August 2004

Please note the closing date for the new competition in the Fan Club Magazine is

It is OK to send entries by e-mail to the Fan Club but please note Jacky has asked for general mail not to be sent while she is on holiday.

- Prizes are 4 copies of the lavish new We will Rock You book, donated by Carlton Books.

God Save The Queen - Day dedicated to Queen in Hard Rock Cafe in Freddie Mercury's birthday and the release of the first portuguese fan club ever!

To celebrate Freddie Mercury's birthday (58 years old), the portuguese fan club of Queen, "Keep Queen Alive" in collaboration with the Hard Rock Cafe - Lisbon, will realize, in the next september 5th, a party to honor Queen.

This event will start around 18:30. With the projection of many video clips and concerts like the most rare one "Final Live In Japan" like the exposition of Singles, between many other Queen things.

Around 23:00 the Good Company band, a Queen cover band, will play a tribute to Queen.

For more informations about the event visit the web site from the fan club "Keep Queen Alive":
www.keepqueenalive.web.pt
(And It's gonna be the release of the first portuguese fan club ever!!!)
with love
Adriana Taylor

Phil Collins was interview by The Review Journal as he was about to embark on his Farewell Tour earlier this month month... kicking off in America.

Collins thought he wouldn't even be able to do this tour, because four years ago he suffered a sudden loss of about 60 percent of the hearing in his left ear. Doctors told him it would be unwise to perform in the uncontrollable din of a concert. A year ago, his ear gave him real trouble when he practiced with the band Queen at the royal Queen's Golden Jubilee.

"I was supposed to sing 'We Are The Champions,' and I went to rehearsal and my ear just went crazy when they came in loud. They were the loudest band I've ever heard, other than AC/DC. It was so loud my ear just screamed in pain."

The theatre venue for WWRY Spain next February 3rd - 27th is now confirmed as Teatro Olympia in Valencia.

As reported on 13 August, the Spanish Tour of We Will Rock You will first open in Barcelona and run from November 12th to December 12th in Theatre Apolo, then Bilbao - December 17th to January 16th in Theatre Arriaga, followed by Valencia.

There is talk of a DVD of the Spanish show, though nothing is certain at the moment.

Previews have started. For those who don't know, previews are public performances that critics are not invited to attend. It's a time to get used to working in front of an audience, to see what works and what doesn't, what needs to get fixed before the critics come in for opening. (Generally, previews are cheaper than performances after opening night, but not in Vegas.)

Anyway, our previews have been just amazing. But to appreciate how great they were, let's back up to Wednesday tech rehearsal before previews.

It was horrible. An absolute nightmare. Tech stuff (and there's a LOT of it) wasn't working at all, and the constant stopping and starting hugely affected the amount of energy and life we were putting into the show. And, like a horrible sort of Groundhog Day, we would keep starting at the beginning every day (even though we'd only get through about half the show), so it was like we couldn't remember how the show ended.

By Jerry Fink

LAS VEGAS SUN

* What: "We Will Rock You."
* Where: Paris Las Vegas' Le Theatre des Arts.
* Rating (out of five stars): *****

In the distant future a muscular black male punk rocker sporting a mohawk is named Britney Spears.

They are part of a waning tribe of Bohemians trying to keep rock 'n' roll alive, but more than 300 years have passed since the music was outlawed, and their scant knowledge of the era is pieces of information passed down over the generations.

The Bohemians have adopted rock 'n' roll names, but the names have no meaning to them. They only know that one day The Dreamer, The King -- a messiah figure -- one day will appear and lead them.

"We Will Rock You," the musical comedy that premiered this week at Paris Las Vegas, not only will rock you with some of Queen's most popular songs but will also entertain you with a witty script by Ben Elton.

The production was first staged in London two years ago, becoming one of that city's most popular shows. There's a good possibility that it may experience the same success in Las Vegas, where it has made its North American debut.

"We Will Rock You" runs an hour and 50 minutes without an intermission, but it moves so quickly and smoothly and is so much fun that one loses track of time.

