|
LONDON — Laser focused on avoiding a further slide in the All-Time Greatest Band Ladder Challenge, Queen adjusted its lineup for its upcoming tilt with acid-dropping psychedelic guitar genius Jimi Hendrix and his band, the Experience.
“You don’t bring a knife to a gun fight. So we swapped out some of the mellower songs from our repertoire, so as to take on Jimi axe-to-axe,” explained metaphor-mixing Queen guitarist Brian May. “We sat ‘39’ on the bench in favor of the power-hitting ‘Fat-Bottomed Girls,’ and replaced ‘I’m in Love with Car’ with the even more fiery and furious ‘Death on Two Legs.’ I think it’s our strongest set yet.”
May admitted his high-flying guitar work lacks the reputation of his dead opponent’s but said he hopes voters come away from the contest with a deeper appreciation for his unique contributions to music that often in this contest has been dismissed as the bombastic ego-trip of ‘mercurial’ lead singer Freddy Mercury. He added that Queen's proficiency in a variety of styles may attract voters against the overwhelmingly blues-based Experience style.
“Sure, we’re over the top, and, as this set shows, we’re still not too proud to take aim at a variety of styles ranging from ballads to disco to opera,” May said. “But without blowing my own horn, of if you will, strumming my own strings, I think I made Queen music worth listening to, and with all due respect to my opponent, we intend to sling him around our back, set him on fire, and smash him to pieces on stage.”
The lineup:
Don't Stop Me Now
Another One Bites the Dust
Bohemian Rhapsody
You're My Best Friend
Under Pressure
Somebody to Love
Fat Bottomed Girls
Death on Two Legs (Dedicated to…)
Keep Yourself Alive
We Will Rock You/We are the Champions
| 
Now he's full of beans.