Bad Company at Jones Beach NY
Sven Knudsen - June 29, 2009
How good is a band that can open with its most recognizable song 'Cant Get Enough' and hold that level of intensity all night long?
Tonight Bad Company blew everyone away and reminded all of us what it is that makes them such a good band.
With a reportage most bands would envy they cooked from one classic to another and not just the expectable classics like 'Feel like making Love' 'Rock Steady' 'Bad Company' and the like, with the original guitarist Mick Ralphs back with Rodgers they threw in some unexpected pearler's like 'Electric Land' (Desolation Angels) and 'Young Blood' (Run with the Pack), Rodgers voice was faultless throughout, in fact his range and power has increased over the years, he is truly a wonder of nature.
Absolute highlights of the evening were 'Simple Man' and 'Seagull'
Bad Company are one of the bands from by-gone era of creativity and feel that still have got what it takes to wow an audience.
Bad Company Delivers Gem in VA Beach
Jeff Maisey, Veer Magazine - June 25, 2009 
Strength and honor.
Bad Company singer Paul Rodgers, baring a striking resemblance to Russell Crowe as the lead character in the movie “Gladiator,” arrived at the Verizon Wireless Virginia Beach Amphitheater on Wednesday and handily conquered the hearts and minds of over 10,000 cheering fans.
Exactly 35 years to the day, Bad Company’s self-titled debut album was released and topped the charts in America and Europe. The original surviving lineup – Paul Rodgers (vocal/piano/guitar), Mick Ralphs (guitar) and Simon Kirke (drums) – reunited this summer for a mere 10 dates, including this June 24 concert in Virginia Beach.
The band arguably never sounded better.
Throughout the set, Rodgers gave a commanding performance. He constantly paced the stage as if he was on a workout routine, spinning the microphone stand at times and pumping his biceps with enthusiasm. Most impressive was the strength of his voice as he passionately hit note after note with pure conviction, especially on “Simple Man” and “Rock Steady.”
Bad Company wasted no time in delivering the many hits still heard on classic rock FM radio stations. They opened with “Can’t Get Enough,” which seemed to develop as a theme. Fans sang along to “Shooting Star,” “Ready for Love” and “Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy” and they hungered insatiably for the next song to be performed.
Rodgers and company dug deep for an outstanding version of “Electricland,” a real surprise and gem for longtime fans. Equally fantastic were “Running with the Pack,” “Feel Like Makin’ Love” and “Burnin’ Sky.”
Rodgers and Ralphs broke out their acoustic guitars for a moving version of “Seagull” as Navy warplanes roared in the background on routine nighttime training maneuvers.
For the closing encore, a misty dry ice fog hovered across the stage with Rodgers positioned behind the grand piano. The first notes were instantly recognized as the triumphant “Bad Company” anthem. Like every song played, this track was full of punch on the accents and heavy on the power chords.
The Doobie Brothers served as a complimentary opening act. With original members Tom Johnson (vocals/guitar) and Patrick Simmons (guitar/vocals) leading the way, the Doobies puffed out such classics as “China Grove,” “Jesus Is Just Alright” and “Take Me in Your Arms.” The crowd favorite was “Black Water.”
The most impressive element of the Doobie’s show was the spot-on vocal harmonies and blistering guitar work.
Preview/Interview:
Rock and Roll Fantasy: Bad Company's brief summer tour
Jeff Maisey, Veer Magazine - June 14, 2009
 Hampton Roads can count its luck shooting stars.
Bad Company, the legendary ’70s-era classic rock band, is reuniting with its surviving original lineup of Paul Rodgers (singer), Mick Ralphs (guitar) and Simon Kirke (drums) for a short 10-day tour that will include a stop June 24 at the Verizon Wireless Virginia Beach Amphitheater.
Critics considered Bad Co. a supergroup of sorts at the time of their 1974 self-titled debut. Rodgers and Kirke were members of Free (“All Right Now”), Ralphs hailed from Mott the Hoople (“All The Young Dudes”), and then bassist Boz Burrell came from King Crimson (“21st Century Schizoid Man”) fame.
From the very beginning, Bad Company found immediate success. They were the first band signed to Led Zeppelin’s Swan Song record label and received heavy radio play with such songs as “Movin’ On,” Can’t Get Enough,” “Good Loving Gone Bad,” “Ready for Love” and “Shooting Star.”
