8.8.19 Adam News and Info
Aug 8, 2019 0:17:08 GMT -5
Post by Q3 on Aug 8, 2019 0:17:08 GMT -5
Next stop is Chicago. If you are attending the Chicago concert, consider streaming it. Thanks!
***
I post all the major reviews of QAL and Adam concerts -- good, bad, and meh. This tour has be pretty much good to great reviews -- except for this one. It is from a credible writer who disclosed her "hate" of Queen -- so I give her that. But she is not a music critic. In other words, it's here, I posted it, but I recommend just ignoring it. She hates the music, what was she expecting to like? Q3
PS It reminds me of Queen reviews from 1973-1975 -- only nicer.
PS It reminds me of Queen reviews from 1973-1975 -- only nicer.
Sorry, Queen: Seeing the band live couldn’t turn this hater into a believer
Maeve McDermott, USA TODAY Published 1:29 p.m. ET Aug. 7, 2019 | Updated 1:44 p.m. ET Aug. 7, 2019
We all have those musical acts — the indisputable “greats” of their genre, beloved by millions of fans around the world, whose popularity you may understand and talent you can appreciate on an objective level, but whose music you just viscerally don’t enjoy.
That’s my relationship with Queen. Sorry, but it’s true.
As someone who gets paid to write about music, it’d be professionally irresponsible of me not to acknowledge Freddie Mercury’s greatness, or that several of their hits are top-tier rock songs — those are just facts.
And yet, I always change the station when “Bohemian Rhapsody” comes on. Last year, I cringed my way through the Oscar-winning run of their biopic. I generally think they’re among the more overrated bands of their generation.
That’s how I ended up at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night, with a dancing-in-their-chairs group of boomers next to me and several screaming teens behind me, genuinely curious if Queen and Adam Lambert’s current live show could make me more of a believer.
I swear, I wanted to see the light. I rooted for Adam Lambert during his “American Idol” run, and when he was announced as the band’s touring frontman eight years ago, I thought the decision was smart. And while I don’t have an encyclopedic knowledge of Queen’s discography, I’ve listened enough beyond the hits to make what I consider an informed opinion, that their music was largely brainless pastiche and has been elevated to classic status on the strength of Mercury’s dynamic presence.
Maeve McDermott, USA TODAY Published 1:29 p.m. ET Aug. 7, 2019 | Updated 1:44 p.m. ET Aug. 7, 2019
We all have those musical acts — the indisputable “greats” of their genre, beloved by millions of fans around the world, whose popularity you may understand and talent you can appreciate on an objective level, but whose music you just viscerally don’t enjoy.
That’s my relationship with Queen. Sorry, but it’s true.
As someone who gets paid to write about music, it’d be professionally irresponsible of me not to acknowledge Freddie Mercury’s greatness, or that several of their hits are top-tier rock songs — those are just facts.
And yet, I always change the station when “Bohemian Rhapsody” comes on. Last year, I cringed my way through the Oscar-winning run of their biopic. I generally think they’re among the more overrated bands of their generation.
That’s how I ended up at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night, with a dancing-in-their-chairs group of boomers next to me and several screaming teens behind me, genuinely curious if Queen and Adam Lambert’s current live show could make me more of a believer.
I swear, I wanted to see the light. I rooted for Adam Lambert during his “American Idol” run, and when he was announced as the band’s touring frontman eight years ago, I thought the decision was smart. And while I don’t have an encyclopedic knowledge of Queen’s discography, I’ve listened enough beyond the hits to make what I consider an informed opinion, that their music was largely brainless pastiche and has been elevated to classic status on the strength of Mercury’s dynamic presence.
Adam Lambert leads Queen at the band's New York show on August 7, 2019. (Photo: Greg Allen, Greg Allen/Invision/AP)
Lambert has toured with founding Queen members Brian May and Roger Taylor for years, and executing a concert on that scale is no easy feat. In that regard, the show’s two hours unfolded without a hitch, despite Lambert alluding to “technical difficulties” early in their set. The impressive visuals were there, with Lambert emerging from a trapdoor lounging on a motorcycle to sing “I Want to Ride My Bicycle,” and May rising to the rafters on top of an enormous screen to play a solo guitar interlude as projections of planets floated around his head.
