It was fantastic show! Long away and Tavasz szei instead of '39. Paul was great, also Brian and Roger (great strenght, like he was 20 years younger). Also I must praise rest of the band (Danny was great on bass!). The show that I will remember forever!
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But... Hey has anyone recorded it? Let me know I've got Antwerpen mayb we can trade.
A Queen fan from the days of old (well, from the '80s but he always preferred their '70s material) now living in Budapest discovers that two former band members are doing a tour with a gig here in Hungary. What's more they've chosen Paul Rodgers as their vocalist. So, he buys a few CDs to add to Sheer Heart Attack (the rest of his vinyl/CD collection having been left in the UK/ given to family members), pops down to his local music store for a couple of tickets and hey presto he's there at the Budapest concert on Saturday.....
As you may have guessed, I'm probably not what you would regard as a "diehard fan". But Queen used to be my favourite band and I listening to my new acquired CDs I like their music as much as ever! I can't compare their Budapest concert with any of their others as I haven't been to any (not even back in the '80s). But I what I can provide is a more dispassionate view of the concert. So here it is.
Well, the concert started bang on time at 8.30 (ie 30 minutes after the time printed on the ticket - this is the norm in Hungary). I turned up around 8 as I find it hard to break English habits. Unfortunately our seats were poorly located. Did I say seats? Yes, what a mistake - I hadn't been to the venue before, thought we might not be able to see well if we stood, not used to bland arenas. As it turned out the standing area was half empty so we could even have brought a blanket and had a picnic. A lot of seats were empty too; the venue was somewhere between two-thirds and three-quarters full.
The gig started well, or at least I liked it. It helped that I knew what to expect (I'd read the reviews in the press, seen the track list, listened to some Bad Company - I was already familiar with Free). Unfortunately the audience was pretty quiet (except for the front of the standing section which seemed lively enough). I think most of the Hungarians were not familiar with the older material (except perhaps for the songs on Greatest Hits). The stage set was nothing special - the lighting rig did its job well but there wasn't much else to attract the eye. The renditions of Tie Your Mother Down and Fat Bottomed Girls were good, but Feel Like Making Love was perhaps the early highlights for me. I was beginning to enjoy the combination of Paul Rodgers' clean and powerful voice, Brian May's characteristic guitar, and the reasonably solid back-up from the rest of the band.
But then a pattern of inconsistency began to emerge. What I mean is that some songs worked but others clearly didn't. This really struck me when they played 'I Want to Break Free'. Its not a song which I like much anyway, but the delivery and performance was so flat that I actually yawned. The problem was not just that Paul Rodger's voice is not suited to this lighter pop fare. The performance of the band of the whole was missing a few vital elements - mainly those that Freddie used to provide.
The middle section of the concert without Paul Rodgers offered a change of pace, but had its own problems. While Brian and Roger have voices which are fine in their element (indeed, I really like Roger's performances on the early Queen albums), they can really get out of their depth with unsuitable material. So while I (and clearly the rest of the audience) enjoyed the intimate section with Brian on his own and was also glad to see Roger up at the front, their delivery was sometimes rather poor.
A few poorer songs followed - 'Radio Ga Ga', 'Can't Get Enough of Your Love', 'A Kindg of Magic'. And I was somewhat disappointed by Bohemian Rhapsody. Yes, the video of Freddie was a nice idea and rather touching, but it was then hard to adjust back to Paul delivering the latter half of the song. Maybe it seemed like a climax to the rest of the audience, but not to me. I found it rather strange to end the pre-encore set on such a note.
And so to the encore. I was really looking forward to this. It was good, but somehow didn't quite match
As you may have guessed, I'm probably not what you would regard as a "diehard fan". But Queen used to be my favourite band and I listening to my new acquired CDs I like their music as much as ever! I can't compare their Budapest concert with any of their others as I haven't been to any (not even back in the '80s). But I what I can provide is a more dispassionate view of the concert. So here it is.