Beyond his occasional duties with Bad Co. these days, Rodgers has been performing worldwide with Queen and he’s ventured out on solo tours in support of his “Live in Glasgow” DVD.
In advance of Bad Company’s show, we had an opportunity to pose these questions to the personable Paul Rodgers.
Bad Company will reunite and perform just 10 shows this summer. Why so few?
I didn’t want to do too many shows. I’ve just come off the Queen tour. We were out in Eastern Europe and Russia for about four months. I just wanted to keep it small and exclusive.
Are you happy to finally be performing with Mick Ralphs again?
For me personally, it’ll be nice to play a whole set of my songs, and Mick’s, of course. For the last four years I’ve been on the road with Queen, and I was really playing their songs and they were playing mine.
Bad Company fans will be treated to the greatest hits when you perform in Virginia Beach, but will you also play deep cuts such as “Deal with the Preacher,” “Silver, Blue and Gold” and “Seagull”?
I think for certain we’re going to play those golden songs like “Feel Like Making Love” and “Shooting Star” and “Rock Steady.” If I was going to see Bad Company I think I’d want to hear those songs. But, yeah, it will be nice to dig in a little bit deeper. There is a lot of material. I would also like to throw in a new song just to let people know that I’m moving forward as well.
And you always have, Paul. Certainly on your solo stuff you let your bluesy roots shine through. I imagine, like many British musicians who came out of the ‘60s, you were inspired by American blues artists. Is that correct?
Yeah, we were definitely inspired by blues. Jimi Hendrix was inspired by blues, and Queen, Led Zeppelin. There was a great deal of it. And I still love the blues. Those blues guys – Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, John Lee Hooker – epitomized real rock ‘n’ roll for us.
Bad Company was considered somewhat of a supegroup when it formed. Did you feel pressure to succeed when recording the debut album?
I’ve never put bands together with the idea of with the idea of forming a super band. When I formed Free with Paul Kossoff it was really because he got up on stage with me and jammed with my band, which was called the Brown Sugar Blues Band, and I came off the stage and said, ‘Man, we have got to form a band.’ And that became Free. Bad Company was formed when I met Mick Ralphs and we started writing songs together and exchanging ideas. It was really who was around that was good and could work with what we were doing, not shall we form a super group. Chemistry is the right word.
The 1970s was a prolific period for your songwriting. What was life like as a member of Bad Company?
Well, it was a wild and crazy time, I have to say. We stepped right into Led Zeppelin’s management and the whole thing. It was the case of private planes and limousines on the tarmac and being whisked from show to show. It was a very heady experience.What has kept me sane through all those crazy years – because you can lose touch with reality just a little bit – has been the music itself.
I always come back to that and focusing on and remembering what’s important. It’s easy to lose yourself in the image of how you are perceived. You have to see yourself as down-to-earth and very real. “Feel Like Making Love” and “Shooting Star” are things everybody can relate to.
Which classic Bad Company album do you consider the band’s best work?
Well, there are two albums I like more.The first album I like because it was very organic in nature. We didn’t have a concept of who we were. We just had a bunch of good musicians and great songs – I think they were great songs, if I can say that. There was a wide range of songs all the way from “Seagull” to “Rock Steady.” The idea was just to get the music down and get out there and play it. Whereas with Run with the Pack, I like that because it was quite polished actually and it was very well produced. The track “Run with the Pack” itself was the first time I used full orchestra strings on a track. It was polished but still really edgy. There were a lot of good songs on there; six or seven that we can still do very strongly on stage.
I’ve always wondered about the photo of the band inside the album. Looks as though it was a late night of drinking for you guys?
Oh, yeah. Well it was actually one of those sessions that went on and on. The photographers said, “Just one more session.” And we were actually fading away.Those were the days, I suppose. But I really don’t drink alcohol anymore to be honest with you. I like clean living and I’m a very health oriented person. I feel the only way I can give 100 percent on stage is to be mentally, physically and everything in shape. I work out three times a day – stretching in the morning, cardio in the mid-day and weights in the evening.
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Bad Company is the latest group to return to celebrate all its yesterdays and find a huge crowd still waiting to do it with them. A good 30 years since their heyday, the singer Paul Rodgers, guitarist Mick Ralphs and drummer Simon Kirke have once again been touring the biggest indoor venues in Britain, together with the bass player Lynn Sorensen replacing Boz Burrell, who died in 2006, and an additional guitarist, Howard Leese. 
A seventies rock supergroup were reunited for the start of an exclusive eight-date UK arena tour.