that divided it, so we could not see all the empty blocks. These heavy curtains kind of "swallowed" the sound. In Cologne the sound was much worse, imo it had nothing to do with the acoustics of the stadium, it was simply a lousy, awful sound mix, I never heard something so awful in other Queen related shows. It was pure waste of time and money. The dreadful sound and all the additional sound from tapes made it a real bad experience.
TheWorks84 · Member since
[QUOTE] [b]YourValentine wrote:[/b]
I was in Cologne and the venue looked half empty. I have to say that this was definitely the last time I spent so much money on QAL. It gets worse each time. Backing vocals from the tape, nothing but Greatest Hits and medleys - even Radio GaGa was shortened. The intro was lousy, there was no enthusiasm from the band at all, The sound was a nightmare. We hardly could hear the guy sing, (Block 4, east tribune). Of course the rain did not add much to the excitement but basically the show was very second grade, a shame really. If you watch the full show on YT - this was exaxtly like the show sounded for us, only louder. The best sound came from the tapes, really.
They have been playing a shorter version of Radio GaGa since 2014. I can't understand why.
The Real Wizard · Member since
They've shortened a lot of songs. It makes it possible to play more songs.
TheWorks84 · Member since
[QUOTE] [b]The Real Wizard wrote:[/b]
They've shortened a lot of songs. It makes it possible to play more songs.
[/QUOTE]
True. They have even taken out the instrumental jam, electric guitar and piano from CLTCL for this years tour.
SweetCaroline · Member since
I've read some posts from a Queen fan who was at the Cologne show and absolutely raved about it. He was in the standing area and was soaking wet from the rain but had no complaints whatsoever about the sound or about the quality of the performances. He said nothing about backing tapes being played. Brian has said previously that they perform "live and dangerous" with no backing tapes!
bucsateflon · Member since
Is the rig and PA system appropriate for outdoors events?
kosimodo · Member since
Gruppens lasershow var virkelig seværdigt. Det var ikke overdrevet - et klart tegn på klasse. Det var med i et mindre antal numre til sidst og absolut værd at se.
Google is still your friend
SweetCaroline · Member since
I don't think QAL are using backing vocals or recorded tapes. You may be mistaking that for what Spike Edney plays LIVE on this amazing instrument, the KORG Kronos:
