Classic Rock
Brian May walked on stage at the Roundhouse in London on 28 September, at Roger Taylor’s concert, and the pair closed the night with “We Will Rock You” and “Radio Ga Ga”. The Times describes both versions as afropop-infused.
Taylor, who is 77, sang for the full two hours and sat behind the kit on a single track. He was backed by a band of young musicians — Tyler Warren on drums, Tina Keys on multiple instruments, Neil Fairclough on bass and Christian Mendoza on guitar — with Spike Edney on keyboards, who has been Queen’s keyboard player since the eighties.
The tour is for his seventh solo album, “Violence Insane In A Beautiful World”, out on 18 September through Columbia. The previous one, “Outsider”, was from 2021.
Taylor and May put Smile together in 1968, three years before the arrival of Freddie Mercury and John Deacon turned that band into Queen.
Text by Enric Vilaplana