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Post by musicalprostitute on May 9, 2023 15:35:13 GMT
According to Nuno Bettencourt in a recent interview Brian and Roger first approached Extreme to play the FM gig whilst Freddie was still alive and in hospital sometime towards the end of his life. Nuno states that Brian and Roger asked them to meet in a restaurant in London and told them that they had just visited Freddie in hospital and the tribute concert had been discussed; they then asked if Extreme would be a part of it. I had always thought they had planned it after Freddie's passing and that it was Roger who got the ball rolling and that Brian agreed after he saw who was going to play (or something like that!). Also, John approached them after they finished their set on the day and told them that they reminded him of Queen's Live Aid gig back in the day and that they 'stole the show'. Nuno also said that John had been listening to Extreme's Queen set on the radio whilst driving to Wembley Stadium; this strikes me as a little odd as John was obviously already at Wembley and had only about 15/20 minutes earlier introduced Metallica. Nuno has always struck me as quite an honest and decent man, but I don't know if this rings true for me. Anyway, here's the relevant interview (the statement about the tribute concert starts at about 38 minutes in): www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeBzQMudbFE |
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akirafish
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Post by akirafish on May 9, 2023 16:20:57 GMT
Sounds more like after Freddie passed away when Brian and Roger invited him.
Don’t get the hospital bit as Freddie was never hospitalized, only went to hospital very early and quietly for some treatments, and it would have made a fuss if Brian and Roger visited him there.
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pg
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Post by pg on May 9, 2023 16:49:40 GMT
Enough obvious inaccuracies in that to call into question the but you're relying on.
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Post by musicalprostitute on May 9, 2023 16:57:35 GMT
Sounds more like after Freddie passed away when Brian and Roger invited him. Don’t get the hospital bit as Freddie was never hospitalized, only went to hospital very early and quietly for some treatments, and it would have made a fuss if Brian and Roger visited him there. Yeah, I have never read about Freddie staying in hospital - only trips to the hospital for certain treatments and then out. So it doesn't really make much sense. Just find it curious that Nuno would state all this - unless of course it is down to poor memory on his behalf. |
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Post by musicalprostitute on May 9, 2023 17:00:59 GMT
Enough obvious inaccuracies in that to call into question the but you're relying on. I feel the same. I just thought I would put it out there in case anyone else here had heard anything remotely similar over the years. I shall put it down to Nuno simply recollecting things wrong. They may well have, for example, met in a restaurant and discussed the gig - just not in the circumstances he thinks they did. Our memories are never too reliable (they're always coloured by particular things). |
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Lord Fickle
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Post by Lord Fickle on May 9, 2023 17:13:18 GMT
Seems to me like a classic case of building up your part. I doubt they would have been allowed to play the Queen songs in their set without it being pre-planned and the main organisers knowing about it.
And let's not forget Def Leppard played Now I'm Here in their set, and Metallica did SCC, so Extreme weren't the only ones playing Queen songs before the main event.
Given it was over 30 years ago, I can forgive the hospital comment. To be fair, he probably wouldn't really have known when and where Freddie was receiving any treatments, and if the meeting was with Brian and Roger 'after they'd seen Freddie', it could be an understandable assumption on Nuno's part that he was in hospital.
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BrƎИsꓘi
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Post by BrƎИsꓘi on May 9, 2023 17:59:15 GMT
I doubt they would have been allowed to play the Queen songs in their set without it being pre-planned and the main organisers knowing about it. exactly. otherwise there's a risk of songs like Killer Queen, We Are The Champions, Somebody to Love, Under Pressure etc being played multiple times across the day/evening |
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Post by musicalprostitute on May 9, 2023 18:02:42 GMT
Seems to me like a classic case of building up your part. I doubt they would have been allowed to play the Queen songs in their set without it being pre-planned and the main organisers knowing about it. And let's not forget Def Leppard played Now I'm Here in their set, and Metallica did SCC, so Extreme weren't the only ones playing Queen songs before the main event. Given it was over 30 years ago, I can forgive the hospital comment. To be fair, he probably wouldn't really have known when and where Freddie was receiving any treatments, and if the meeting was with Brian and Roger 'after they'd seen Freddie', it could be an understandable assumption on Nuno's part that he was in hospital. Yes, I agree about Nuno building up their part; the alleged 'you stole the show' quote from John backs that up also. You're right about Def Leppard playing Now I'm Here, although it was only Hetfield from Metallica performing Stone Cold Crazy with Queen - and that was part of the main event. But, still, another band did play a Queen song before the main set, so Extreme were not unique (although I thought their medley was absolutely fantastic and a real tribute to Fred). |
