We Will Rock You, one of the most iconic songs in Rock history has a new lease of life with Brian May’s collaboration with acclaimed classic composer VonLichten. Queen’s Brian May has re-recorded his guitar parts thirty-five years after its original release.
Queen’s “We Will Rock You” is getting new life as a symphonic mash-up entitled “We Will Rock You VonLichten.” The song can be heard in the USA during the NFL on CBS during this year’s American football season.
The new song features Freddie Mercury’s original vocal tracks against a backdrop of re-recorded guitar parts and a full orchestral score. The result is an epic philharmonic homage to Queen’s classic anthem.
“We Will Rock You VonLichten” was born when VonLichten was approached to create a mash-up of the Queen song and “Posthumus Zone (The Theme to the NFL on CBS),” which he wrote and recorded.
“Creating the track with Brian was easy,” says VonLichten. “‘We Will Rock You’ is the perfect painting. I simply re-framed it a bit.” The new track’s symphonic elements add a forceful and dramatic accompaniment to one of rock music’s most iconic songs.
We Will Rock You finally returns to Switzerland after five years!
We Will Rock you the Queen musical has opened at the Basel Musical Theater in Switzerland for a limited run until 24th March 2013!
Featuring over 21 of Queen’s greatrest hits, the show in London was written by the award-winning best-selling author and comedian Ben Elton and produced by Queen Theatrical Productions together with Robert de Niro’s Tribeca Theatrical Productions and Phil McIntyre Entertainment. In Basel Brian May and Roger Taylor themselves are in charge of the music.
Brian May said: “We are thrilled that we can present We Will Rock You in this latest technically revised version in German for the first time in Basel. It is impressive to see the audience jump and sing along, swinging their hands, simply having fun. We are very proud of this Swiss production. It is like no other in the world. The ensemble and the group have their very own style. But what matters most…the show is live, dangerous and more than anything else: it rocks!”
During its previous one-year run in 2007 at the Zürcher Theater, the We Will Rock You show wowed almost 400,000 spectators. Already back then the production (especially adapted for the Swiss) fascinated the audience. In Basel, however, a completely updated Swiss version will be performed. And there is more: The audience in Switzerland will be the first to enjoy the technically revamped video animations, newly re-mastered by production designer Mark Fischer who has been in charge of staging the breathtaking shows of U2, the Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd’s “The Wall”.
The story of Queen is one of the most remarkable in pop culture: More than 170 million albums sold worldwide, eighteen number-one albums, numerous number-one singles and DVDs, joining the Rock & Roll and the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame, over 700 concerts all over the world, including the historic appearance at Live Aid and a Guinness Book of World Records Award for the most successful UK chart album in history. Queen was and is one of the greatest rock groups of all time.
We Will Rock You tells the story of a globalized future without musical instruments. A handful of rock rebels, the “Bohemians”, fight against the all-powerful Globalsoft company and its boss, the Killer Queen; they fight for freedom, individuality and the rebirth of the age of rock. Scaramouche and Galileo, two young outsiders, cannot come to terms with the bleak conformist reality. They join the Bohemians and embark on the search to find the unlimited power of freedom, love and Rock!
With a wink and many ironic sideswipes We Will Rock You is more than just a show title, more than a musical and more than a rock concert – it is a promise: WE WILL ROCK YOU!
