Queen + Paul Rodgers Rock the Cosmos With 2008 Concert Tour

Queen + Paul Rodgers Rock the Cosmos With 2008 Concert Tour

Well, at least UK, Northern Eurasia, Central, Southern and Eastern Europe With highly anticipated return to Latin America expected to follow

Tour heralds in first new Queen studio album in 13 Years

BURBANK, Calif., March 19 /PRNewswire/ -- With a new album in the pipeline -- the first new studio album to carry the Queen name since the Freddie Mercury sessions -- Queen is heading back on the road for a four-month tour, once again in the company of musician/singer/songwriter Paul Rodgers who joined the band for the highly successful 2005/2006 world tour, the European leg of which ended with the band's spectacular London Hyde Park open air concert before going on to play the US and Japan.

In all, the band's tour was attended by more than a million people.

Together Brian May, Roger Taylor and Paul Rodgers have recorded their first album's worth of material, jointly written and produced. With the title yet to be disclosed, the album is being readied for release September 1, two weeks ahead of the start of the tour.

The Queen + Paul Rodgers 28-date arena tour will take in 14 countries in just seven weeks, and take the band to Northern Eurasia, Central and Southern Europe, and the UK and is expected to wind up at the end of the year with the band's highly anticipated return to South America, the setting of some of its most historic tours in the early 80's.

Queen's historic Latin America dates set new world records for the numbers of the audiences it attracted. At the 1985 Rock in Rio concert the band played to an unheard of audience of 300,000 and was watched on television by nearly 200 million people throughout the South American continent.

The 2008 tour kicks off mid-September in Russia with two dates at Moscow's SCO Olympic Arena, moves on into Poland for a massive free concert at the historic Gdansk Shipyard, and then follows a path through Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, Switzerland and the Netherlands before arriving in the UK early October for 6 dates including London's 02 Arena on October 13.

The UK dates see the band additionally play Nottingham, Glasgow, Cardiff and Birmingham with a final UK date at Liverpool Arena on October 18 before continuing on to Spain, Hungary, Serbia, Czech Republic and Austria for seven further dates.

Tracks on the new Queen + Paul Rodgers album will include 'Say It's Not True', previously released at the end of last year by Queen + Paul Rodgers as a special World Aids Day download for Nelson Mandela's 46664 HIV AIDS charity, plus a 'first' for a Queen album -- a cover version. The remaining tracks are all newly written by May, Taylor and Rodgers during the late 2007/early 2008 recording sessions.

One of these tracks, C-lebrity, will receive a sneak preview when the band make a by-demand return to the UK's ITV Al Murray's Happy Hour for the final show on April 4.

Queen's last studio album release was "Made In Heaven" released in November 1995 containing the last recordings with Freddie. The album became the band's biggest selling studio album, with world sales in excess of 20 million.

Queen's "Greatest Hits 1" album has achieved the distinction of being the UK's biggest selling album of all time, having sold a staggering 5,407,587 copies in Britain alone (source: VH1/The Official UK Charts Company. November 2006).

Paul Rodgers' voice is one of rock's platinum assets and as a multi-instrumentalist and songwriter as front man of Free and Bad Company and as a solo artist he has written, produced and recorded some of radio's biggest hits.

Between them, Queen and Paul Rodgers have released more than 50 albums during their long careers and sold in excess of a staggering 300 million records.

Tickets for all UK dates will go on sale at venue box offices and usual ticket agents from Saturday, April 5.

   Official UK tour hotline: 08700 11 26 26   http://www.ticketzone.co.uk/    Pre-registration is available from Wednesday April 2 at   http://www.queenonline.com/   http://www.queenpluspaulrodgers.com/   http://www.paulrodgers.com/    UK ticket prices: 49.40 pounds, 39.50 pounds (check venues).   A Phil McIntyre Entertainment Tour.    The Cosmos Rocks over Europe at:    EUROPE LEG 1:   Tuesday 16 September               Moscow SCO Olympic Arena RUSSIA   Wednesday 17 September             Moscow SCO Olympic Arena RUSSIA   Saturday 20 September              Gdansk Shipyard POLAND   Sunday 21 September                Berlin Velodrom GERMANY   Tuesday 23 September               Antwerp Sportspaleis BELGIUM   Wednesday 24 September             Paris Bercy FRANCE   Friday 26 September                Rome Palalottomatica ITALY   Sunday 28 September                Verona Arena ITALY   Monday 29 September                Zurich Hallenstadion SWITZERLAND   Wednesday 1 October                Munich Olympiahalle GERMANY   Thursday 2 October                 Mannheim SAP Arena GERMANY   Saturday 4 October                 Hannover TUI Arena GERMANY   Sunday 5 October                   Hamburg Color Line Arena GERMANY   Tuesday 7 October                  Rotterdam Ahoy NETHERLANDS    UK   Friday 10 October                  Nottingham Arena   Saturday 11 October                Glasgow SE&CC   Monday 13 October                  London 02   Tuesday 14 October                 Cardiff Arena   Thursday 16 October                Birmingham NIA   Saturday 18 October                Liverpool Arena    EUROPE LEG 2   Wednesday 22 October               Barcelona Palau Sant Jordi SPAIN   Friday 24 October                  Murcia Estadio Municipal SPAIN   Saturday 25 October                Madrid Palacio de Deportes SPAIN   Tuesday 28 October                 Budapest Sportarena, HUNGARY   Wednesday 29 October               Belgrade Arena SERBIA   Friday 31 October                  Prague 02 Arena CZECH REPUBLIC   Saturday 1 November                Vienna Stadthalle AUSTRIA  

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Source: Hollywood Records

CONTACT: PR, Phil Symes, +08700 11 26 26, philsymes@theprcontact.com,
pressoffice@theprcontact.com, for Hollywood Records

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Profile: International Entertainment