An helicopter bearing the group's insignia leaves London, flies over the Thames and the legendary Battersea Power Station to land near the esplanade where at least 120,000 people had already gathered.
The helicopter with the livery printed just for the occasion lands the backstage. The hostesses rush to greet the stars, along with the swarm of people in charge of something. The tailgate opens and the first to get out is - of course - Mercury. The lit room demanded a triumphal entry, on stage, like those he used to do with a crown and an ermine cloak. The one who was one of the greatest rock voices of all time instead leaves the aircraft without ceremony, just hinting a smile.
Queen no longer perform after the Knebworth Park. In 1987 Freddie Mercury discovered that he had AIDS and, according with the entire band, he decided to continue his career only in the recording tudios, away from the spotlight where the progressive state of his disease could have been clear.
In an interview with Louder Sound, May explained why he and Queen co-founder Roger Taylor assumed Queen was done.“Oh, we thought it was over. Roger and I were convinced it would be impossible to carry on. As soon as we lost Freddie, the spirit was gone. We didn’t even have the desire, to be honest. Made In Heaven was supposed to be the final chapter, then we both plugged into our solo work. And then completely by accident we met Paul Rodgers, and we thought: ‘Maybe let’s work with this guy who was a hero to us, and see what happens.’”
Queen is the most-played rock band on radio around the world, and the fourth most-played artist across all genres
Analytics service Viberate reported. The company said its observations prove that the rock genre is “resurrected” and provided evidence for its conclusion. (UCR)
“We crunched the annual numbers behind every relevant music and social media channel, from Spotify to Beatport and TikTok, and drew conclusions regarding music industry trends and markets in 2022,” the report said. Around 50 million tracks and videos were included in their scan, along with 500 festivals, in an effort to help developing artists establish themselves in the modern industry.
Viberate calculated that rock was the fourth-biggest genre on Spotify with 31.8 billion streams in 2021, compared with 145 billion for pop, 83.2 billion for hip-hop and 55.9 billion for Latin. On YouTube, rock was also fourth-biggest with 8.9 billion views, compared with 71 billion for pop, 54.9 billion for Latin and 44.9 billion for hip-hop.
But analysis of over 24,000 radio stations in 150 countries around the world proved that rock was the second-biggest genre in the medium with 79.7 million plays, compared with 141 million plays for pop. Queen came fourth in the list of most-played artists, after Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa and the Weeknd.
The band once again hit the charts when “Bohemian Rhapsody” appeared in 1992 film Wayne’s World. But 1995’s Made in Heaven album remains Queen’s last.
Queen: Rock Tour is described as a play-along rhythm game, similar to titles such as Tap Tap Revenge. (Guitar.com)
The game is available for download now (App Store/Google Play)
It features 20 hit songs from the band’s catalogue, including We Will Rock You, Radio Ga Ga, and I Want to Break Free. Players will ‘perform’ as Queen – in the classic lineup, with Freddie Mercury – at 10 historic concert venues, with 40 costumes to unlock.
By racking up points, players also stand to unlock fun facts and exclusive images from the official Queen archives.
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