Well, the concert started bang on time at 8.30 (ie 30 minutes after the time printed on the ticket - this is the norm in Hungary). I turned up around 8 as I find it hard to break English habits. Unfortunately our seats were poorly located. Did I say seats? Yes, what a mistake - I hadn't been to the venue before, thought we might not be able to see well if we stood, not used to bland arenas. As it turned out the standing area was half empty so we could even have brought a blanket and had a picnic. A lot of seats were empty too; the venue was somewhere between two-thirds and three-quarters full.
The gig started well, or at least I liked it. It helped that I knew what to expect (I'd read the reviews in the press, seen the track list, listened to some Bad Company - I was already familiar with Free). Unfortunately the audience was pretty quiet (except for the front of the standing section which seemed lively enough). I think most of the Hungarians were not familiar with the older material (except perhaps for the songs on Greatest Hits). The stage set was nothing special - the lighting rig did its job well but there wasn't much else to attract the eye. The renditions of Tie Your Mother Down and Fat Bottomed Girls were good, but Feel Like Making Love was perhaps the early highlights for me. I was beginning to enjoy the combination of Paul Rodgers' clean and powerful voice, Brian May's characteristic guitar, and the reasonably solid back-up from the rest of the band.
But then a pattern of inconsistency began to emerge. What I mean is that some songs worked but others clearly didn't. This really struck me when they played 'I Want to Break Free'. Its not a song which I like much anyway, but the delivery and performance was so flat that I actually yawned. The problem was not just that Paul Rodger's voice is not suited to this lighter pop fare. The performance of the band of the whole was missing a few vital elements - mainly those that Freddie used to provide.
The middle section of the concert without Paul Rodgers offered a change of pace, but had its own problems. While Brian and Roger have voices which are fine in their element (indeed, I really like Roger's performances on the early Queen albums), they can really get out of their depth with unsuitable material. So while I (and clearly the rest of the audience) enjoyed the intimate section with Brian on his own and was also glad to see Roger up at the front, their delivery was sometimes rather poor.
A few poorer songs followed - 'Radio Ga Ga', 'Can't Get Enough of Your Love', 'A Kindg of Magic'. And I was somewhat disappointed by Bohemian Rhapsody. Yes, the video of Freddie was a nice idea and rather touching, but it was then hard to adjust back to Paul delivering the latter half of the song. Maybe it seemed like a climax to the rest of the audience, but not to me. I found it rather strange to end the pre-encore set on such a note.
And so to the encore. I was really looking forward to this. It was good, but somehow didn't quite match
I would say:
Highlights: Love of my life, The show must go on,I'm in love with my car, I want it all
Highlights: Love of my life, The show must go on,I'm in love with my car, I want it all
And I forgot All right now as highlights!
All in all, it was fantastic show. Videos from Queen early years and lights were fantastic, as well as heaven videos and stars
All in all, it was fantastic show. Videos from Queen early years and lights were fantastic, as well as heaven videos and stars
> As it turned out the standing area was half empty so we could even have brought a blanket and had a picnic.
All standing tickets were sold, but for some security rules, it means if people stand as close to each other as they did, 1/3 of the area remains free. That's what happened.
> A lot of seats were empty too; the venue was
> somewhere between two-thirds and three-quarters full.
I'd argue with that. As I said before, standing tickets were sold out, and about 1/8 of seats were empty, IMHO.
Anyway, I do think it's a shame it wasn't a sell-out, but Queen had absolutely no promotion here for the last 15 years.
Ticket prices are high compared to wages. Note that Paul McCartney could fill only half of the same venue last year!!
All standing tickets were sold, but for some security rules, it means if people stand as close to each other as they did, 1/3 of the area remains free. That's what happened.
> A lot of seats were empty too; the venue was
> somewhere between two-thirds and three-quarters full.
I'd argue with that. As I said before, standing tickets were sold out, and about 1/8 of seats were empty, IMHO.
Anyway, I do think it's a shame it wasn't a sell-out, but Queen had absolutely no promotion here for the last 15 years.
Ticket prices are high compared to wages. Note that Paul McCartney could fill only half of the same venue last year!!