The story opens with Pop sitting onstage, surrounded by rays of light that creates a laser jail cell. He talks to the audience.

"I still ain't found out the exact day that the music died," he says, "But 'American Idol' had a whole lot to do with it."

The show is perfectly cast with performers who have tremendous vocal talent, especially Rich Hebert, who does an outstanding job as the antagonist, Khashoggi, and Patti Russo as the Killer Queen, who is trying to stamp out live music forever.

Tony Vincent, who portrays Galileo (The Dreamer destined to save rock), and Aspen Miller (female protagonist Scaramouche) are excellent in their respective parts.

Douglas Crawford does a lot with his small-but-pivotal role as "Pop," a librarian who retains much of the knowledge about rock 'n' roll in his head, since all of the books and magazines on the subject have been destroyed.

Crawford most recently performed at the Paris in 2000, appearing as Quasimodo in the short-lived production of "Notre Dame de Paris." He can unpack his bags now. "We Will Rock You" should be here for a long run.

The sets are spectacular, the costumes interesting, the overall production almost flawless.

Like "Mamma Mia!" at Mandalay Bay (based on music by ABBA), "We Will Rock You" uses songs by one of the hottest bands of the '70s and early '80s to weave a light-hearted tale that should appeal to the broadest fan base. Who doesn't like rock 'n' roll, especially the older stuff?

The production opens with a three-piece set that includes "Radio Ga Ga" (a 1984 hit), "I Want to Break Free" ('84) and "Somebody to Love" ('76).

The final scene is another three-piece set: "We Will Rock You" ('77), "We are the Champions" ('77) and "Bohemian Rhapsody" ('75). In between there are a dozen more Queen numbers, among them "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" ('79), "Fat Bottomed Girls" ('78) and "Another One Bites the Dust" ('80).

There have been some adaptions made for Vegas audiences -- for example, when Galileo and Scaramouche begin their search for a specific guitar, the last remaining musical instrument in the world, the journey first takes them to Vegas, a city that has long been almost entirely submerged in water, an effect of global warming.

When the couple arrive at a Vegas lounge they meet Pop and a handful of zombie-like Bohemians, who have had their minds altered by the establishment.

From Vegas the search for the holy grail of instruments takes them to Graceland, a decaying mansion in Memphis that has lost meaning over the centuries.

Elton's cleverly written satire is reminiscent of George Orwell's "1984" and Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World," with a hint of Anthony Burgess' "Clockwork Orange" thrown in for good measure.

Elton uses the idea of mind control by mainstream society to get at the heart of what rock 'n' roll was all about at its inception: rebellion against the establishment.

**Fri 27 Aug 04**
HOW LIVE AID WAS SAVED FOR HISTORY

BBC News:

Live Aid, the legendary 1985 charity concert featuring stars from Paul McCartney and Queen to U2 and Madonna, is being released on DVD for the first time.

The Live Aid concert was split between London and Philadelphia

It was one of the defining events of the 1980s, with an unequalled musical line-up contributing to one of the most memorable TV broadcasts ever made.

But Live Aid's transatlantic 16-hour show was almost not recorded at all.

When organiser Bob Geldof was persuading artists to take part, he promised it would be a one-off, never to be seen again.

That way, he said, they did not have to worry about contracts or embarrassment if they messed up amid the chaos of the day.If Geldof's plan had been followed, Live Aid would have remained a fond but fading memory.

But BBC Radio 1 concert co-ordinator Jeff Griffin realised history was about to be made - so recorded it anyway.

Mr Griffin confronted Geldof at a meeting a month before the event. "I collared him for about 30 seconds afterwards and just looked him in the face," Mr Griffin tells BBC News Online.

Prince Charles and Princess Diana were among 72,000 at Wembley

"I said 'Bob I hear what you're saying, but I have to disagree with you - I just think it would be irresponsible not to record it because this has all the makings of something very, very special'."

