1. From the Rheinische Presse:
http://www.rp-online.de/public/article/magazin/musik/news/97097

7 July 05


Queen are an inspiration in the pouring rain


Pictures: At the additional concert in the RheinEnergie stadium Queen really
let it rock in spite of the pouring rain. Photo: ddp

Paul Rodgers acted as singer in the place of the late Freddie Mercury. Photo:
ddp

Queen fans had to put up with wet and cold on Wednesday evening at the
additional concert in the Cologne RheinEngergie stadium. But the band didn’t
leave their fans out there in the cold and rain. The successor to Freddie
Mercury, Paul Rodgers, came out of the warm and dry time and again to rock in
the pouring rain.

Guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor, who also turned his hand to
singing now and again, proved, by stepping out repeatedly, that they were not
hydrophobic either. An audience of more than 26,700 revelled in this
dedication and in the enduring music of Queen.

Well, perhaps it wasn’t all perfect at this penultimate concert of the
European leg of ‘Queen and Paul Rodgers’, under which name go the trio of rock
Flintstones backed by a bass player, a second guitarist and a keyboard player. A
26,700-strong audience is a lot, but they looked a bit lost in the spruce
stadium where the gaps in the upper tiers were too large. Perhaps this was an
indication of weakening appeal after a sold-out concert hall tour earlier this
year.

But nowhere does the glamorous pomp of Queen function better than in a
stadium. Especially an open-air one, where May’s long guitar solo can distend
without hindrance into the zero gravity of outer space, where, during ‘We Will
Rock You’, a sea of outstretched arms becomes one of clapping hands, and ‘We Are
the Champions’ is in its natural environment. Even with only two founding
members left, Queen remain a rock institution.

An element of that is a particular attitude to the music. Not only a
professional one, but also one which May, Taylor and Rodgers celebrated this
Wednesday – they shared their music with the fans mainly in the stadium
interior which was overwhelmed by an awful lot of rain. Nevertheless there
were hardly any umbrellas; there was singing, acclaim and applause. It was
just ‘A Kind of Magic’.

The first tour without Mercury (and the first)* for 19 years has shown that the
charismatic frontman who died in 1991 could not, in fact, be replaced. The
playing of the video of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ allows for no other notion. On the
other hand, Rodgers was, wisely, never advertised or ‘sold’ as the ‘new’
Mercury. Rodgers brought in his own band history and harmonised magnificently
with May and Taylor. His Free and Bad Company songs ‘Wishing Well’, ‘Can’t Get
Enough’ and ‘All Right Now’ enriched the programme.

The powerhouses in their mid fifties put on a wonderful rock show and above
all there was the recognition that Queen’s music lives on; not only as a
recording for the winning of the area championship in football, handball or
mini golf, not only as the soundtrack for a whacky musical, but also as a live
event for fans from 15 to 65.

*Words in brackets added for clarity

2. From the Koelnische Rundschau:

http://www.rundschau-online.de/kr/KrCachedContentServer?ksArtikel.id=1120580125766&listID=1037966279508&openMenu=1039082845263&calledPageId=1039082845263

6 July 05

Never completely gone from us: Freddie sang too

By Jan Wördenweber, Kölnische Rundschau

Picture: Queen with (from left) Paul Rodgers, Roger Taylor and Brian May at
the beginning of the tour in the Olympiahalle in Munich.

One bleak cloud after another gathered in the evening over the RheinEnergie
Stadium. Not the best weather for the only open-air Queen concert in Germany.
Freddie Mercury would certainly have wished for better conditions for his
fellow band members Brian May and Roger Taylor and last but not least for the
loyal fans.

Shortly after 20.