The seats seemed to be one third to one fourth empty at about 20:00 but it was more like 1/8 empty by the time Queen took the stage.
Actually I was fairly surprised how large the audience was given the very high price of tickets relative to the average wage. But there again there is plenty of money sloshing around in the Hungarian black economy...
I think the concert could have been sold out if ticket prices had been more creative - e.g some significantly lower-priced tickets for the seats at the back of the arena.
I think the concert could have been sold out if ticket prices had been more creative - e.g some significantly lower-priced tickets for the seats at the back of the arena.
I think Hungaria is (economically) pretty much equal to Czech Republic and the Czech concert was sold out in three days (and before this tour I'd say there are more Hungarian fans than Czech fans).
Mr Scully
Well the Czech Republic is a little richer but more importantly Hungarians have lower disposable income than the Czechs (because of higher rates of tax). And the cheapest ticket at the Prague concert was about 1100 Koruna (36 euros) compared to 12000 forints (48 euros) if I remember correctly in Budapest.
Still, I'm sure that better promotion for the concert would have helped fill the venue.
Well the Czech Republic is a little richer but more importantly Hungarians have lower disposable income than the Czechs (because of higher rates of tax). And the cheapest ticket at the Prague concert was about 1100 Koruna (36 euros) compared to 12000 forints (48 euros) if I remember correctly in Budapest.
Still, I'm sure that better promotion for the concert would have helped fill the venue.
I think Hungaria is (economically) pretty much equal to Czech Republic and the Czech concert was sold out in three days (and before this tour I'd say there are more Hungarian fans than Czech fans).
Many, MANY ppl from Poland went to Prague. I know about one Pole who went to Budapest- too bloody far for most of them. Were Bulgarians or Romanians travelling to Budapest in huge numbers? Not only Czechs were present at the Prague gig, there was a huge Polish group... I don't know how was it in Hungary, but... maybe that's also a reason?
On the other hand, it was difficult to get Prague tickets abroad. But maybe you're right.
On the other hand, it was difficult to get Prague tickets abroad.
Yeah- I know. On the Polish message board they were going abnanas... :) It was difficult, but not impossible. Figures- they were really desperate as Queen aren't playing Poland...
Economically speaking Romania (where I live and came from to see the concert) is way lower. I had to spend my whole month's salary (~250€) for the entire journey, but cannot complain about it. It was my sole chance to see those guys ever (I was like 6-7 years old when they last toured) and did not waste that. Although, as I recall, Paul Rodgers had a gig in Bucharest back in early 90's - and the venue was quite full, he could have talked the other guys into coming in Romania. But, then again, there is no permanet Queen fan club in here (not anymore) so no one would have guaranteed any success.
As a band supporter (even though only half of the members were there) the show did not disapoint me. I came, I saw, I enjoyed. (something like the latin phrase: "veni, vidi, vici")
I shall use this post as well to thank the people who made my attending to the concert possible: Gabor (who bought the ticket) and Atilla (who booked me a room in a hostel) - guys I hadn't seen before in my life. Cheers!
And there was a scarce media coverage (only some posters on the main boulevards, surrounding the hotel the band checked in, and a small column in a free magazine). The local guys confirmed that as well. Is it anywhere like that? I mean, no press conferences, no nothing. It's more like a "pour les connaisseurs" tour.
To sum it all up, I can happily die now
As a band supporter (even though only half of the members were there) the show did not disapoint me. I came, I saw, I enjoyed. (something like the latin phrase: "veni, vidi, vici")
I shall use this post as well to thank the people who made my attending to the concert possible: Gabor (who bought the ticket) and Atilla (who booked me a room in a hostel) - guys I hadn't seen before in my life. Cheers!
And there was a scarce media coverage (only some posters on the main boulevards, surrounding the hotel the band checked in, and a small column in a free magazine). The local guys confirmed that as well. Is it anywhere like that? I mean, no press conferences, no nothing. It's more like a "pour les connaisseurs" tour.
To sum it all up, I can happily die now
B.May&company are pure cocks.U all are their toys like freddie had may,taylor,deacon