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Queen, the newly crowned all-time British album chart champs, had their concert scheduled for July 8 at London’s Hyde Park postponed a week by the terrorist attacks.
New lead singer Paul Rodgers (Free, Bad Company) announced that the concert, rescheduled for July 15, will be a tribute to the London emergency workers “for their extraordinary response in dealing with the effects of the bombing attacks and and to indeed celebrate the historical resilience of Londoners in their response to yet another atrocity.”
Thousands of emergency workers have been invited to the show, which sees the band joined by Razorlight, Peter Kay and special guests The Darkness, and marks Queen’s return to the site of one of the most historic of their earlier concerts. Performing a free concert in Hyde Park almost 29 years ago (September 18, 1976), Queen attracted an audience of more than 150,000 to the park. Capacity for tomorrow’s show will be 85,000.
Queen considers itself a “London band”: the four original band members — Brian May, Roger Taylor, John Deacon and the late Freddie Mercury — met while living in London.
Said guitarist May, “We were away playing a concert in Germany and arrived back Thursday morning to see all this going on. We were unbelievably shocked and saddened. The heroes that day, and since then, are the police and emergency services coming together as one, calmly and bravely dealing with the tragedy and getting London’s wheels turning again. We’d like to offer an appreciation.”
Drummer Taylor added, “You can only admire how calmly, how bravely they behaved in such appalling circumstances. They deserve the thanks of everyone in London.”
See our coverage of the London terror bombings here.
