Something in the Water

Queen & Paul Rodgers Live in Ukraine : (Parlophone)

Of course, nobody does these big shows quite like Queen. The title, Live in Ukraine, doesn't quite do the featured concert justice. It's not just a live show. Queen rocked up to Kiev's Freedom Square, where some 350,000 Ukrainians got whatever vantage point they could to see the show. Oh, and it was beamed into ten million Ukrainian homes simultaneously too.

So, when we nod our heads sagely at the proposition 'nobody does these big shows quite like Queen,' did we mean to say 'nobody did these big shows quite like Queen'? I think we did. Because Queen, you'll remember, have been without original frontman Freddie Mercury for some years now and, whilst the decision on his successor was squarely surviving members Roger Taylor and Brian May's to make (original bassist John Deacon is, as usual, missing in action here), I'm wondering whether they didn't make a massive mistake in handing the role to former Free/Bad Company throatsmith Paul Rodgers.

Y'see, whatever the strength of Rodgers' vocalisation (and it is prodigious), he's just not a showman. Queen is all about bombast and, perhaps more importantly, camp - and Paul Rodgers just isn't very camp. Whereas someone like former Darkness frontman Justin Hawkins has the voice and showbiz chops to carry off a Fat Bottomed Girls, Rodgers - essentially a stony faced bluesman at the end of the day - just looks massively awkward. And on I Want to Break Free you get the impression he'd really rather be anywhere rather than in front of the biggest audience of his stellar career.

This is, of course, a great shame, but this is BMA - where the fact is king - and, whilst May especially puts in a blinder all over the show, its Rodgers straight-peg in a, ahem, gay hole performance that overshadows everything. Apparently the collaboration has now run its course, leaving this as a rather poor testament to a meeting of great rock minds. Disappointing.

Sex Pistols: There’ll Always Be an England: (Fremantle Media / Shock)

Filmed by long time Sex Pistols documenter Julien Temple, There'll Always Be an England captures the reunited band at the Brixton Academy in 2007, the 30th anniversary of their seminal LP Never Mind The Bollocks. The Pistols are in fine form: Paul Cook is the obvious standout, attacking his kit with the vim and vigour of a man a third of his age; sneaking in a few tasty leads, Steve Jones proves himself a dab hand on the guitbox, betraying his self-styled anti-guitar hero image; and with his gold waistcoat/black dress shirt combo and bouncy hair, bassist Glen Matlock looks like he'd be more suited backing Neil Diamond. But of course punk was never about the uniform, maaan. Though you wouldn't know it to look at the audience - a sea of mohawks, safety pins and PVC, all gurning for the camera. Even notoriously terse frontman John Lydon - who generally never misses an opportunity to mock their reunion - appears to be enjoying himself, though he cheekily performs most of the show in a fluoro PiL shirt. All this, however, is secondary to the 'extras' on the disc: The Knowledge - The Pistols Guide to London, an entertaining oral history of the band. It follows the members as they visit their old West End haunts, which more often than not are linked to an anecdote of Jones nicking some geezer's clobber. They also stop by a greasy spoon for lunch, whereupon Jones and Cook enthuse, at length, on double pie and mash. Jones' standing record? Eight in one day. Pies, that is. Meanwhile, Lydon surveys his beloved London from the back of an open top bus, becoming increasingly dismayed with "faceless, antisocial" modern architecture - the London Skywheel receives most of his vitriol - and ultimately, simply abusing bemused pedestrians. Brilliant.