|
The 2007 Dutch Queen Convention was supposed to be the last one.
Due to the demand of the dutch Queen fans Hannie and Anja reconsidered
their decision and
started plans for yet another Dutch Queen convention to be held in 2009.
They chose the 31st January to be the day because on that day our Dutch
Queen Beatrice
has her birthday. How suitable for us fans to have a Queen Party!
The venue opened at 11.00 hrs and we first visited the market stalls.
We saw some nice items but I did not buy anything. Then we met Peter
Freestone with whom
we had a nice chat. Soon after that a couple of close friends arrived so
it was time for a drink.
We soon learned that 2 special guests wouldn't attend the Convention: Greg
Brooks and Mike Moran.
Special guest Edger Hamer was present to talk about his book "Voor Queen
en vaderland" ("For Queen and Country)
a documentary about Queen's activities in The Netherlands.
In the afternoon two singers (one of them is Carin ten Cate a dutch female
soprano), a Norwegian choir and
a group of musicians performed the opera Barcelona, singing all songs of
the album and doing 2 encores chosen by
Hannie and Peter Freestone. It was great! Carin has such a great voice.
The female piano player was very skilled indeed.
The female choir added a pretty special effect to the songs. Then the
usual lottery and auction with some special items, such as a 1976
Queen group picture (very rare!) and a shirt that had belonged to Roger
Taylor.
In the evening the Hungarian group QUP (Queen Unplugged Project) performed
and this was absolutely stunning.
What a show! What an expierience to hear acoustic versions of (mostly
older) Queen songs.
They also played Love Kills and Time and many more. They were overblown by
the way the Dutch audience joined in.
That was to be expected during Love of my Life, obviously, but we also
sang Tavaszi Szél.
The Hungarian group was totally over the moon hearing this sung by the
Dutch fans.
The kept on playing and also did some encores. Near the end of the show
they invited everybody to come
as close to the stage as possible to join the fantastic climax of the
evening.
I've seldom seen such a great performance.
It proved to be one of the best Dutch Queen Conventions ever!!!
Rock Opera Barcelona
Queen Unplugged Project (Hungary)
|
