This Tuesday, March 13th, the sumptuous decor of the Sébastopol Theater in Lille had the honor of welcoming within its walls built in 100 days:

QUEEN EXTRAVAGANZA !

The one and only Official Cover of the Legendary timeless Rock Band: QUEEN, created by Brian MAY and Roger TAYLOR in 2012, and produced by the drummer of the Historical group, himself.

A nod to History, the concert took place the day before the official enthronement of Sir Doctor Brian MAY by King Charles himself.

Freddie MERCURY will have definitely changed and embellished the lives of many of us. Due to his immeasurable talent, and due to the legacy he leaves in the hearts of everyone, whether we had the chance to meet him in real life or not, to know his music during his lifetime or not, he will have marked and will mark entire generations, sometimes even Fates.

A dazzling passage on earth, an impossible mourning, but the life and history of QUEEN are written well beyond her story and his personal legend.

QUEEN wasn't just Freddie, QUEEN was the sum of Freddie MERCURY, Roger TAYLOR, Brian MAY and John DEACON. Before them, Doug BOGIE or Barry MITCHELL, former bassists of the group, had also contributed.

They were stronger together than apart, their solo careers attest to that and they knew it, even Freddie. Two of the band's remaining members carry on its legacy by continuing to tour globally, first with Paul RODGERS and then Adam LAMBERT. QUEEN is more than a music group, QUEEN, following the disappearance of its charismatic leader in November 1991, became a Soul. A truly beautiful Soul.

A Soul, with many mates in it. Soul Mates. A roommate of Souls.

Roger TAYLOR and Brian MAY have therefore also formalized a Cover, whose recruited members are among the rarest pearls that artists can count.

A historic member of QUEEN EXTRAVAGANZA since its formation in 2012, the Canadian François-Olivier DOYON has been distilling his smiles and his benevolence since the first tour on stages around the world in front of an ecstatic, admiring, sometimes nostalgic audience and carried by the Soul of Freddie...

The 2023 formation is made up of Gareth TAYLOR and Alirio NETTO on vocals, George FARRAR on drums, François-Olivier DOYON on bass, Nick RADCLIFFE on RedSpecial and Darren J. REEVES on keyboard and musical direction.

Lille had already had the chance last November to welcome the immense Gareth TAYLOR with his previous group: BULSARA AND HIS QUEENIES, with the also fabulous Cuthbert PEARSON, Jon CHAPMAN, Dan HARDCASTLE & Steven TODD who were at the time headliners of the first edition of "WE LILLE ROCK YOU", convention and concert in tribute to Queen which took place last year on 26/11 in "Le Grand Sud" with Craig Mulhall & Luc Hudson with their famous "King Of Rhye".

At the time, already magical and overflowing with talent and generosity, the obviousness of Gareth TAYLOR's vocal presence in the Official Cover, produced by Roger TAYLOR, was almost obvious. Despite the homonymy of their last name, no blood connection between these two Rock monsters, except a connection of heart and of course the soul of QUEEN.

This Tuesday, therefore, the Lille public had the chance to discover the immensity of the talent of the 6 musicians of QUEEN EXTRAVAGANZA, whose chemistry between them is more than obvious and emerges from their show, perfect and captivating, interactive, benevolent, respectful, generous. Revisiting with talent the greatest hits of the royal tradition "I Want It All", "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", "Killer Queen", or even the essential "SomeBody To Love", favorite title of Gareth TAYLOR.

The charisma of the two singers also gives pride of place to that of the other musicians, they too form a great whole, and the symbiosis of the group members is perfect.

Behind the drums, George FARRAR is impressively energetic, and his version alone with the vocals of "Kind Of Magic", where his vocal energy mixes with his power on the drums, is undoubtedly one of the highlights of the evening. A song written by Roger TAYLOR, interpreted by the drummer of QUEEN EXTRAVAGANZA, as the historical drummer did at the time of QUEEN sometimes, in particular with the famous song: "I'm in Love With My Car".

The greatest hits of the English group follow one another between the smiles of the public, artists on stage, claps of hands on certain tracks (trademark of QUEEN), applause, thanks, greetings, a few sentences in French with a charming accent to address the public in their language, although the universal language this evening is that of music.

Neither presumptuous nor pretentious, just humble, benevolent and grateful, the group QUEEN EXTRAVAGANZA is infinitely generous, extraordinarily kind, and the arrival this year of Gareth TAYLOR only reinforces this impression of evidence and Rock n'Roll sweetness that also emerges from the whole group.

The greatest titles of QUEEN were therefore honored at the end of this evening. The setlist sometimes varies a little from one date to another, some will regret not having heard "The Show Must Go On", but if we could, we would keep them for a whole week in the Sébastopol Theater by displaying a banner "BUSY" (Occupé) as in the days of confinement, in order to hear them play the entire QUEEN repertoire...

But at the end of the show of about 1h30, concluded as the Queenies tradition wants it by the monuments "We Will Rock You" and "We Are The Champions", it is already time to turn off the lights of the Theater and let them hit the road for their next date, the next day in Strasbourg. Ten dates in 11 days in France. The tour having started in the United Kingdom then in Spain and Portugal, it is after a few dates in France that they will then enchant Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

We do not emerge unscathed from this type of magical evening, the smiles on the faces and the stars in the eyes of the public and the artists present resolutely attest to this. We have just experienced a suspended moment, out of time, surrounded by the immortal soul of QUEEN.

Thank You Gareth,

Thank You, QUEEN EXTRAVAGANZA !

Kind of Me, Magic Of You ! ✨
Keep On Rocking Our World !!!

Let's hope that Lille will have the chance to be able to host this wonderful group again, an evening with the soul of QUEEN, A Night At The Theater...
In a nod to the mythical album of the cult group "A Night At The Opera", why not next time at the Lille Opera?