What if...

I believe Queen would have done a concert together with
a full symphony orchestra if Freddie still lived.

Imagine something like Metallica did, or U2 live in London 2017, at Abbey Road Studios. Maybe a Royal Albert Hall concert. Something like the video to Who Wants To Live Forever.

I believe Queen would have wanted to perforn their music with a full orchestra. And many of their songs are perfect for such an occasion . Imagine White Queen, MOTBQ, WWTLF, Prophet's Song ++ ... to name a few.

I totally agree if they do something like that, even if it is with Adam Lambert.

A symphonic live version and also an acoustic live version are something that I always thought could be an awesome idea.

I believe Queen would have done a concert together with
a full symphony orchestra if Freddie still lived.

Imagine something like Metallica did, or U2 live in London 2017, at Abbey Road Studios. Maybe a Royal Albert Hall concert. Something like the video to Who Wants To Live Forever.

I believe Queen would have wanted to perforn their music with a full orchestra. And many of their songs are perfect for such an occasion . Imagine White Queen, MOTBQ, WWTLF, Prophet's Song ++ ... to name a few.

I think if Queen did it with Freddie, it would have been great, I'd say groundbreaking in many regards. In retrospect, I'm surprised that they never went for it, as I think many Queen songs and of course Freddie's voice would have suited for it back then.
YTMBA, LOML, LIR, LPA, LOTV, DF...oh wow. I sure wish Queen did it. Considering Barcelona, and the Elton John album Live In Australia...it is proof to me at least it could have been done, and I'm just sorry it didn't happen.
I like the way you think

It might have been just meant as a joke, but I think I remember hearing on a few bootlegs Freddie making comments about that. Like after LOML or some part of the acoustic set, he said something like "maybe next time we'll bring an orchestra"

It might have been just meant as a joke, but I think I remember hearing on a few bootlegs Freddie making comments about that. Like after LOML or some part of the acoustic set, he said something like "maybe next time we'll bring an orchestra"

I also remember hearing something like that. I thought it was on Live Killers, but probably not..

phpBB [video]

phpBB [video]

These clips sets the thoughts on what could have been a brilliant thing for Queen to try out.

They have tried musical, and this takes them to the next level. I think the best thing would be to bring in a lot of guest vocalists. They could have used a lot of people from both the Queen Extravaganza and WWRY teams. People like Marc Martel, and also other well known and unkown vocalists. One for each song.

Performed with the London Symphony Orchestra.

Then they could also add up with Jamie Moses on guitar.

Would be great idea, wouldn't it ?

It might have been just meant as a joke, but I think I remember hearing on a few bootlegs Freddie making comments about that. Like after LOML or some part of the acoustic set, he said something like "maybe next time we'll bring an orchestra"

I also remember hearing something like that. I thought it was on Live Killers, but probably not..

It's from the famous Earls Court show. Freddie after You Take My Breath Away: "Thank you. And maybe next time we will bring back an orchestra, bring with us an orchestra, what you think? Costs more money. I really feel like being evil tonight." Of course, he could have said it other times, too. I haven't listened to Live Killers in ages, so I don't remember.

You are right! Thanks for clearing that up!


I have now made a poll, and a new thread with a better title for thls topic :

Please join the discussion here:
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=8781&p=423454#p423454

[Kes]

And I "think" Brian made a comment like that, prior to '39 at Hyde Park.

"We were going to do this one with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, but they didn't show up", or something similar.

And I "think" Brian made a comment like that, prior to '39 at Hyde Park.

"We were going to do this one with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, but they didn't show up", or something similar.

Yes Brian did say this at Hyde Park and at almost every US gig that followed. . . . But of course it's only Adam Lambert who uses repeated and rehearsed lines when introducing songs.

I think the simple fact is, they joked about it, had they wanted yo do it they would have.

I believe Queen would have done a concert together with
a full symphony orchestra if Freddie still lived.

Imagine something like Metallica did, or U2 live in London 2017, at Abbey Road Studios. Maybe a Royal Albert Hall concert. Something like the video to Who Wants To Live Forever.

. . . it would have been great, I'd say groundbreaking in many regard. . . . . D

Done well it would have been great, but ground breaking I'm not so sure. Deep Purple had already done a similar thing as had one or two others

phpBB [video]

With apologies for the poor quality of the video, it's the best I could find online. I don\t want to bore you guys with the details, but if anyone's interested, I can talk a bit about this show and the singer.

V.

I think that if Freddie hadn't passed, it would've happened at some point.


I have an image in my head of Bo Rhap being performed at Live 8 with a full on Choir and Orchestra.

It's pretentious and would get up some noses. But it fits.

At the time Queen stopped becoming a touring band, collaborations with rock bands and orchestras as a live spectacle hadn't really happened - only in the following few years did these really take off, with Metallica, Kiss , Deep Purple etc... doing them in a big and proper was. If any band was ever made for that type of treatment then it was Queen - imagine Brian's guitar and John's lyrical bass lines sitting alongside cellos, violins, etc? Such a shame that this could never happen back in the day, especially given that Michael Kamen was key to a lot of the early ones, and his work with Queen collectively and individually is well known already.

However I do think there would be some merit in doing it now, whether with Lambert or a few capable guest vocalists - this would be very different to the main live shows, and more a tribute in a respectful but different way. T

here are a few 'symphonic Queen' arena shows doing the rounds currently, and one is Sweden features Jamie Humphries (a previous Brian collaborator and fantastic player) but the overall show is not great musically as EVERYTHING is played at breakneck speed therefore taking all subtlety and taste out of the songs, and the arrangemetns are just far too 'brash' and 'in your face' (not in a good way!)

I'm not a fan of the Q+AL collab*, but the use of an orchestra would certainly bring something different to their sets.

Especially say, having the Royal Philharmonic at the Royal Albert Hall, how wonderfully regal.

That's also something that I think they could've gotten away with as the original line up, maybe for a one-off milestone show after a long touring break.

*I must stress though that I have no ill will towards AL both as a person or a performer. His appearance in the re-interpretation of The Rocky Horror Picture Show was a highlight of something otherwise lacklustre.