Queen + Paul Rodgers - Return Of The Champions (2005)

"Return Of The Champions" is a double live album by English rock band Queen + Paul Rodgers. 

It was recorded in May 2005 during the Queen + Paul Rodgers Tour at the Hallam FM Arena in Sheffield, England (except for "Imagine", which was performed in Hyde Park, London immediately after that year's terrorist attack) and released on 19 September 2005.
When thinking of suitable replacements for Freddie Mercury in Queen, Paul Rodgers is not a name that immediately leaps to mind. As the former lead singer for Free and Bad Company, Rodgers roughly belongs to the same '70s British hard rock pack as Queen, but Rodgers is pretty much the polar opposite of Mercury: a gruff, bluesy, barrel-chested macho blues-rock belter opposed to Freddie's grandly flamboyant, eccentric glam rock showman. 

Yet when Queen or more accurately, Brian May and Roger Taylor, since John Deacon decided to stay retired reunited in 2005, they picked Rodgers as their frontman, perhaps because he was one of the few marquee-level names from the '70s left who wasn't working steadily. 

The double-disc "Return Of The Champions" documents their concert at the Hallam FM Arena in Sheffield on May 9, 2005. The set list is pretty heavy on Queen standards, with a few Bad Company and Free songs, such as "Feel Like Makin' Love" and "All Right Now," thrown in for good measure. Queen sounds big, tight, and professional, and there's even a sense of excitement to some of the performances, as if May and Taylor are invigorated to be out on-stage again, playing these songs for an adoring crowd.


Disc 1
01.  Reaching Out  (Black, Hill) - 1:06
02.  Tie Your Mother Down  (May) - 4:30
03.  I Want to Break Free  (Deacon) - 3:59
04.  Fat Bottomed Girls  (May) - 5:45
05.  Wishing Well  (Bundrick, Kirke, Kossoff, Rodgers) - 4:33
06.  Another One Bites the Dust  (Deacon) - 4:02
07.  Crazy Little Thing Called Love  (Mercury) - 4:35
08.  Say It's Not True  (May, Rodgers, Taylor) - 4:15
09.  '39  (May) - 4:38
10.  Love of My Life  (Mercury) - 5:11
11.  Hammer to Fall  (May) - 6:45
12.  Feel Like Makin' Love  (Ralphs, Rodgers) - 6:20
13.  Let There Be Drums  (Nelson, Podolor) - 3:42
14.  I'm in Love with My Car  (Taylor) - 3:36
15.  Guitar Solo  (May) - 6:59
16.  Last Horizon  (May) - 7:14

Disc 2
01.  These Are the Days of Our Lives  (Queen) - 4:38
02.  Radio Ga Ga  (Taylor) - 5:59
03.  Can't Get Enough  (Ralphs) - 4:22
04.  A Kind of Magic  (Taylor) - 6:07
05.  I Want It All  (Queen) - 5:09
06.  Bohemian Rhapsody  (Mercury) - 6:18
07.  The Show Must Go On  (Queen) - 4:33
08.  All Right Now  (Fraser, Rodgers) - 6:54
09.  We Will Rock You  (May) - 2:35
10.  We Are the Champions  (Mercury) - 4:30
11.  God Save The Queen  (Traditional arr. May) - 1:33

Released:  19 September 2005
Recorded:  9 May 2005 at the Hallam FM Arena in Sheffield, England
Genre:  Rock
Length:  101:00
Label:  Parlophone
Producer:  Joshua J. Macrae, Justin Shirley-Smith, Peter Brandt

Personnel:
Freddie Mercury: pre-recorded vocals ( "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Beautiful Day")
Brian May: guitars, arrangements, vocals
Roger Taylor: drums, percussion, vocals
Paul Rodgers: vocals, guitars
Spike Edney: keyboards, percussion, vocals
Jamie Moses: guitars, vocals
Danny Miranda: bass guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals