SPREAD YOUR WINGS: BRIAN MAY ANGRY WITH BRITISH AIRWAYS
21st June 2017



brian may

Queen guitarist Brian May is waging war with British Airways due to minor changes to the seating plan when he flies first class.

The 69-year-old is angry that the recliner seats have been reconfigured so they are no longer immediately next to the windows.

"Travelling on planes has for years been something I have had to do, as part of my job," explains May.

"As I fly today with British Airways, I wonder if I am the only person left in the world who likes to relax in a comfortable seat and dreamily turn my head to the window and get lost in the ever-changing wonders of the planet as they drift by?

"I wonder this because I'm not aware of anyone except me complaining about the new way the seats are configured in BA First Class.

"I hate it. It costs an arm and a leg to travel this way and I feel that we no longer get our money's worth.

"In the old days you sat right next to the window and the view was wide and spectacular.

"Now they sit you about three feet from the window and so low down all you can see from your seat is a small patch of sky. It’s boring — frustrating.

"If anyone out there agrees please let me (and British Airways) know — OK?"

Queen + Adam Lambert are to play an extensive UK tour in November and December preceded by nine select dates in Europe kicking of in Prague on 1st November.

The UK dates include concerts at both the O2 Arena and Wembley Arena within three days of each other.

The tour will showcase a spectacular new stage production and a set-list that the band have said they will provide some surprises.

The eleven city UK and Ireland tour will kick off in Dublin on 25th November. They perform in Belfast in Northern Ireland the following day, then reach mainland Britain on 28th November to play Liverpool's Echo Arena.

More dates follow in Birmingham, Newcastle, Glasgow, Nottingham, Leeds, Sheffield and Manchester, climaxing with two huge London shows at the O2 Arena on 12th December and The SSE Arena, Wembley, on 15th December.

Tickets are available right here.

queen + adam lambert

These shows will mark the band's first full British tour in almost three years, having last performed across the UK in January 2015 when they played ten sold out shows. Their only UK appearance in 2016 was a one-off headlining set at the closing night of the Isle of Wight Festival on Sunday 12th June, part of a fifteen date European summer festival tour. Isle of Wight festival organizer John Giddings credited the band with "the greatest show we have ever had".

For their 2017 tour, the band will unveil a brand new show including a specially designed state-of-the-art production. The choice of performance material will no doubt acknowledge this year's 40th anniversary of Queen's biggest selling studio album to date, 'News Of The World' from 1977, which yielded the immortal anthems 'We Will Rock You' and 'We Are The Champions'.

queen + adam lambert

Queen drummer and co-founder Roger Taylor said about the 2017 tour:

"It will look entirely different to the show we took around before. Production has really changed a lot, the things you can do now, you have a much broader palette, the technology has really come along.

"But we don't use it all. We don't play to click track. It's 100% live. We're planning on doing stuff we either haven't done before or haven't done for a long time.

"We started as an albums band, that's what we were. The fact that we had hits was just a by-product."

queen + adam lambert

Guitarist Brian May has confirmed the 2017 shows will have a more ambitious musical agenda.

"The general public knows the hits, so you've got to cater for that, but we can chuck in a few things that people really don't expect. We'll do quite a bit more of that this time around.

"There are so many dimensions to Adam, which of course fits with our music. He can get down and do the rock stuff really dirty, and you have all those dimensions, and we can explore that even more."

queen + adam lambert

Adam Lambert welcomes the challenge of digging deeper into the band's canon of classics.

"What people should know if they came to the shows a couple of years back, is obviously we will still be playing the big hit songs you know and love from Queen, but we thought it would be good to challenge ourselves a bit. Change it up a little bit, change the visuals, change all the technology, change the set list to some degree.

"We will probably be pulling some other songs out of the Queen catalogue which we haven’t done before, which I am very excited about."



The tour dates are:

Wednesday 1st November: Prague, Czech Republic, O2 Arena
Thursday 2nd November: Munich, Germany, Olympiahalle
Saturday 4th November: Budapest, Hungary, Sportarena
Monday 6th November: Lodz, Poland, Atlas Arena
Wednesday 8th November: Vienna, Austria, Stadhalle
Friday 10th November: Bologna, Italy, Unipol Arena
Sunday 12th November: Luxembourg, Amneville Galaxie
Monday 13th November: Amsterdam, Netherlands, Ziggo Dome
Friday 17th November: Kaunas, Lithuania, Zalgiris Arena
Saturday 25th November: Dublin, 3 Arena
Sunday 26th November: Belfast, SSE Arena
Tuesday 28th November: Liverpool, Echo Arena
Thursday 30th November: Birmingham, Barclaycard Arena
Friday 1st December: Newcastle, Metro Radio Arena
Sunday 3rd December: Glasgow, The SSE Hydro
Tuesday 5th December: Nottingham Motorpoint Arena
Wednesday 6th December: Leeds, First Direct Arena
Friday 8th December: Sheffield, Motorpoint Arena
Saturday 9th December: Manchester, Arena
Tuesday 12th December: London, 02 Arena
Friday 15th December: London, The SSE Arena, Wembley

Ticket purchases are limited to six per person and are available right here.







 
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