Has it really been twenty years...

On this day in 1991 two rock musicians died; the fact that one of them was Freddie Mercury almost totally overshadowed the sad loss of KISS drummer Eric Carr on the same day, after he lost his own long battle against cancer.

When Eric Carr (born Paul Caravello) joined KISS in 1980 it was at a low point in the band's career; original drummer Peter Criss had parted company with the band amid allegations of substance abuse and the arrival of the new drummer signalled a new character behind the kit: The Fox. His first album with the band was the ambitious concept album '(Music From) The Elder', an intended soundtrack for a film which never came about. The album's musical style completely threw the band's fans, who were expecting a return to harder rock but were instead presented with a radical departure. It would be another year before Carr really got the chance to show himself as a premier hard rock drummer, when KISS fulfilled their promise of a hard rock record a year late with 'Creatures Of The Night'. The lead-off single. 'I Love It Loud' featured the band in full make-up and with Carr, as the Fox, sat atop a drum riser shaped like a tank, pounding out the intro to the song.

The resulting tour proved a success, re-establishing the band who would shed the make-up altogether in 1983. Carr's popularity during his time with KISS was down to his powerful drum sound and his willingness to connect with the fans, and he remained with the band for eleven years.

His cancer diagnosis was in early 1991, with the drummer being given a leave of absence by frontmen Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley so that he could recover. His last appearance on a KISS record was on their cover of Argent's 'God Gave Rock 'n' Roll To You', contributing backing vocals. Carr's death hit the group hard, with drummer Eric Singer coming in to deputise for Carr on the band's next album 'Revenge' it was always intended that Carr would return to the group once fit again. However Singer remains in the band to this day, and KISS dedicated 'Revenge' to Carr with the inclusion of a 1981 studio jam on the record.

As said at the start, Freddie Mercury's death on the same day as Carr completely dominated the news, with the British media having noticed the Queen singer's declining health throughout 1991 and newspapers running increasingly-lurid headlines speculating on his condition. Mercury, as private when off stage as he was flamboyant on it, admitted to nothing until the day before his death when he released a statement confirming his illness and urging his fans to join him "in the fight against this terrible disease" (AIDS).

Mercury had long known of his illness, but had elected to keep it secret, known only to his bandmates and close friends until that statement came out. He was diagnosed about a year after he and Queen had completed their biggest and most successful tour to date, the Magic tour which culminated in a massive concert held in the grounds of Knebworth Park. The attendance that day has been estimated at anything between 150000 to 200000, as one of the fans who was there myself I can only confirm that the huge field was totally packed with people!

1986 was a monumental year for Queen, coming off the back of their now-legendary performance at Live Aid, seen by billions worldwide, interest in the group had rocketed from merely very popular to stratospheric. Nobody knew it at that time, but Knebworth would be Freddie's final live performance with Queen. Anyone who has seen the Live Aid performance, or was lucky enough to see Queen live during that period will know just what a giant of a rock star he was. He bestrode the biggest stages and could enthrall hundreds of thousands of people. With a flamboyant image, a voice that could handle anything from hard rock to ragtime and a neat, self-deprecating line in camp humour, he had the lot. It's difficult to overstate Queen's popularity at that time, although still considered a rock band they had a huge fanbase and extremely broad range of appeal. Mercury was regarded in the same echelon as other high-flyers like Elton John or Rod Stewart, all of whom had began as rock singers but had broadened their appeal to reach almost everyone.

The tribute concert which was held at the old Wembley stadium in 1992, the scene of his greatest triumph, really brought home what the music world had lost. The remaining members of Queen performed a selection of their best-loved songs with a diverse range of singers - it took over a dozen people ranging from George Michael to Axl Rose to perform what one Freddie used to do.

Although I personally did not get to see Queen live until 1984, a whole generation has grown up knowing the band's music and never having seen them at all, so those who did see them must consider themselves very fortunate. There's been nobody who even comes close to taking his crown as the ultimate rock star - there are great singers out there, very good frontmen (or women), and some very showy, flamboyant stars still, but none put it all together the way Freddie did and none have managed to succeed him as the total, complete rock star.

I'll close this by posting a trio of songs that reflect Freddie in different eras; many still think of that bright yellow jacket when they think of Freddie but his look changed radically during the 1970s before he settled on that slicked hair and moustache image remembered today.

