Review Munich!
Abendzeitung @abendzeitung
#Queen mit @adamlambert in der #Olympiahalle #München. Unsere Konzertkritik: "The Great Pretender"
azmuc.de/a/2z9dYqF Google translate:
translate.google.com/translate?sl=de&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=nl&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.abendzeitung-muenchen.de%2Finhalt.az-konzertkritik-queen-mit-adam-lambert-the-great-pretender.f836c9d7-6837-4a6a-b211-f22674b15553.html%3Futm_source%3DTwitter%26utm_medium%3DTweet%26utm_campaign%3DSocialMedia&edit-text=Freddy Mercury loved Munich, but when performing in the Olympic Hall Queen had to do without their brilliant front man. That the concert was nevertheless a great experience, owes the band (not only) to their substitute Adam Lambert.
Queens' greatest strength has always been and has always been Freddy Mercury: With the genius songwriter, singular vocalist and unrivaled entertainer at the helm, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon rose to creative heights that they were later denied on their own. May and Taylor created immortal classics such as "We Will Rock You", "Who Wants To Live Forever", "A Kind Of Magic" or "Radio Gaga" - all about Freddy's lifetime; Without the congenial partner, they remained meaningless, Deacon even withdrew completely from the public. As a result, after the death of Mercury's premature death in 1991, it had become quite quiet for a while, except for a few special performances where the men, who once filled gigantic stadiums, were no longer on stage.
That did not change until 2004, when May and Taylor went on a world tour with Paul Rodgers as their new lead singer. In 2009, however, this collaboration ended again and Queen disappeared again from the stages. 2012 then the next comeback, which led the band now also to Munich in the with 12,000 spectators sold out Olympiahalle. At the (main) microphone is now with Adam Lambert a talent show rocker, who was just nine years old at Freddy Mercury's death.
But though 32-year-old Lambert is 35 years younger than Brian May, the guitarist enthuses about his new lead vocalist: "We will not work with anyone else after we've worked with the great Adam." In fact, Adam Lambert, who finished second in "American Idol" in 2009, is a talent that would be wasted in Dieter Bohlen's soft-lipped RTL counterpart "Deutschland sucht den Superstar". He survived the first round of casting with an "A Capella" performance of "Bohemian Rhapsody" and sang so well into May's heart that the guitarist finally brought him to Queen. Nevertheless, the role of the Freddy Mercury replacement man is of course a huge mortgage.
Adam Lambert is a great substitute - but not Freddy Mercury
On her tour, Queen makes it easy for her young star to immediately get into the heart of the crowd: The show begins with the immortal rhythm of "We Will Rock You" and as the hall is filled with absolute Queen fans, the rest will be From then on it almost became a self-runner. Of course, "Queen + Adam Lambert", as the formation officially calls itself, can draw on a music catalog that is so extraordinarily good that even after 25 songs there is not a single melody that not everyone has heard before. Or in the case of the concert visitors can sing along fervently.
It seems almost paradoxical that Lambert can excel in the more complex songs. There he can play out the whole musical span of his voice, showing that from the very bottom to the top he can easily play all the notes given by Freddy Mercury. The more melodic, the more demanding a song, the better the illusion works. Then the young American celebrates the British rock anthems with an intensity as if it were his own songs - and he is not just an (admittedly very privileged) cover artist.
Lambert's performance is great and worthy of the band's famous name, even though his voice lacks a bit of the uniqueness of the great idol. But in combination with May and Deacon, it actually becomes Queen. And Lambert is down to earth not to compare himself to Mercury. He is, like everyone else in the hall also, "just a fan," he says, emphasizing the expected applause, how irreplaceable Freddy is.
Two old rockers steal the show from the young talent
But even if the lead singer is Adam Lambert, the true stars of the evening are the Queen veterans Brian May and Roger Taylor. Whenever they go into action solo, the hall shakes - and rightfully so. Although Brian May has not only reached the retirement age visually, he still moves rather slowly across the stage, but his fingers do not show his age. They fly over the strings as they always do and kindle jubilation storms at the audience. Even Roger Taylor seems only at first glance like an old man who seems to disappear behind his huge drums. Often he only contributes to the slow baseline from the background, but at the right moment he literally explodes with the sticks in his hands and then sets a rhythm for the whole hall, which inevitably casts a spell over you.
It fits in with this evening that Queen has some songs in her repertoire that have a heartbreaking melancholy. The secret highlights between brilliant boards like "We Are The Champions", "Do not Stop Me Now" or "I Want It All" are the quiet moments. When Brian May singles solo and with the acoustic guitar "Love Of My Life", explicitly dedicated to the late friend Freddy Mercury, numerous concertgoers are reaching for their handkerchiefs. And Adam Lambert shines with "Who Wants To Live Forever" with a vocal glittering performance, which is reinforced by the fact that he is only seen as a silhouette - and so just for a moment to Freddy.
Mercury's solo hit "The Great Pretender" says, "I'm not ready to see you. Pretending that you're still around." That's exactly what Adam Lambert allows the audience - and also his bandmates: to imagine for just over two hours that Queen still exists in its original form. And then come to the conclusion that "+ Adam Lambert" is of course only a replacement drug - but a really good one.