Geldof secretly acknowledged "it was silly not to do it", Mr Griffin says: "So he left it up to me."

Although video of the BBC One broadcast with high-quality multi-track audio was kept, many performances from the US were not shown in the UK and so were still missing.

The concert was split between Wembley Stadium, London, and JFK Stadium, Philadelphia - and US broadcaster ABC took Geldof more seriously and made its tapes unusable.

The DVD's producer Jill Sinclair says: "That was what was so heartbreaking because I had no idea that they would be so stupid. "Not that they thought they were being stupid, they just thought they were following instructions."

Another set of tapes had been given to the Smithsonian Institute - but were lost or stolen.

Eventually, more than 100 Live Aid tapes were tracked down in MTV's archives - albeit with songs cut short by ad breaks and presenters.

Ms Sinclair has not put incomplete songs on the DVD, but the four-disc set, to be released in the UK on 8 November, still clocks in at 10 hours.

Every person who appeared on stage - from backing singers to big stars - has been contacted to get their permission to be on the discs.

The vast majority of artists agreed, saying: "We were there on the day, we wanted to support the cause, we still want to support the cause," Ms Sinclair says.

Madonna had just become a global star when she performed

"We may have been wearing some ridiculous fluorescent yellow shirt or some ludicrous mullet hairstyle - but it's a piece of history and we were part of it."

The only artists to refuse were Led Zeppelin because they said they put in a "sub-standard" performance.

"I did feel cross because I felt like they were letting me down as a fan of Led Zeppelin, I felt they were cheating me," Ms Sinclair says.

"But actually now I'm happy," she says, because Robert Plant and Jimmy Page are giving all royalties from their own forthcoming DVD to Band Aid.

"I could never have imagined they would have come back with something as generous as this," she says.

Technical glitches on the day came when Sir Paul McCartney and Freddie Mercury sang on although their microphones were not working.

Sir Paul re-recorded Let It Be a few days later, while Mercury's vocals have been recovered from other microphones that were working - so both performances are on disc.

'Can't be done'

"[Mercury] didn't know it wasn't being recorded, so he thought he was giving the performance of his life and it seems very hard to not include him," Ms Sinclair says.

As well as the sound improvements, dodgy camera shots have been replaced and the DVD has been finished in record time.
When Ms Sinclair took on the project in May, she says she was "completely on the verge of passing out" when told how soon organisers wanted it.

"They said they wanted it for Christmas and I thought I'm not sure if I can do it for Christmas - and I thought Christmas was in December," she says.

Phil Collins (left) and Sting were among the other stars on the bill

"And then the distributor said 'when we say Christmas, we mean October'. And I felt myself going a bit faint and said 'I don't think it can be done'."

So it has been an "extraordinary achievement", she says - but that has been down to the fact it was Live Aid. "Everybody just pulled out all the stops."

In 1984, when Band Aid's Do You Know It's Christmas? single came out, almost everybody gave their services for free.
This time, artists are still not being paid but DVD company Warner and retailers will take a cut of the £39.99 price. Warner paid a large lump sum to the charity for rights to release the DVD, and will pay more as sales go up.

The DVD is expected to be the must-have gift for every music fan this Christmas - even those who cannot remember the show.
"It seems to me that even very young kids know about it," Ms Sinclair says.

"It's become one of those things a bit like the Second World War - you don't have to have lived through it to know it happened."

**Fri 27 Aug 04**
ELLA ENCHANTED ON DVD

Veteran rock act Queen earned its highest rank on The Billboard 200 since 1993 with "Greatest Hits: We Will Rock You" (Hollywood). The collection moved 25,000 units

We have news from EMI Japan that Queen Jewel, released in Taiwan in accordance with the TV broadcast of the drama "Pride", has sold quite well, and became No.5 in the domestic chart last week.

TEHRAN, Aug 23 (AFP) - Rock band Queen, fronted by outlandish gay icon Freddie Mercury, have become the first rock band to be given the official seal of approval in Iran with the release of an album of their greatest hits, a source in the company that released the album told AFP Monday.

