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A Crazy Little Thing Called ‘The Queen Extravaganza’
With Taylor serving as the tour’s producer/music director and involving Queen guitarist Brian May, “The Queen Extravaganza” promises to be a stunning melding of music, lights and performances. To bring the tour to life, Taylor and May turned to stage designer Mark Fisher, a vet of Pink Floyd’s The Wall tour as well as every Rolling Stones outing since 1989. As if that’s not enough to brag about, Fisher has also worked with lighting designer Willie Williams on every U2 concert.
Taylor began recruiting his “Queen Extravaganza” singers via the Web last year and ended up with not one, but two winners – Marc Martel and Jennifer Espinoza. Those two, along with additional vocalists Yvan Pedneault and Jeff Scott, will be joined by bassist Francois Olivier Doyon, guitarists Brian Gresh and Tristan Avakian, drummer Tyler Warren and keyboardist Brandon Ethridge.
The tour begins in Quebec City at the Grand Theatre May 26 and plays Montreal’s St. Denis Theatre May 27 and Toronto’s Queen Elizabeth Theatre May 29. The first U.S. date will take place in Detroit at the Fox Theatre May 31.
After playing Motown, “The Queen Extravaganza” strikes out across the U.S. on a June run that includes Chicago (June 1); St. Louis (June 5); Boston (June 11); Tampa (June 15); Grand Prairie, Texas, (June 19); Las Vegas (June 23); Los Angeles (June 25) and Seattle (June 28). More Canadian gigs follow with the tour landing in Vancouver (June 30); Calgary (July 2) and Edmonton (July 3).
“The Queen Extravaganza will not be like a traditional tribute show,” Taylor said. “It is a brand new show specially designed to enable these new fans, together with fans of old, to celebrate the music of Queen in a heart stopping event. It’s going to be very spectacular, it’s going to be very visual, there are going to be some shocks and some tremendous surprises. It will be a rock celebration in the Royal tradition.”
Many shows go on sale this weekend. Visit QueenExtravaganza.com for more information.