The first shows how the band handled 'Bohemian Rhapsody' live when it was first out; from the famous Hammersmith Odeon show filmed by the BBC, here they turn it into a medley incorporating 'Killer Queen' and 'The March Of The Black Queen':

Taken from the 'We Will Rock you' live concert DVD, filmed in Canada, this is 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love' which took on a whole new dimension performed live:

Finally - from the seminal 1986 Wembley DVD, yellow jacket and all, this is 'In The Lap Of The Gods (Revisited)' - which was put back in the set partly for the band's older fans at that point:

I expect that we will still be remembering Freddie Mercury in another 20 years' time!

Caught Live: Nickelback, MEN Arena Manchester 22 May 2009

Way back at around the start of this decade, you could not switch on your radio or put a music TV channel on, without hearing 'How You Remind Me', which introduced Canadian hard rockers Nickelback to the UK. It got pushed initially on Kerrang TV, before being picked up by many other outlets. I've often felt it's that which has caused the negative press the band has suffered here; that instead of them being played on 'rock' outlets and only being known to the 'Kerrang crowd', they broke free and crossed over, where their song instantly connected with a different audience. An older one. Once they were accepted by the 'older' crowd, the backlash began in earnest. Kerrang (the magazine) infamously branded singer Chad Kroeger a 'c**t' for having a heckler ejected from a show, something which caused resentment with the band, and only served to help Kerrang! paint them as 'uncool', in the process turning their backs on a band which their own channel broke over here. The further success of 'Rock Star', another song which lodged in the public mind for many months, did little to change that perception as once again, one of their songs crossed over and achieved mainstream success.

No doubt to the irritation of Kerrang!, and the rest of the UK press, Nickelback have achieved big, and consistent success in the years since. Their latest tour sees them once again hit British arenas, less than a year since last they played here. Clearly they're doing something right, as a large crowd showed at the MEN. They didn't sell it out, but made a good fist of it, with only the upper tier at the very back unused. Watching this band perform, I could find little evidence of 'c**t-ish' behaviour from the frontman, instead I saw a consummate professional easily take command of a big crowd, and connect with them as though it were a club gig. I was impressed with his live vocal, no croaking and no straining at the seams, although he is well backed by guitarist Ryan Peake and drummer Daniel Adair.



They performed a set packed with singalong rock anthems, some semi-acoustic of the type that made them famous, others all-out Metal. Not being that familiar with the band's work myself, it was slightly surprising to hear them really rock out, but they do so with style and can kick ass with the very best of them. Their stage show skimped on absolutely nothing; all the lights you want, pyro and fireworks of the sort not seen since Rammstein last came to town, an elevated platform for the drummer to perform his solo (yes, they do a drum solo!) and the obligatory stage ramp extending deep into the arena floor. Only when the band came to the front of this ramp did they reveal a second drum kit which was hidden underneath, and a section of the ramp turned over with the kit in place! They even brought out their crew, armed with air cannons with which to shoot T-shirts into the crowd! Those things were incredibly powerful, as the band played, T-shirts flew high into the upper tiers of the arena. I feared a 'Maude Flanders' moment for a while there! Every arena rock cliché in the book was used by Nickelback during this show, but they would not be able to do any of it if they did not have the songs to back it all up. They do, and plenty of them. To my surprise, their two biggest hits 'Rock Star' and 'How You Remind Me' were delivered during the main set, not in the encores. A further example of non-c**tish antics from Chad Kroeger was given when he brought out Chris from openers Black Stone Cherry to play a cover of AC/DC's 'Highway to Hell'.



All in all then, almost the perfect arena show. They put only one foot wrong for me throughout the night, and that was when they played 'If Everyone Cared'. Accompanied by a preachy-looking slide show esposuing the humanitarian work done by the likes of Bono, Mandela and others, it was all a bit U2, a bit CNN, and not really in keeping with the rest of the show, which was pure rock 'n' roll entertainment.
Thankfully it was only for that one song, but that sort of thing is best left to Bono and co. What we hard rockers crave is escapism from the real world! I will forgive their other minor faux-pas, when during 'Photograph', their montage of slides on the video screen featured a girl wearing a 'Sun' t-shirt (but if you ever play the Echo Arena guys, leave that slide out - ta!)



Kerrang! will sneer, but Nickelback didn't get to this status by making their music for critics, and such press bashing didn't stop Queen, it didn't stop Kiss, and it won't stop Nickelback. An excellent show, and a great live band.