Mercury, who died of AIDS in 1991, was proud of his Iranian ancestry and supposed Zoroastrian origins, which made Queen one of the most popular bands in Iran, but western music is largely frowned upon in the Islamic republic, where homosexuality is considered a crime.

"Authorities approved of the tunes that had a social theme, leaving out the love songs," an executive in the company said.

The album contains smash hits such as "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Miracle" and "I Want to Break Free".

Western music is strictly censored in Iran and those selling foreign music need special permits, although millions of bootlegged banned CDs and cassettes are sold on the black market throughout the country.

The album is already selling very well. "It is the first rock album to hit the market legally and people are surprised and pleased to see it has the lyrics, not just the music," said Akbar Safari, a salesman at a Tehran book and record store.

The cassette, costing less than one US dollar, comes complete with explanatory leaflet, which tells rock fans that "Bohemian Rhapsody" is about a young man who has accidentally killed someone and, like Faust, sold his soul to the devil. On the night before his execution he calls God in Arabic, "Bismillah", and so regains his soul from Satan.

Other western acts to have had albums of selected songs released on the official Iranian market are Elton John, Julio Iglesias and Gypsy Kings.

There are also books containing original and translated lyrics by many western singers such as Leonard Cohen, Celine Dion and even white rap artist Eminem, published to respond to the ever increasing demands of a nation where 70 percent of the population is under 30.

As reported in a Georgian newspaper ("24 hours") with Brian and Roger picture and text:

Queen in Kremlin: The legendary Queen is planning the only one concert in the Kremlin palace and from Queen only the Brian and Roger will perform. Concert will be held on 17 October after the completion of the WWRY Russian première and on the Queen concert there will be the Russian performers also"

Superb Queen cover band The Miracle will play Vught in the Netherlands on 11 September.

It's a free festival so please would u please let as many people know about this !!

Imagine my surprise when on visiting my local Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet I was handed a free CD/CD-ROM with among other things the music from the advert. It also has the advert in full on it. It seems a very sad end for a recording that was meant for charity.

The biggest Japanese fan convention "TEO TORRIATTE 2004"
DATE: from 23rd to 24th October 2004
VENUE: Bottom Line Nagoya (where Brian had AW tour)

Saturday 23rd Oct. Door open: 14:30, Start: 15:00
*Live video "Houston '77"
*Welcome buffet dinner with free drinks
*Karaoke competition (The entries get some presents.)
*ROY's Freddie show
*Lari-Lure's guitar show
*Tribute band show - KWEEN

Sunday 24th Oct. Door open: noon, Start: 12:30
*The musical 'We Will Rock You' video
*Queen Quiz competition (The questions are read in Japanese and English, and the finals get some presents.)
*Charity Auction

And we hope to have the video message from the band, and hope to get some signed items for the auction. Jacky of QFC is kindly working on it.
For the ticket details, visit http://www.geocities.jp/queen_convention/index.html

**Sat 21 Aug 04**
COVERS - TOO MUCH LOVE, TAKE MY BREATH AWAY, UNDER PRESSURE, BO RHAP, AND SAMPLED BO RHAP

COVER FEATURE: ELLEN GREENE AND CHRISTIAN KLIKOVITS - TOO MUCH LOVE WILL KILL YOU / YOU TAKE MY BEATH AWAY

Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page will be in London on Monday to help christen the UK's answer to the Hollywood Rock Walk. NME.com say that he will be the first musician to put his handprints in the cement of the Walk Of Fame outside of the Piccadilly Circus Virgin Megastore. The aim of the Walk Of Fame is to have handprints of music icons, like the movie star handprints at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood. More will follow.

