Civil Protection Chief attacks Queen

As reported yesterday, Queen + Paul Rodgers decided against postponing their 4 concert dates in Italy despite the Pope's death. Speaking to the Italian News Agency (AGI), The Civil Protection Chief in Italy, Guido Bertolaso, was clearly unhappy: "The decision of not postponing the Queen concert was made in bad taste", he said and added: "I did everything I could to suspend or postpone the Italian part of the tour and I am still trying to and hope that the intelligence of the organizers will prevail. As it is a private happening, I do not have the authority of blocking it unless there are public order issues. I am having discussions with the authorities in charge to solve this problem. If they decide to go ahead anyway, I hope no one goes to see the concert. Alternatively, if performing is inevitable, I hope they perform church music".

Queen have not issued an official responce but they did perform the first of 4 Italian dates on Monday night. The rock group held a minute's silence before opening the show at the 10,500 capacity Palalottomatica Arena in Rome on Monday night.