Those were the days ... Queen's Roger Taylor, Freddie Mercury, Brian May and John Deacon. Photograph: Everett Collection/Rex Features
Roger Taylor has announced plans for an official Queen tribute band. The group's drummer is recruiting "great-looking guys" for Queen Extravaganza, a touring retrospective that will combine archive footage, celebrity cameos, and faithful renditions of the band's best-known songs.
"Let's face it," Taylor told Rolling Stone magazine, "we're getting a little long in the tooth, but there are an awful lot of tribute bands, some of them good, some of them not good." Inspired by a poster he saw in Norfolk, Taylor hopes to start a "never ending" Queen tribute tour, keeping the band's music alive with performances by young lookalikes. "I'm quite convinced that there are tens of thousands of kids, of really talented people, in their bedrooms around the world playing drums, guitar, and singing," he said. "And I want to find some of those people."
Until recently, Queen didn't need an official tribute act – they were still touring themselves. But although Taylor and guitarist Brian May played together as recently as last week, the days of load-ins and soundchecks are probably behind them. "We can still do it, but I don't really think I want to travel around the world doing it any more," Taylor said. Their team-up with Paul Rodgers, who stood in for Freddie Mercury, was always conceived as "a temporary thing". "I think that phase is finished now," Taylor said, though they may reunite for "something special" such as the London Olympics.
For now, auditioning for Queen Extravaganza is your best bet for getting close to Taylor or May. Prospective Bohemian Rhapsodists can upload their auditions to queenextravaganza.com. While the surviving members of Queen will not be part of the regular touring show, Taylor wants to "leave places [for cameos]" if they are "starting a run somewhere exciting". Otherwise the gigs will be a mixture of early black-and-white film, iconic concert moments, and the hired gang of impersonators. "We want young people because we're no longer young," Taylor said. "It's a long time down the road."
"Let's face it," Taylor told Rolling Stone magazine, "we're getting a little long in the tooth, but there are an awful lot of tribute bands, some of them good, some of them not good." Inspired by a poster he saw in Norfolk, Taylor hopes to start a "never ending" Queen tribute tour, keeping the band's music alive with performances by young lookalikes. "I'm quite convinced that there are tens of thousands of kids, of really talented people, in their bedrooms around the world playing drums, guitar, and singing," he said. "And I want to find some of those people."
Until recently, Queen didn't need an official tribute act – they were still touring themselves. But although Taylor and guitarist Brian May played together as recently as last week, the days of load-ins and soundchecks are probably behind them. "We can still do it, but I don't really think I want to travel around the world doing it any more," Taylor said. Their team-up with Paul Rodgers, who stood in for Freddie Mercury, was always conceived as "a temporary thing". "I think that phase is finished now," Taylor said, though they may reunite for "something special" such as the London Olympics.
For now, auditioning for Queen Extravaganza is your best bet for getting close to Taylor or May. Prospective Bohemian Rhapsodists can upload their auditions to queenextravaganza.com. While the surviving members of Queen will not be part of the regular touring show, Taylor wants to "leave places [for cameos]" if they are "starting a run somewhere exciting". Otherwise the gigs will be a mixture of early black-and-white film, iconic concert moments, and the hired gang of impersonators. "We want young people because we're no longer young," Taylor said. "It's a long time down the road."
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