Concert at the SECC Glasgow on 11 Oct 08

I arrived early when the doors opened, even though I was in a seated area - a favourable spot in the front row with a front-on view. I was able to watch the standing ticket-holders rush to get the best spots by the stage at the start, and saw the place filling up bit by bit, with people milling in, some with refreshments. I noticed that I was fairly close behind mixing desk. 

It was probably soon after eight when the lights went out and the show started - the 'Cosmos Rockin'' introduction making way this time not to 'Surf's Up, School's Out'. but to the surprise (to me) opener, a snippet of 'Hammer to Fall'. This was a highlight of the 'traditional medley', as it has now become, culminating in Paul's beautiful bluesy ending to 'I Want To Break Free'.  After 'C-Lebrity' and 'Surf's Up, School's Out', Paul remained to perform his solo acoustic ballad, 'Seagull', when you could tell that the crowd had really warmed to him. He joked that he had been taken by surprise by 'Surf's Up...School's Out' as he had expected to be singing 'Seagull' - 'but let's sing it now!'

The next bit - well, the next bit got a bit personal. Brian began by saying he was bringing 'Greetings from someone who couldn't be here tonight - Freddie Mercury'. Although I already knew Brian had a family connection with Scotland I did not know exactly what it was - I was about to find out - in the next few seconds he informed us that his mother was born in October 1927 - exactly the same month as mine -  in the place - Pitlochry - where, coincidentally, my family spent our last summer holiday with mum in 1976! On top of that he said he was going to sing 'Love of My Life' for his mum and we should all sing it for our mums...I have that song so much attached to memories of mum anyway, it was all too much and sent me into floods of tears for the duration of the song. Having said that, they were not tears of grief, but tears of gratitude - for her life, for what she taught me, and for the fact that I was here. I managed to carry on acting 'normal' after that, but never quite recovered the entire concert from the queasiness I felt as a result. It just came as a reminder that Queen have always been irrevocably bound with that teenage trauma and that it all has, paradoxically, left me 'blessed with a burden'. Later, during 'Bijou', I was reminded of this idea when Brian, still playing the guitar, knelt down in front of the video screen showing Freddie, so that his poise of veneration was silhouetted against this backdrop. (I tried to capture this moment on camera at the next concert I attended at the O2 - you can see the result by scrolling down here).*

After 'Love Of My Life' came ''39', where Roger entered down the catwalk, beaming broadly. He and Brian were joined half way through by 'U3', - 'One up on U2' - namely, Jamie, Spike and Danny. Later on, I witnessed for the first time Roger singing 'A Kind Of Magic' behind the drums and realised how well that worked. With a front-on view, I could also see how effective Paul's entrance was at the end of 'Say It's Not True'.

The warmth from the audience towards Paul was maintained for 'Bad Company', and this time I had a better view of the video screen pictures of Paul from yesteryear - some in poises and garb that you would not have normally associated him with - closer to Freddie than you might have imagined. 'We Believe' transferred the scene from the past to the future, and the hope of a better one. 

There followed Brian's guitar solo which came crashing down like a set of boulders in a landslide at the end. Paul showed great presence and determination in his performance of 'The Show Must Go On' for which he has really come into his own, bringing his distinctive hallmark as with the other songs. From here on in, it went from strength to strength - up, up and away, with the encore absolutely taking the roof off the evening, although I was once more the only person in my vicinity dancing along to 'Cosmos Rockin''. Also, during 'We Will Rock You' when the crowd were going quite crazy, I smiled across at Trip Khalaf, the Chief Sound Engineer, behind the mixing desk. He returned a rueful smile which made it hard to tell what he was thinking. But the audience was loving it, so he could look back on yet another successful show.   

*There is an even better picture on this page.

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