Dripping in sequins and gold, Lambert channeled the more opulent aspects of Mercury’s persona in his costuming, rather than actually wearing the tight muscle tees best associated with Mercury’s own onstage looks. And the songs were dutifully faithful renditions of the versions fans know and love as Lambert is blessed with the kind of voice that can replicate any of Mercury’s most difficult vocal runs.
Going into the show, I feared the songs’ magic would be lost, and I was right, but not in the way I thought. Lambert and Queen’s performances — like those any skilled cover band — were pitch-perfect. They were also soulless.
Several songs into the show, Lambert walked to the front of the catwalk to address what he called the “pink elephant” in the room. “I’m not Freddie,” he told the Madison Square Garden audience. “And there is no replacing the rock god known as Freddie Mercury. I’m just the same as all of you, I am also a big fan, I’m just up here in the suit.”
“So if you can make me a promise tonight, that we will celebrate Freddie and Queen, together, I will make you a promise,” he finished, before singing his first few words of “Don’t Stop Me Now,” amping up the energy after an opening run of songs that drew a relatively-subdued crowd response. “Tonight, I'm gonna have myself a real good time…”
Adam Lambert, left, and Brian May (Photo: Greg Allen, Greg Allen/Invision/AP)
While a speech of that sort was needed in the context of the show, Lambert’s choice of words struck me as borderline cynical, telling an audience that bought tickets to see Queen, the band, that the night was really “a celebration of ‘Queen, the band,’” absolving them from delivering a show that anyone could judge as sub-par.
I thought, "This isn’t a jukebox musical, which celebrates a band’s hits while removing the expectation that the actors will mimic the real-life musicians they’re playing."
I signed up to see a rock show, with the actual members of Queen, alongside Lambert, a singer they hired to best represent Mercury onstage. I expected to see, if not a Mercury-level performance, a show that was actively striving to come close. Was this a cop-out?
Perhaps that’s why I left the show wanting more, and feeling disappointed for any actual Queen fans who walked out of the venue wanting the same. I wanted to see the life, and the effort, that made Mercury an iconic frontman. I wanted the perfect falsetto, but I wanted it delivered with fire. I wanted to see Lambert sweat, and yell, and at the very least, move around the stage with more dynamism than the deliberate amble he kept as his pace throughout the show.
Instead, I got a concert-hall version of Queen with a choir-boy Freddie Mercury when, as I increasingly realized as the show went on all I really wanted was something remotely authentic.
And while I came into a concert that I was predisposed to hate with the most open mind I could muster, I fully gave up hope when Lambert shrugged his way through one of my all-time favorite Mercury moments, the line in “Under Pressure” where he sings “Can't we give ourselves one more chance?” like the life is being squeezed out of him.
I'm genuinely happy for any Queen-adoring fan who comes away from the band's current tour with their beliefs about the band's legacy confirmed. Unfortunately for me, Tuesday's show confirmed mine.
QAL North American Tour 2019
12 Jul Tacoma, WA Tacoma Dome
14 Jul San Jose, CA SAP Center
16 Jul Phoenix, AZ Talking Stick Resort Arena
19 Jul Los Angeles, CA The Forum
20 Jul Los Angeles, CA The Forum
23 Jul Dallas, TX American Airlines Center
24 Jul Houston, TX Toyota Center
27 Jul Detroit, MI Little Caesars Arena
28 Jul Toronto, ON Scotiabank Arena
30 Jul Washington, DC Capital One Arena
31 Jul Pittsburgh, PA PPG Paints Arena
03 Aug Philadelphia, PA Wells Fargo Center
04 Aug Boston, MA Xfinity Center
06 Aug New York, NY Madison Square Garden
07 Aug New York, NY Madison Square Garden
09 Aug Chicago, IL United Center
10 Aug St. Paul, MN Xcel Energy Center
13 Aug Columbus, OH Nationwide Arena
15 Aug Nashville, TN Bridgestone Arena
17 Aug Ft. Lauderdale, FL BB&T Center
18 Aug Tampa, FL Amalie Arena
20 Aug New Orleans, LA Smoothie King Center
22 Aug Atlanta, GA State Farm Arena
23 Aug Charlotte, NC Spectrum Center
28 Sept QAL - Global Citizen Performance, Central Park, NYC
How to earn a free ticket: globalcitizenfestival.com.
Air live on MSNBC; Comcast NBCUniversal; plus, iHeartMedia will broadcast the event live across the country on its radio stations, as well as stream it on iHeartRadio.
VIP tickets are available from Ticketmaster.com (they appear to be sold out).