"I think Freddie would be happy, because I feel his spirit throughout the music": How Queen + Paul Rodgers took Freddie Mercury's spirit back to the stage

Paul Rodgers and Brian May onstage.

As Classic Rock wrote this story in mid-March 2005, Paul Rodgers had been rehearsing with Queen stalwarts guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor for a little over a month. But by the time anyone read it, the new band – officially dubbed ‘Queen + Paul Rodgers’ – had played their first show, an Aids Awareness Concert in South Africa on March 19, and kicked off a European tour.

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