Citation:
Queen planning a new album with Paul Rodgers and tour next year
Translated by Julie Pietryla
Guitarist Brian May, who is in Madrid today to attend the official opening of the musical “We Will Rock You” at the Teatro Calderón, said hours before the event that a new Queen album is in the works as well as a tour next year with Paul Rodgers, who has been their singer for two years.
Brian May, who speaks, according to him, a little “Tenerife Spanish”, and who could not resist the temptation to eat asparagus — no doubt the reason why he made the Press wait almost two hours — is delighted with the musical “We Will Rock You”, which returns three years after its premiere on the Madrid scene, since “There is no better tribute than to listen to others sing your songs”.
“We Will Rock You”, a musical with songs by Queen, script by Ben Elton, Spanish adaptation by Luis Alvarez, musical direction by Pablo Navarro, choreography by Cristina Sánchez and artistic direction by Alejandra Martín, brings the audience to the future, when globalization has reached its peak on Planet Mall, previously known as Earth.
Everywhere, young people see the same movies, dress in the same clothes and have the same thoughts and ideas. It is the Ga-Ga world, a safe and happy world for all, except for those who love music, because it is prohibited.
There live Galileo, brought to life by Julián Fontalvo and Daniel Diges; Meat Loaf, played by María López and Lara Alcázar; Britney, by Juan Félix Bejarano; Killer Queen, played by Nieves Val and Tessa; and Khashoggi, Pop and Bertín, portrayed by Carlos Fernández, Diego Falcón and Alfonso Arteche, who comprise the new cast for this production.
“We Are the Champions”, “I Want to Break Free”, “A Kind of Magic”, “I Want It All”, “Flash” and “Another One Bites the Dust” are some of the Queen songs that are heard in this show, but
Brian May is restless for new material and so he is preparing to return to the stage with Paul Rodgers.
“Paul interprets Queen songs more organically”, explains the guitarist, who says he doesn’t really know how to compare the late Freddie Mercury and the leader of Free and Bad Company. “I think”, he adds, "that Queen, with Paul, has undergone a musical transformation, but that’s logical when there is a new singer”.
May, who confessed that to keep his long curly hair shiny he showers “every morning with cold water, which is good for the hair and to maintain your immune system”, last summer went back to one of his greatest loves, astronomy, and wrote a book, “Bang! A Complete History of the Universe”, with expert Patrick Moore, which contains photographs that May took from the observatory that he built in the garden of his Surrey (England) mansion.
“That was four years of photographic work and a return to the profession I prepared for”, explains the British guitarist, who recognizes that “To become a rock star was the worst thing you could do to your parents”.With regard to the 60th anniversary of the birth of the late Freddie Mercury, Brian May is certain that Freddie “was unique and is beyond compare; that is the glory of the great stars in music”.