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Post by Brian's Wig on May 9, 2023 18:26:12 GMT
Enough obvious inaccuracies in that to call into question the but you're relying on. Clearly the plot for the next Queen movie.. LOL |
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Post by munichqueenfan on May 9, 2023 18:51:36 GMT
I doubt they would have been allowed to play the Queen songs in their set without it being pre-planned and the main organisers knowing about it. exactly. otherwise there's a risk of songs like Killer Queen, We Are The Champions, Somebody to Love, Under Pressure etc being played multiple times across the day/evening Well, the Extreme medley contained the rock part of BoRap, I Want To Break Free, We Will Rock You (no vocals, only guitar solo), Stone Cold Crazy and Radio Gaga. So it could be that the Queen members were not aware about the songs. By the way, Extreme also included Another One Bites The Dust in their medley. Not quite suitable for a tribute. Just imagine Queen would have played the song at Live Aid  . |
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Lord Fickle
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Post by Lord Fickle on May 9, 2023 19:49:43 GMT
Seems to me like a classic case of building up your part. I doubt they would have been allowed to play the Queen songs in their set without it being pre-planned and the main organisers knowing about it. And let's not forget Def Leppard played Now I'm Here in their set, and Metallica did SCC, so Extreme weren't the only ones playing Queen songs before the main event. Given it was over 30 years ago, I can forgive the hospital comment. To be fair, he probably wouldn't really have known when and where Freddie was receiving any treatments, and if the meeting was with Brian and Roger 'after they'd seen Freddie', it could be an understandable assumption on Nuno's part that he was in hospital. Yes, I agree about Nuno building up their part; the alleged 'you stole the show' quote from John backs that up also. You're right about Def Leppard playing Now I'm Here, although it was only Hetfield from Metallica performing Stone Cold Crazy with Queen - and that was part of the main event. But, still, another band did play a Queen song before the main set, so Extreme were not unique (although I thought their medley was absolutely fantastic and a real tribute to Fred). You're right. See how the memory fades after 30 years? 😄 |
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Raf
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Post by Raf on May 10, 2023 0:08:04 GMT
Seems to me like a classic case of building up your part. I doubt they would have been allowed to play the Queen songs in their set without it being pre-planned and the main organisers knowing about it. Brian's exact words to introduce Extreme were: "These guys are real friends and they're possibly, more than any other group on this planet, the people that understand exactly what Queen have been about all these years and what Freddie was about all these years." I always thought it was intentional to introduce the band that would play a Queen set like that. It's almost as if he's saying "that's the closest you're getting to Queen without actually having Queen on stage". I really can't see it not being planned in advance. Perhaps the original idea was a perfect division between bands playing their own songs and Queen playing Queen songs with guest singers, and then at some point in the rehearsals Extreme were, indeed, overly excited about being proper fans (as he described in the interview) and talked Brian into softening the rules in the name of giving the fans a good warm up for Queen's set. And then, just like the whole hospital story, either his memories got blurry after 30 years or he's just trying to make himself more legendary. |
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Post by musicalprostitute on May 10, 2023 17:02:23 GMT
Yes, I agree about Nuno building up their part; the alleged 'you stole the show' quote from John backs that up also. You're right about Def Leppard playing Now I'm Here, although it was only Hetfield from Metallica performing Stone Cold Crazy with Queen - and that was part of the main event. But, still, another band did play a Queen song before the main set, so Extreme were not unique (although I thought their medley was absolutely fantastic and a real tribute to Fred). You're right. See how the memory fades after 30 years? 😄  Aye, you are not wrong there, good man. I'm happy if I can remember what I did last week these days. |
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pg
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Post by pg on May 10, 2023 22:58:54 GMT
I'm happy if I can remember what I did last week these days. You can't remember offering to send me a tenner? No wonder it hasn't turned up |
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Post by soxtalon on May 11, 2023 5:29:12 GMT
According to Nuno Bettencourt in a recent interview Brian and Roger first approached Extreme to play the FM gig whilst Freddie was still alive and in hospital sometime towards the end of his life. Nuno states that Brian and Roger asked them to meet in a restaurant in London and told them that they had just visited Freddie in hospital and the tribute concert had been discussed; they then asked if Extreme would be a part of it. I had always thought they had planned it after Freddie's passing and that it was Roger who got the ball rolling and that Brian agreed after he saw who was going to play (or something like that!). Also, John approached them after they finished their set on the day and told them that they reminded him of Queen's Live Aid gig back in the day and that they 'stole the show'. Nuno also said that John had been listening to Extreme's Queen set on the radio whilst driving to Wembley Stadium; this strikes me as a little odd as John was obviously