Life must go on!
For Queen members Brian May and Roger Taylor, now joined by legendary rock vocalist and writer Paul Rodgers, the concert is one of many the band has played to address the issue of HIV AIDS. In June the band joined a host of international stars in London's Hyde Park at the 46664 concert to celebrate Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday and generate further awareness of the work being done by Mandela's HIV AIDS organization.
Elena Pinchuk, Founder of the ANTIAIDS Foundation said: "We've chosen Kharkov for this concert - it is the biggest city of our country after Kiev with a population of 1, 5 million as is at its heart a student city. For this reason it is a perfect setting for the concert: the greatest incidence of new HIV cases is registered among young people between 15-25 living in the big urban areas. After the great success of the Elton John concert we organized in Kiev in the main square in 2007 we decided to take the message of our HIV/AIDS problem not only to the capital cities but to our youth all over Ukraine. I strongly believe there are no better speakers for the cause than the founders of Queen, Brian May and Rodger Taylor, joined as they now are by Paul Rodgers.
Freedom Square in Kharkiv is the second largest square in Europe and the sixth largest square in the world. A week before the concert a large stage with the Queen + Paul Rodgers branded podium will be set up at the center of Kharkov, where the band will step up on September, 12.
Queen + Paul Rodger's appearance will be the focus of addressing a public audience on the issue of AIDS. Everyone attending the concert will have an opportunity to receive a special gift of thanks from the band – the opportunity to download on their cell phones through Bluetooth the ringtone of their hit Say It's Not True, penned especially for Nelson Mandela's 466664 Aids Foundation and the current single C-lebrity.
During their visit to the Ukraine Queen + Paul Rodgers will join Elena Pinchuk at a special press conference in Kiev o September 11 and a visit to Red University where they will discuss with a group of students the subject of world efforts being made to address HIV AIDS.
In the lead up to the concert over 200 volunteers will work at the square before the concert - mainly students of Kharkov' Universities - distributing free condoms and information about HIV/AIDS. A few days before the concert social the square will host a newly created poster exhibition devoted to the HIV/AIDS problem.
As a further initiative entered into with city government support, volunteers will be engaged at five subway stations and in fifteen Universities in Kharkov. Graffiti painters will also make their contribution into this campaign - they will decorate walls at the Freedom Square with the drawings devoted to the AIDS problem.
But the collaboration of Elena Pinchuk ANTIAIDS Foundation and Queen is not limited to the September concert. The two are further discussing the possibility of issuing a commemorative special live concert DVD which will contribute after the event to the charitable projects involved in the fight against AIDS.
For detailed information, please, contact Pavel Piminov, Communications Director, Elena Pinchuk ANTIAIDS Foundation on e-mail: [email protected].
Contact phone number: +380 44 490 4805. Fax: +380 44 490 4885.
For Queen + Paul Rodgers
Phil Symes - The PR Contact
Tel: + 44 (0) 79 00 865 283
Email: [email protected]
Editor's Note:
On February 1992 during the "BRIT Awards" Freddie was posthumous honoured for his "Outstanding Prominent contribution to British music". During the ceremony Brian and Rodger announced that they were planning a concert at Wembley Stadium in memory of Freddie. On the following day tickets were put up for sale and in just SIX hours all 72 000 of tickets were sold. On Easter Monday, April, 20 1992, many of the world's best known musicians - among them Liza Minnelli, Elton John, Guns N'Roses, George Michael, David Bowie, Annie Lennox, Metallica, Robert Plant and Def Leppard joined Brian, Roger and John Deacon on stage of Wembley Stadium to pay tribute to Freddie. With Wembley Stadium at capacity, the concert was seen by a further one billion people live on TV across the world. Proceeds of the concert were used to establish The Mercury Phoenix Trust which continues to support HIV Aids charities and organizations around the world and has to date donated more than £8 million for help and education. The members of Queen continue to be trustees along with manager Jim Beach.
Outside of the Mercury Phoenix Trust, Queen's Brian May and Roger Taylor helped found the Nelson Mandela 46664 HIV Aids campaign launched in 2003, to date appearing at three concerts for 46664. For last year's World Aids Day, the band donated a special music track, "Say It's Not True" especially written and recorded by Brian, Roger and Paul Rodgers to 46664. The track is included in the band's forthcoming new album, "The Cosmos Rocks".