Dutch Queen Cover Band, Miracle, are releasing a DVD on September 1.
The DVD 'GetAlive' is a companion to the CD of the same name, released previously.
Track listing includes:
1. son & daughter
2. let me entertain you
3. now i`m here
4. i can`t live with you
5. ride the wild wind
6. band in heaven
7. great king rat
8. was it all worth it
9. seven seas of rhye
10. dead on time
11. fight from the inside
12. who wants to live forever?
13. `39
14. the prophet`s song
15. coming soon
16. crazy little thing called love
17. we will rock you
18. we are the champions
19. don`t stop me now
20. end credits (wilhelmus)
I am really looking forward to this DVD.
More information can be found at:
http://www.miracle-online.nl/index.php

The Strip is starting to look like Broadway
Producers say audiences ready for edgy shows

"They say the neon lights are bright on Broadway," goes the George Benson song. But "they" apparently never saw Las Vegas.
Not only are The Strip's lights brighter than those of the Great White Way, but its marquees might soon look as if they're actually near Times Square, judging from the Broadway-style fare that is gradually invading Las Vegas.

The producers of Avenue Q won Broadway's Tony Award for best musical in June and then announced their show would open its only other production in Vegas, skipping a national tour .A few days later came word The Phantom Of The Opera would open a permanent production in a theatre carved out of the Venetian Hotel on The Strip .Already up and running for more than a year is Mamma Mia! — at its full Broadway length instead of the 90 minutes that has been the custom for most shows in Las Vegas. An open-ended run of the Broadway version of Saturday Night Fever is also on The Strip.

And beginning previews this week is We Will Rock You, a hit London musical with a score made up of Queen songs. It's bypassing Broadway for now and going straight to Las Vegas for its U.S. premiere.This incipient Broadway beachhead in Vegas could raise several challenges to competitors on both sides of the country. In Las Vegas itself, Broadway shows with professional but relatively unknown actors might deliver more bang for the buck to the hotels than expensive pop stars do. And Broadway musicals present an alternative to the Cirque du Soleil empire that is about to mount its fourth permanent show in Las Vegas, with a fifth possibly waiting in the wings.

East Coast snobs might shudder at the idea that an imitation Broadway could be born in the desert. But the reality is that for years both Broadway and The Strip have thrived primarily on tourists. Each city — New York and Las Vegas — drew slightly more than 35 million visitors last year. Las Vegas statisticians calculate that the average tourist spent $37.82 (all figures U.S.) to see some kind of show. It's true that most of those productions are not fonts of intellectual stimulation — but then neither is much of what's playing on Broadway.

The most unexpected of the Broadway entries in the Vegas sweepstakes is Avenue Q. Featuring puppets as well as actors, it offers a topless flash — but only on a puppet. And its themes are far removed from Vegas glitz. Its young, financially struggling characters would not be likely to vacation amid the slot machines. Sample song titles: "It Sucks to Be Me," "If You Were Gay," "Everyone's A Little Bit Racist."But Steve Wynn, the Vegas hotel mogul who earlier arranged for the itinerant Cirque du Soleil to park permanently in the desert and also opened the Bellagio resort with a gallery of fine art worth $300 million, saw Avenue Q three times in New York. He decided he wanted it as part of his new $2.5 billion Vegas resort, the Wynn Las Vegas, alongside a new water spectacle from a former Cirque du Soleil talent, Franco Dragone."Ten million dollars' worth of hydraulics cannot accomplish what Marcel Marceau can do," Wynn says, explaining his eclectic theatrical tastes. "I wanted a counterpoint, a sample of Marcel Marceau, to use a metaphor. Las Vegas has to develop theatre at its core, at its most fundamental. It's what separates us from the Indian casinos."

Avenue Q co-producer Kevin McCollum says a regular tour had been planned for the show, but it posed problems. Because the costs of moving from city to city would require the greater revenue potential of huge theatres, the musical would play in venues that would overwhelm such an intimate show. And it would require extensive advertising to identify itself: Unlike recent Tony winners Hairspray and The Producers, it's not based on a familiar source.The producers were miffed at requests from some of the presenters for bowdlerization of the show's lyrics as well as what McCollum felt were insufficient financial guarantees.

