The collaborative rock legends Queen + Paul Rodgers said they "cannot wait" to bring the magic of Queen to Dubai on Friday night.
Original Queen band members Brian May and Roger Taylor, and with Paul Rodgers — previously of the bands Free and Bad Company, which he fronted — landed in the UAE yesterday ahead of their first ever show in the Middle East.
The concert, at Dubai's Festival City, is hot on the heels of the group's sell-out European and UK tour, and just ahead of a trip to South America for the final leg of the Rock the Cosmos world tour.
Queen + Paul Rodgers concert, organised by the Transguard Group, promises to be a rock extravaganza like never before.
Brian May said: "We cannot wait to bring Queen alive in Dubai. We are very much looking forward to meeting our fans in the UAE and Middle East."
An expected audience of more than 12,000, as well as around 2,000 in an exclusive corporate hospitality village will enjoy an evening of classic Queen hits including We Are The Champions, Somebody To Love and Fat Bottomed Girls.
The English rock band was formed in 1970 by guitarist May, the late lead vocalist Freddie Mercury and drummer Taylor.
The Bassist John Deacon completed the line-up in 1971.
Rodgers joined May and Taylor after Mercury, Queen's legendary front man died in 1991 and Deacon retired in 1997.
Filling Mercury's shoes was never going to be possible, so Rodgers simply announced he would be performing "with" Queen and not replacing Mercury, who was loved the world over.
The English rock singer-songwriter is best known for being a member of the bands Free and Bad Company. Both had experienced international success in the 1970s.
The partnership began when Rodgers performed at Wembley Arena for the 50th anniversary celebration of the Fender Stratocaster guitar, along with David Gilmour, Ronnie Wood, May, Joe Walsh and Gary Moore.
It was in late 2004, following a live television performance, that May and Taylor proposed a collaboration with Rodgers, in which he would sing lead vocals on a European tour.
Queen + Paul Rodgers then released a single featuring Reaching Out, Tie Your Mother Down and Fat Bottomed Girls.
Facts
Queen released 15 studio albums, five live albums, and numerous compilation albums. Eighteen of these have reached number one on charts around the world. By 2006, the band had sold in excess of 300 million records internationally.
On 27 June 2008 Queen + Paul Rodgers performed at the Concert for Nelson Mandela to celebrate Mandela's 90th birthday.
Replacing an icon
Although Rodgers claims he has not "replaced" the late, great Freddie Mercury, he obviously sings lead vocals.
But whereas Queen has tried to disguise his position somewhat, one band made replacing their frontman a worldwide search.
Canadian Jason Dean Fortune, known as JD Fortune, replaced the rock band INXS' singer, Michael Hutchence. Fortune beat two other finalists to record an album and embark on a world tour with the Australian band. INXS held auditions in six continents as part of a reality TV series.
Since Hutchence died in 1997, INXS continued with a number of temporary singers including Terence Trent D'Arby, but eventually agreed on a permanent fixture in Fortune.
While some fans were unhappy about the public search for a new lead singer through a TV show, INXS always insisted it was not trying to find a direct replacement for Hutchence.
Freddie the great
He was born Faroukh Bulsara in Zanzibar, and died Freddie Mercury. The announcement came on November 24, 1991: "Freddie Mercury died peacefully this evening at his home at 1 Logan Place, Kensington, London. His death was the result of pneumonia brought on by Aids."
Freddie was the first major rock star to die of the disease but he didn't announce his affliction until 24 hours before his death, saying: "I felt it correct to keep this information private in order to protect the privacy of those around me."
Tickets
Tickets, priced Dh400 and Dh800 for VIP, are available from Virgin Megastores and selected Spinneys, Hallmark and Cellucom outlets, as well as online at boxofficeme.com or timeouttickets.com
