Queen has launched a 50-week Youtube series called Queen: The Greatest Live, which aims to offer fans a glimpse into their touring life.
This is a continuation of their previous YouTube series Queen: The Greatest, which was announced in March 2021 and which tells the story of the band from their first performances to their return with Adam Lambert. The new series promises “rare archival live footage, contemporary performances and behind-the-scenes interviews over five decades of Queen’s existence.”
The series was created by longtime bandmate Simon Lupton, who produced “Queen: The Greatest”, and also worked on documentaries “Queen: Rock the World”, “Queen: Behind the Rhapsody”, “Queen: Days of Our Lives”, “Queen on Fire: Live at the”. Bowl and Queen Live at Wembley ’86.
In the first episode of the new series, Brian May and Roger Taylor talk about the process they go through during rehearsals and how they make up set lists. “Rehearsing with Roger is always a bit surprising because you don’t know how much you’ll remember and you don’t know if it will still feel the same,” May said [transcription of Classic Rock]. “But it’s amazing how things really flow back into you, into your veins, when you start kicking them.”
“We usually play a song and see if it works if we think it’s going to work live, and they don’t always work live,” Taylor added. “Some of them are simply not suitable for an exciting or exciting performance, a live performance. So there are quite a few songs that we’ve never played live, but that have been on albums, and there’s probably a good reason for that.”
Watch the first part of Queen: The Greatest Live below:
May hinted at the possibility of new live performances with Adam Lambert in an interview with Variety back in November. “There is a high probability that we will meet again. We’re talking about it while we’re talking, making these decisions,” he said. “Now that you’re getting older, it becomes a more important decision. I’m not 35 anymore, and it’s not easy to leave home for two months.
“But we feel that if we are all fit and well, we would like to go out there again. It will probably be in the United States at some point in 2023. I hope it will happen, but it’s a big possibility.”
Elsewhere, Che Lingo recently released a song called “My Radio,” which reinterprets Queen’s hit “Radio Ga Ga” through the lens of modern hip hop and features an invited guest from Roger Taylor.