The Phantom Of The Opera in its run has grossed $3.2 billion and has been turned into a movie with an expected release this year. Even so, composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and his producing partner, Clear Channel Entertainment, are convinced it has enough theatrical life left in it to warrant a $35 million production in a new $30 million theatre at the Venetian in Vegas. Still, the show will get a makeover. About an hour will be nipped to make it fit the usual Vegas length of 90 minutes with no intermission. With many Vegas visitors staying only two days, says Scott Zeiger, Clear Channel theatrical chief executive, "the hotels are not interested in keeping them captivated inside the theatre" when casinos, restaurants, spas and shops also want to raid wallets.

The new We Will Rock You uses the Mamma Mia! formula of combining a story with a pop group's song catalogue. But the hero of Ben Elton's book is a young male rebel 300 years in the future, and the stadium-filling music of Queen means a somewhat more male-skewed appeal than that of Mamma Mia!

We Will Rock You is a creation of Tribeca Productions, better known for its movies and its co-founder, Robert De Niro. The show opened on the West End in 2002 to mostly discouraging reviews, but they didn't seem to matter — it's still playing there and is spreading around the world.

Bobby Yee, president of Paris Las Vegas, where We Will Rock You will be presented in a 1,450-seat hall with six huge plasma screens, notes that the hall's previous Broadway-style occupant, Notre Dame De Paris, didn't do well. Yee wasn't there at the time, but the accepted explanation for its failure, he says, was its downbeat ending.

Avenue Q may be the biggest test yet to see if the traditional notion of the Las Vegas audience is going to change. "Las Vegas is going to become very, very edgy in the performing arts," Wynn says. "Thank God — it's about time."

NOTE: Special offer below for all performances except Fr & Sat nights. Savings of about $25 per ticket on A reserve prices!!

Also - 25,000 new seats on sale this Monday.Probably last ticket release taking them up to 25/09 which will be the final night in Brisbane.

WE WILL ROCK YOU
Now playing! Strictly limited season only!
Lyric Theatre, QPAC
WE WILL ROCK YOU, the most awarded musical at the 2004 Helpmann Awards is blowing Brisbane audiences away!

Winner of five awards, including best Female Actor, Best Supporting Male and Female Actor, Best Sound and Best Musical Direction, WE WILL ROCK YOU is an experience not to be missed!

WE WILL ROCK YOU has been the No.1 selling show in London with a standing ovation every night since its opening in May 2002. We're very pleased to announce that the response here in Brisbane, by the tens of thousands of people who have already seen the show, has been exactly the same! for more information visit www.qpac.com.au/events/We%20Will%20Rock%20You.

To ensure you don't miss out on this electrifying musical, the Producers would like to extend to you a special offer for all performances excluding Friday and Saturday nights, from now until Thursday 9 September, as outlined below.

Call Qtix on 136 246 and ask for the Hottix offer to receive these special prices when purchasing your tickets to WE WILL ROCK YOU.

To purchase tickets for a Friday or Saturday night performance visit www.qtix.com.au/show/ROCKYOU.
*Includes all fees.


AUGUST 2004	Contains some Industry and General News	Next \| Previous

01. Dream Or Die 02. Enjoy The Silence 03. Bohemian Rhapsody Sound sample: 04. Can`t Get You Out Of My Head 05. Sex Change Hop 06. Boys Don`t Cry 07. Goldfinger 08. London Calling 09. I`m Not In Love	10. Das Modell 11. Kung Fu Fighting 12. The Purple Song 13. Too Drunk Too F*** 14. Sex And Drugs And... 15. Psycho Killer 16. A Glass Of Champagne 17. Haunted Heads
An overwhelming aural experience! Seventeen songs, including four PSH originals, great contributions by hand-picked guest musicians, mind-blowing „Twang-O-Rama“ high fidelity stereo sound, a handful of more or less subliminal sonic surprises, arousingly beautiful 2-D artwork - all this and much more is waiting for you at ”Eccentric Lazyland”!