Paul Rodgers
Paul Rodgers
Posted: 30 Apr 2011
Paul Rodgers
Newcastle Metro Arena
In the days before artifice took hold of them, live rock shows were about little more than guitars, drums and charismatic lead singers.
For those of you who haven’t had that unvarnished experience, I recommend an outing to see Paul Rodgers.
The former front man of Free and Bad Company back in the 70s has recently been fronting Queen, but in this, his first solo tour in years, he went back to his early roots. And he served up a classic concert with all the traditional ingredients of his work from those days: unforgettable riffs, pounding drums and one of the most outstanding voices in the business.
No posturing, no choreography, no flashy lights shows – just a man clearly in love with his craft doing what he does best with an excellent band and looking like he’s having the time of his life.
He mined his impressive back catalogue including Wishing Well, My Brother Jake, Fire and Water, Seagull, Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love, and as encores, the impossible-to-leave-out All Right Now and finally The Hunter.
And somehow, miraculously – 30-odd years down the line – he managed to make the long-familiar numbers sound fresh and newly minted.
His voice is as strong as ever, and he also turned his hand to playing guitar and piano. And with nothing flashier than a bit of mic-stand-twirling he had the audience eating out of his hand. Class is permanent. Rodgers – the very model of a rock god.
Anne Graham
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