This could have easily been called Free - Live In Glasgow, since over half of the songs on the DVD were taken from that legendary rock band's catalog. Hell, if Rodgers and Simon Kirk could call their Merchants Of Cool performance Bad Company, then why not call this one Free.
It's not like Rodgers played any of his solo stuff here either, aside from one Muddy Waters' tribute, but then again - who cares what the hell it is called! How did I get off on that tangent? It is just great to finally get a good Paul Rodgers concert DVD that includes more than just the obligatory "All Right Now" and "Wishing Well" from the Free years. Well all right now!
The last time I saw Paul Rodgers he was fronting Queen. FRONTING QUEEN!? Yeah, I know. I didn't quite know what to make of it at first either, but if you haven't seen their Return Of The Champions DVD of 2005, then you are missing out on one hell of a cool performance. Obviously the Queen songs sounded pretty, uh, unique with Rodgers singing them, but those couple of Free and Bad Company songs they also served up have never sounded better, thanks to some epic Brian May guitar chords leading the way.
Live in Glasgow was filmed on October 13th, 2006, at the Clyde Auditorium in Glasgow, Scotland, during Rodgers' sold-out U.K. tour. Rodgers surrounded himself with a killer four-piece band consisting of former Heart guitarist Howard Leese, current Collective Soul drummer Ryan Hoyle, bassist Lynn Sorenson, and 17-year-old guitar prodigy Kurtis Dengler - although it seems that 17 is over the hill these days to still be considered a guitar prodigy.
Rodgers wasted no time getting to those classic Free songs, opening the show with "I'll Be Creepin'" from their self-title second album of 1969, and once again I was reminded of what a great time for music the late 60's was. Leese and Dengler have got about 40 years age difference between them, but they locked in on this song like they have been playing it together for at least that many years. Free's Highway album gets a couple of nods next, with "The Stealer" and "Ride On A Pony", before getting to the biggest surprise of the night, "Radioactive" by The Firm.
I still don't quite know what to make of those two Firm albums. I was devastated by Led Zeppelin's demise in 1980, after the death of drummer extraordinaire John Bonham, so when Rodgers and Jimmy Page announced the formation of their new supergroup in 1984, I had great expectations of a second coming. Rodgers was one of the preeminent frontmen in rock, and Page was practically a god, so when they teamed up with the rhythm section of Chris Slade and Tony Franklin, I was pretty thrilled, to say the least. My reaction to the "Radioactive" performance on this DVD, pretty much sums up what I feel about the Firm when I look back on them, and that is ho hum.
.jpg?t=20120527181101)
Article comments