{"id":323110,"date":"2026-08-17T14:10:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T14:10:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/323110\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T14:10:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T14:10:14","slug":"brian-may-got-on-the-phone-to-me-and-said-you-have-to-look-at-what-we-just-did-how-a-fender-strat-anniversary-event-led-to-queens-first-world-tour-since","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/323110\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cBrian May got on the phone to me and said, \u2018You have to look at what we just did\u2019\u201d: How a Fender Strat anniversary event led to Queen\u2019s first world tour since Freddie Mercury\u2019s death"},"content":{"rendered":"

Back in 2005, Brian May<\/a> and Roger Taylor embarked on their first full Queen<\/a> world tour since the death of their enigmatic frontman, Freddie Mercury.<\/p>\n

Not only did it find May and Taylor performing under the Queen moniker for the first time since 1986, it also saw them joining forces with a new lead vocalist.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Bad Company\u2019s Paul Rodgers was given the unenviable task of filling Mercury\u2019s shoes, but he stepped up to the plate. Queen + Paul Rodgers, as the project was officially called, was a huge success, lasting for two world tours, several high-profile shows and a studio album over the course of four years.<\/p>\n

Latest Videos FromGuitar World<\/p>\n

And, as May explained in the May 2005 issue of Guitar World, the lineup had rather surprising origins: a celebration event for the Fender Stratocaster<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For Fender\u2019s 50th Anniversary Strat Pack concert, May and Rodgers joined the bill to play a cover of Free\u2019s All Right Now. May knew they were on to something.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe were both so knocked out by the sheer chemistry between us on stage,\u201d May remembered. \u201cAfterward, we were talking together when someone \u2013 I guess it was me \u2013 said, \u2018Well, you know, maybe we should do more of this sometime.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Taylor remembered May\u2019s excitement over the prospect of getting the band back together with Rodgers at the helm.<\/p>\n

All the latest guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, deals and more, direct to your inbox!<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the Fender gig, Brian got on the phone to me and said, \u2018You really have to look at what we just did,\u2019\u201d Taylor recalled. \u201cHe sent over a videotape and I could see what he was talking about. I wondered why we hadn\u2019t thought of doing this before.\u201d<\/p>\n

To test the waters, May and Taylor teamed up with Rodgers to play at Queen\u2019s induction into the UK Music Hall of Fame. The trio was easily convinced. The Return of the Champions World Tour was swiftly announced. A studio album, Queen\u2019s first post-Mercury, was made.<\/p>\n

\u201cPaul does amazingly well, I think,\u201d May said of the collaboration at the time. \u201cThe first time I heard him sing We Will Rock You, I knew we had something valid and new here. Paul brings things out of that song I never even knew existed before!\u201d<\/p>\n

What to read next<\/p>\n

Despite skeptics surrounding the project, Queen + Paul Rodgers got the Queen machine up and running again. Mercury\u2019s presence was undeniably irreplaceable, but it gave May and co. the chance to honor his legacy by taking the band\u2019s music back on the road. And it can all be traced back to that Stratocaster event.<\/p>\n

Queen + Paul Rodgers – The Show Must Go On – Live Ukraine – YouTube
\n\"Queen<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

Things eventually fizzled out in 2009 after Rodgers reunited with Bad Company for a summer tour. It was an amicable split; no one thought it would be a permanent arrangement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did two world tours and a couple of live recordings, and…made a studio album\u2026 which was pretty historic,\u201d Rodgers told Billboard (via NME<\/a>). \u201cThey hadn’t really gone in the studio with anybody and recorded something like that for a very long time. So it was quite an achievement, I think.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the flipside, Queen hasn\u2019t been the only rock institution that Rodgers joined \u2013 or at least came close to joining \u2013 in his time. Earlier this year, it was reported that Rodgers was approached to front the new Van Halen album<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Back in 2005, Brian May and Roger Taylor embarked on their first full Queen world tour since the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":323111,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-323110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=323110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323110\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}