Tonight in Seattle: Win Tickets to Queen Extravaganza 6/28

Queen Extravaganza @ The Showbox Sodo | 6/28 | 8:30 pm | $29.50/$35 (get tickets) | 21+

Photo by Patrick Beaudry from queenextravaganza.com

Preview by Chris Green

From the late 1970′s until lead singer Freddy Mercury‘s tragic death from complications due to AIDS in 1991, the British band Queen was one of the most successful live arena acts around as well as prolific hit makers. The band began forming in 1968 and achieved international success with their 1974 album, Sheer Heart Attack, including the song “Killer Queen” which became their first US hit. This album was followed up in 1976 with A Night at the Opera. Named for the Marx Brothers movie, the album featured the band’s best known song, “Bohemian Rhapsody” which is famous for it’s operatic parts, theatric singing, and the guitar solo by Brian May . Even though it was dismissed by their record label as being too long (the song’s multiple parts stretch out to 6 minutes) and weird to be a successful single, the band went around the label to directky encourage a couple of prominent DJ’s to play parts of the unreleased song on the air, spurring demand to hear the whole thing. The record company relented and released the track, which went on to become one of the best selling singles of all time, and sent the album to triple platinum status. The band followed this up with a string of blockbuster albums and songs that would cement their superstar status for the rest of their career, as well as a famous performance at Live Aid, collaboration with David Bowie for the hit “Under Presssure”, and many successful tours. Queen was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001.

With singer Freddy Mercury’s death, the band broke up and was idle for many years (with the exception of a massive star-studded tribute to Mercury performed in 1992 and seen by 1.2 billion people on TV). In 2004, guitarist Roger May and drummer Roger Taylor decided to go on tour as “Queen + Paul Rogers”, playing Queen songs with vocals provided by Paul Rogers from Bad Company, with great success through 2009.

On June 28th, the latest incarnation of Queen’s legacy will be hitting the Showbox SODO for the evening. Queen Extravaganza is a large ensemble production led by original member Roger Taylor and featuring 4 vocalists and 5 musicians chosen from an intense 12-week online audition. The show features two hours of Queen’s best songs paired with never before-seen video, effects, and spectacular sets courtesy of stage designer Mark Fisher, who has also done stage sets for Pink Floyd‘s The Wall, the Rolling Stones, and Cirque Du Soleil.

Here is the band being joined by Roger May (who is not on the tour) for American Idol:

SSGMusic has two tickets to give away for this rock and roll spectacle. For your chance to win, e-mail contests@ssgmusic.com with the phrase “Queen Extravaganza 6/28 at Showbox Sodo” in the subject line. Be sure to include your first and last name for the guest list. We’ll holler back if you’re the winner. Follow @SSGPromo on twitter and SSG Music on Facebook to keep your eye on all of our giveaways.