It was a return that began with a small fan-based Brixton set and ended in a powerhouse Hyde Park 65,000 crowd finale which also managed to frame a moment in UK history.
Rock band Queen had returned to the road close on 20 years after a retirement imposed on them by the impending tragic loss of lead singer Freddie Mercury and one which had appeared to signal the end of a recording and touring career that had marked the band out as rock champions of the world's concert arenas.
Pairing with Paul Rodgers the legendary vocalist, songwriter and founding member of Free and Bad Company, Queen's Brian May and Roger Taylor surprised many earlier this year with the announcement that they were returning to 'business as usual' and taking on more than 32 live dates throughout the UK and Europe.
This recording, captured live during the band's sold out Sheffield Hallam Arena show in May 2005, delivers a virtual greatest hits collection from both the Queen and Paul Rodgers song catalogues, mixing perennial crowd pleasers such as Queen's 'Tie Your Mother Down', 'Radio Ga Ga', 'We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions' with Rodgers' own million sellers 'Feel Like Makin' Love', 'Wishing Well' and 'All Right Now'. Here also for the first time we get we get live versions of some of the classic hits recorded after the band stopped performing in 1986 and consequently never before available on disc, among them 'The Show Must Go On', delivered in a scorching version by Rodgers.
Return of The Champions was filmed on an 18 camera shoot by award-winning director David Mallet released October 24. As a record of that special Hyde Park night, the DVD features the bonus track, Queen + Paul Rodger's fine version of Lennon's 'Imagine' which provided May, Taylor and Rodgers a moment to reflect on that moment of time in London