Queen Putting Together A Tribute Show

A sense of dissatisfaction at some of the Queen tribute acts that currently operate in the US has prompted Roger Taylor to start putting together an "official" Queen tribute show of his own.

The Queen Extravaganza is currently inviting people to send in their audition tapes (US residents only, unfortunately for us UK based Queen fans), following which proper auditions will be held and then there will be a large tour in North America in 2012.

They are looking for all four members of the band, so there's space for budding guitarists, bassists and drummers as well as Freddy wannabes.

The idea was inspired by a poster that Taylor saw recently when visiting his hometown. He tells Rolling Stone "It said, 'Queen on stage.' I saw it in the very hall where we used to play and there's just this quite bad picture of a band. There are so many of these tribute bands and then there are orchestral concerts going on featuring our music. A lot of these things are not up to scratch and so we want to do it properly."

The Extravaganza will feature Queen's music combined with unseen footage and a production spectacle.

"Essentially we're producing our own show using our own footage and production values to make a show because let's face it, 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. And we put together something that we felt was purely extraordinary.

"What I'm doing at the moment is actually designing the show, choosing the songs, the song combination, the order of the show, and designing the lights with all our people here. And also, choosing whatever pieces of film and effects we want to use. But, as you say, the actual audition process hasn't started yet. But I'm quite convinced that there are tens of thousands of kids, of really talented people, in their bedrooms around the world playing drums, playing guitar, and singing. And I want to find some of those people. And of course we want young people because we're no longer young (laughs). So we'd like really great looking guys to be in this band. Obviously they have to be really good musicians and we're quite convinced that they're out there."

If you're a US resident then you can find out all about how to audition at www.queenextravaganza.com 

Meanwhile, in the interview with Rolling Stone Taylor also confirmed that Queen would not be touring again with Paul Rodgers in the near future but they may do some one-off shows in the future.

"I like working with Paul. It was never meant to be any more than a temporary thing, but Paul has such a wonderful voice. It was great to do it. It was almost unexpected and it sort of happened organically. I think that phase is finished now.

"I read the other day Paul said he wouldn't mind doing something. If something came up as special, we could maybe do that, maybe the Olympics or something. But I certainly wouldn't rule it out and he is a wonderful singer, there's no doubt about that."

(Rolling Stone)