already at Wembley and had only about 15/20 minutes earlier introduced Metallica. Nuno has always struck me as quite an honest and decent man, but I don't know if this rings true for me. Anyway, here's the relevant interview (the statement about the tribute concert starts at about 38 minutes in): www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeBzQMudbFEI love Nuno...Extreme is my second favorite band - they partially led me to Queen who then took over lol - I haven't gotten to listen to the interview yet (but thanks for pointing it out) A lot of this feels like faded memory. Nuno was definitely friends with Brian. So I would absolutely believe that they went out to a restaurant after they had visited Freddie. Maybe he meant hospice - not hospital and he just got confused. It wouldn't surprise me if the band had thoughts of a tribute concert before Freddie passed. They knew it was going to happen. I could believe it came up informally. The John stuff. I don't believe he'd big himself up by lying about it. He may misremember where John was when he heard the set. None of this seems THAT out of whack that the details are fuzzy but the broad strokes are true. As far as the Queen set goes, I'd believe that Brian didn't want Queen songs played. They perhaps wouldn't count Def Leppard since Brian was going to play with them...I remember a previous interview with Brian who said something to the effect of that he had tried to push Extreme to play their own material - partially because he thought it a great way to get their material across...so most of that rings true as well... |
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Post by musicalprostitute on May 11, 2023 18:12:31 GMT
I'm happy if I can remember what I did last week these days. You can't remember offering to send me a tenner? No wonder it hasn't turned up Oh, I sent it; I just forgot to put a stamp on the envelope. |
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Post by musicalprostitute on May 11, 2023 18:27:49 GMT
According to Nuno Bettencourt in a recent interview Brian and Roger first approached Extreme to play the FM gig whilst Freddie was still alive and in hospital sometime towards the end of his life. Nuno states that Brian and Roger asked them to meet in a restaurant in London and told them that they had just visited Freddie in hospital and the tribute concert had been discussed; they then asked if Extreme would be a part of it. I had always thought they had planned it after Freddie's passing and that it was Roger who got the ball rolling and that Brian agreed after he saw who was going to play (or something like that!). Also, John approached them after they finished their set on the day and told them that they reminded him of Queen's Live Aid gig back in the day and that they 'stole the show'. Nuno also said that John had been listening to Extreme's Queen set on the radio whilst driving to Wembley Stadium; this strikes me as a little odd as John was obviously already at Wembley and had only about 15/20 minutes earlier introduced Metallica. Nuno has always struck me as quite an honest and decent man, but I don't know if this rings true for me. Anyway, here's the relevant interview (the statement about the tribute concert starts at about 38 minutes in): www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeBzQMudbFEI love Nuno...Extreme is my second favorite band - they partially led me to Queen who then took over lol - I haven't gotten to listen to the interview yet (but thanks for pointing it out) A lot of this feels like faded memory. Nuno was definitely friends with Brian. So I would absolutely believe that they went out to a restaurant after they had visited Freddie. Maybe he meant hospice - not hospital and he just got confused. It wouldn't surprise me if the band had thoughts of a tribute concert before Freddie passed. They knew it was going to happen. I could believe it came up informally. The John stuff. I don't believe he'd big himself up by lying about it. He may misremember where John was when he heard the set. None of this seems THAT out of whack that the details are fuzzy but the broad strokes are true. As far as the Queen set goes, I'd believe that Brian didn't want Queen songs played. They perhaps wouldn't count Def Leppard since Brian was going to play with them...I remember a previous interview with Brian who said something to the effect of that he had tried to push Extreme to play their own material - partially because he thought it a great way to get their material across...so most of that rings true as well... For my money their Queen medley was one of the highlights of the day; and kicking off with Mustapha told the real fans that this band knew all the catalogue (as Nuno rightly says in this interview). I don't believe they approached Extreme before Freddie passed. And we know he never stayed in a hospital or hospice in his final years (he only visited them for certain treatments). Nuno has simply remembered things wrong. Brian stated in an interview that it was Roger who got the ball rolling on the concert and who originally started contacting artists (Brian got on board once he saw who Roger had managed to persuade to perform), so it is very doubtful that Extreme were one of the first bands who were approached. It would not surprise me if Brian did say something about not wanting them to perform Queen tracks in the first part of the concert. But I find the alleged quote from John unlikely; and this is not the first time Nuno has stated it happened after John heard them on his car radio (which makes no sense, as John would have already been at Wembley that day). I think it really is just a case of Nuno misremembering certain things. He does not strike me as someone who would knowingly and blatantly lie about such things - it's just his memory letting him down. Anyway, hope you enjoy the interview! |
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