'Queen are coming, let's celebrate rock!' - article from "La Repubblica", 4 July 1986
Jul 17, 2022 9:10:45 GMT
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Post by fabiogminero on Jul 17, 2022 9:10:45 GMT
Hello everybody.
I share with you an interesting article written by the journalist Ernesto Assante entitled Arrivano i Queen, celebriamo il rock! (translated as Queen are coming, let's celebrate rock!) and published in the Italian newspaper La Repubblica on 4 July 1986. The journalist writes a nice article about the band, praising their music and the success of the last fifteen years, also talking about the two concerts in Zurich held on 1st and 2nd July 1986; a short interview with Brian May (held after one of the two concerts in the Swiss city) is also proposed - the custom for Italians at the time was to move to Switzerland to attend concerts by foreign artists and, obviously, the press also took the opportunity to follow the events. Informations on the setlist played during the 'Magic Tour' is also provided.
Have a good reading.
I share with you an interesting article written by the journalist Ernesto Assante entitled Arrivano i Queen, celebriamo il rock! (translated as Queen are coming, let's celebrate rock!) and published in the Italian newspaper La Repubblica on 4 July 1986. The journalist writes a nice article about the band, praising their music and the success of the last fifteen years, also talking about the two concerts in Zurich held on 1st and 2nd July 1986; a short interview with Brian May (held after one of the two concerts in the Swiss city) is also proposed - the custom for Italians at the time was to move to Switzerland to attend concerts by foreign artists and, obviously, the press also took the opportunity to follow the events. Informations on the setlist played during the 'Magic Tour' is also provided.
Have a good reading.
Queen are coming, let's celebrate rock!
ZURICH - Almost fifteen uninterrupted years of career and success, a linear path that has crossed different fashions and eras, an enviable group harmony, a list of singles that reached the top of the sales charts that is truly impressive: there is nothing but say, Queen's roadmap is almost perfect. For some years now, moreover, the British group seems to have returned to the golden times: in England they have rediscovered them all, from the old fans who now consider them an institution like The Rolling Stones, to the very young who they may have known through videos, and the huge success they achieved last year at "Live Aid", when Freddie Mercury and his group got the biggest ovation from the seventy thousand people at Wembley, was only a confirmation. This is also the case on the Continent, as demonstrated by the two concerts that the group held in Zurich, last Tuesday and Wednesday, gathering almost 30,000 people in two evenings. Queen's "Magic Tour" this year is one of the peak events of a season that is in many ways quite poor. It is therefore an easy game for the British group to gather all the fans of rock for a show that is a complete celebration of rock, its history, its evolution. In fact, Queen are not a genre group, they certainly have a style, characteristic above all for the vocalism of Freddie Mercury and the "distorted" guitarists of Brian May, but they have never taken root in a single musical genre. Thus, in the two hours of the show presented in Zurich, the "queen" took care not to upset any of her many subjects, passing from rock 'n' roll to glitter, from refined pop to dance, from acoustic melodies to hard rock. And it is precisely in this great variety of musical proposals, after all, the winning card of the show and the strength of the group: «Our music», Brian May told us at the end of the concert «collects different influences, there is a bit of everything and this is one of the reasons for our success. The show is designed precisely in this sense, for the public and our entertainment». Queen have never been an "important" formation in rock, they have never written fundamental pages for the history of the genre, but they have been able to cross it with sufficient agility and even with increasing credibility. So you don't get bored at a Queen concert, even if you don't like the band's music, especially because every note of the group seems familiar, the "already heard" of rock 'n' roll is proposed again in a celebration that literally sends the audience into raptures. The group speaks a simple and immediate language that becomes engaging and cheerful live, prompting the audience to sing in chorus every song. And almost every song is a success: "One Vision", "A Kind Of Magic", the beautiful "Under Pressure", which on record saw Freddie Mercury duet with David Bowie, "Another One Bites The Dust", "I Want To Break Free", a selection of old rock 'n' roll performed with acoustic guitar, in the manner of Elvis Presley's Sun Records, with "You're So Square" by Elvis, "Mary Lou" by Ricky Nelson, "Tutti Frutti" by Little Richard. And again, "Radio Ga-Ga", with the audience excited to raise their arms to the sky as in the video, "We Will Rock You", "Friends Will Be Friends", and to conclude the party the inevitable "We Are The Champions", with Freddie Mercury wrapped in a double flag, English on one side, Swiss on the other. Mercury is the star of the show, although his famous histrionics in Zurich have been quite restrained and his voice has suffered from a few shortcomings. The singer moves confidently on stage, encourages the audience to participate, captures attention with great skill. And the professionalism of the group is combined with a perfect technical construction of the show, excellent in lighting and amplification. The gran finale is with Freddie Mercury complete with a royal crown and cloak: rock is probably a constitutional monarchy and the "queen" is firmly on her throne.