Listen all you people, come gather round
Feb. 28th, 2015 09:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rich_jackoThis time yesterday evening, I'd gone to the arena with Neil, Jacquie, Kate and Kelly to see Queen + Adam Lambert on the final night of their UK/European tour. It was awesome :o)
The show was a bit late starting, but once the curtain vanished (in a swirl, as if by a kind of magic) and One Vision kicked off the night, the audience went wild and we were in for an epic night.
Queen were my favourite band for years (certainly the first one I got into), and possibly they still are. I never got to see them live in their heyday, so this was something really special for me. Several times during the show, I had to kick myself and think, "That's actually Brian May and Roger Taylor, right there!"
Both were brilliant and more than lived up to their status as living legends. I've heard plenty of folk slag him off, but Adam Lambert did a good job too. It was definitely a three man show, with each taking their turn in the spotlight while the others stood back in-between all the ensemble numbers.
Brian May, as you might expect, gave an astounding guitar solo which I could've listened to for hours, and practically did. ;o) He also sang several numbers and filmed the audience doing a Mexican wave using his new toy, a stereoscopic selfie stick. That's when he wasn't leaping around with his guitar cam, or playing to a backdrop of starfields and space exploration footage during his solo numbers. It gives me immense pleasure that the greatest living rock guitarist is both such a nice guy and such a collosal nerd :o)
Roger Taylor appeared to have stolen Anthony Hopkins' beard , but that didn't stop him showing the young 'uns how it's done in an epic drum battle with his son, Rufus. He wasn't front of stage as much as the other two, but he led a couple of songs and certainly made his presence felt throughout.
Adam Lambert was outrageously flamboyant (especially when armed with a fan and a chaise longue for Killer Queen) - kind of a cross between Freddie, Prince and George Michael. His voice did the songs justice, and at one point he led the audience in a Freddie style repeat-after-me of "gimme gimme gimme your love". At the same time, he was humble enough to acknowledge that he was only standing in for the musical genius and showman who couldn't be there.
The biggest cheers of the night belonged to Freddie, appearing on screen as Brian led the audience in an acoustic rendition of Love of My Life, and again in behind the scenes archive footage of the band as Roger sang Days of Our Lives.
Highlights are hard to pick from a two-and-a-half hour set which contained - as Adam Lambert put it - "so many hits, it's unbelievable!" There were lasers and smoke and a giant mirrorball, but really it was all about the music and a wonderful degree of audience participation. When I saw the "We Will Rock You" musical, I was disappointed at the lack of audience clapping during the chorus of Radio Ga-Ga. This time around, almost every pair of hands was in the air.
Freddie made a last appearance during the impossible-to-do-live middle section of Bohemian Rhapsody, which was a fitting "final" number. But of course it wasn't going to be over until they'd paid their dues. After a few minutes of the audience clapping for more to the beat of We Will Rock You, almost the whole arena was on its feet as that song opened the encore, before sequing into arms swaying for We Are The Champions and finally God Save The Queen.
Amen to that :o)
The show was a bit late starting, but once the curtain vanished (in a swirl, as if by a kind of magic) and One Vision kicked off the night, the audience went wild and we were in for an epic night.
Queen were my favourite band for years (certainly the first one I got into), and possibly they still are. I never got to see them live in their heyday, so this was something really special for me. Several times during the show, I had to kick myself and think, "That's actually Brian May and Roger Taylor, right there!"
Both were brilliant and more than lived up to their status as living legends. I've heard plenty of folk slag him off, but Adam Lambert did a good job too. It was definitely a three man show, with each taking their turn in the spotlight while the others stood back in-between all the ensemble numbers.
Brian May, as you might expect, gave an astounding guitar solo which I could've listened to for hours, and practically did. ;o) He also sang several numbers and filmed the audience doing a Mexican wave using his new toy, a stereoscopic selfie stick. That's when he wasn't leaping around with his guitar cam, or playing to a backdrop of starfields and space exploration footage during his solo numbers. It gives me immense pleasure that the greatest living rock guitarist is both such a nice guy and such a collosal nerd :o)
Roger Taylor appeared to have stolen Anthony Hopkins' beard , but that didn't stop him showing the young 'uns how it's done in an epic drum battle with his son, Rufus. He wasn't front of stage as much as the other two, but he led a couple of songs and certainly made his presence felt throughout.
Adam Lambert was outrageously flamboyant (especially when armed with a fan and a chaise longue for Killer Queen) - kind of a cross between Freddie, Prince and George Michael. His voice did the songs justice, and at one point he led the audience in a Freddie style repeat-after-me of "gimme gimme gimme your love". At the same time, he was humble enough to acknowledge that he was only standing in for the musical genius and showman who couldn't be there.
The biggest cheers of the night belonged to Freddie, appearing on screen as Brian led the audience in an acoustic rendition of Love of My Life, and again in behind the scenes archive footage of the band as Roger sang Days of Our Lives.
Highlights are hard to pick from a two-and-a-half hour set which contained - as Adam Lambert put it - "so many hits, it's unbelievable!" There were lasers and smoke and a giant mirrorball, but really it was all about the music and a wonderful degree of audience participation. When I saw the "We Will Rock You" musical, I was disappointed at the lack of audience clapping during the chorus of Radio Ga-Ga. This time around, almost every pair of hands was in the air.
Freddie made a last appearance during the impossible-to-do-live middle section of Bohemian Rhapsody, which was a fitting "final" number. But of course it wasn't going to be over until they'd paid their dues. After a few minutes of the audience clapping for more to the beat of We Will Rock You, almost the whole arena was on its feet as that song opened the encore, before sequing into arms swaying for We Are The Champions and finally God Save The Queen.
Amen to that :o)
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