Someone was ranting on Facebook about how inaccurate the Queen movie was and offered this video as proof that Freddie didn’t have to come begging back to the band to be allowed to perform with them before Live Aid.
In reality, they were rocking Japan in 1985!
Paul Young played St. Luke’s tonight, and we were lucky enough to grab fifth-row seats by turning up early. The place was packed.
The show is billed as “Paul Young – From No Parlez to The Secret Of Association” and described as follows,
Paul Young looks back during these intimate shows, that combine conversation and acoustic versions of songs
Paul Young broke into the big time 40 years ago when No Parlez went to number one and spawned iconic hits like Wherever I Lay My Hat (That’s My Home). More success followed with the number one album The Secret Of Association and the worldwide hit Everytime You Go Away, not forgetting an appearance at Live Aid and more. Paul sustained that success – while having fun in his tex-mex band, Los Pacaminos. Now, he’s looking back during these intimate shows, that combine conversation and acoustic versions of songs. Paul’s meeting fans, singing songs, and telling stories about his incredible career. It’s time to revel in the classic hits and learn the stories behind them in this intimate show.
It’s a description that, judging by the reaction in the room, almost nobody had read. I hadn’t either, in fairness. But when it turned into more of a guided tour through the back catalogue than a straight-up gig, a few people in the audience got restless. There was heckling. There was talking. From row five I could still catch most of what was being said on stage, but further back, I suspect the experience was a different one entirely. Having said that, some of the worst heckling came from the benches in front.
Paul’s voice isn’t what it once was. He’s been open about damaging it early in his career, but the stories more than carried the night. The standout for me was his recollection of singing Radio Ga Ga at the Freddie Mercury tribute concert at Wembley in 1992. He talked about looking up and seeing that vast crowd clapping in unison. He was grateful that camera technology had moved on enough by then to put a camera behind him so the people watching at home could see what he was seeing. I’m paraphrasing, but the line that stuck with me was him saying how amazing it was “to be Freddie Mercury for five minutes”.
It was funny them suggesting that Roger Taylor was off-stage playing the drums. Before the show started we remarked how similar Paul Young in his advertising poster looked to Roger Taylor.
Go in with the right expectations. This isn’t ninety minutes of non-stop hits. It’s stories, memories, and a handful of songs, hosted by Paul and his old friend Jamie Moses, whose rapport is genuinely lovely to watch. Treat it like an evening in someone’s front room rather than a concert, and you’ll have a good time.
Queen’s Roger Taylor released a new song about a certain orange guy.
A man of no morality, devoid of empathy.
It’s hard to believe the Bohemian Rhapsody movie is 7 years old. It’s a music documentary about a band that plays the music of Queen, charting their rise from unknowns to playing sold-out gigs, just like the real Queen band.
Anyway, that’s enough of a commentary about what a fantasy the movie was. The trailer was pretty good and Brickfilm Day did an outstanding reproduction of it. This post has been sitting in my drafts folder since 2018, so it’s about time I published it. I’m impressed all the videos are still live after 7 years.
Here is the original trailer. I love what they did for their Live Aid appearance.
Then the LEGOversion of the trailer.
And now side by side. Impressive isn’t it?
This episode of Recovering Queen was such a delight to listen to. They’re covering the wonderful Bicycle Race, a definite 10/10 Queen song. I love their banter about the song itself and the cover at the end was fantastic!
I love this interview with John Deacon, bass player with Queen. He comes across as a very ordinary and likeable person.
Interesting to hear his recollection of Under Pressure, that it was David Bowie pushing them to do it better.
It was 40 years ago today. I remember watching bits of Live Aid and had a VCR recording it, but as an almost ten year old, I got bored and went out to play. So I don’t remember seeing Queen play that day, but I’ve watched their performance multiple times since.
The official Queen YouTube channel is showing a remastered version of their set for 24 hours only, so the video above may not work if you’re visiting this blog post in the future.
Go get yt-dlp and save a remarkable performance for your own viewing pleasure!
Now, go look at a 480p version of their set. You’ll notice some improvements to the audio, which I like, but the 1080p video in the remaster could have been so much better.
Edit a few days later: it’s gone. I hope you grabbed a copy for yourself!
Here’s a cracking demo by DJ_Level_3 and Marv1994 done on an Oscilloscope, with the music creating the visuals. The music is great too, but of course, it’s not really responsible for the visuals, there are high-frequency sounds doing that, which we can’t hear. Utterly amazing stuff.
The demo got 1ST PLACE in Wild, and 1ST PLACE in Crowd Favorite at the recent demo party, Revision 2025.
Thanks Hackaday for featuring it.
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started watching this video, but it is so sweet and lovely, you have to watch it.
My wife and I have started rewatching Cold Feet, and I couldn’t help but notice that we’re now older than the characters during their original run at the turn of the century. It’s a strange sensation to watch characters who are at a younger stage of life than I am now, especially since I once thought of them as older, embarking on family adventures that I wouldn’t consider for several more years.
Anyway, in season 3, one of the characters is getting IVF, and they want some music. It’s weird how the nurse got the name of the song wrong, but I guess they weren’t able to license that one, and the music would have been added later…
There’s a funny meme about that song. If I find it, I’ll add it to this post.