8.18.19 QAL Tampa, Nashville review
Aug 18, 2019 2:14:24 GMT -5
Post by Q3 on Aug 18, 2019 2:14:24 GMT -5
Tonight: QAL Tampa!
Venue: Amalie Arena, Tampa, FL
Status: Sold Out
Time: 8:00pm-10:00pm EDT (same as New York)
*****
Queen (and Adam Lambert) are the champions at Nashville concert
Dave Paulson, Nashville Tennessean Published 12:12 a.m. CT Aug. 16, 2019 | Updated 6:40 a.m. CT Aug. 16, 2019
It’s been 49 years since Queen first took the stage. More than 20 since their last hit song.
Still, when the British rock greats returned to Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena Thursday night, they were greeted like a white-hot act who’d just topped the charts.
And, well, they had.
The 2018 film “Bohemian Rhapsody” – which traced the band’s rise and the life of their late, legendary frontman Freddie Mercury – trounced all records to become the highest-grossing music biopic of all time.
it also made this sold-out show an even hotter ticket than the band’s last stop at Bridgestone in 2017.
But while “Bohemian Rhapsody” tried to engineer a spitting image of Mercury in Rami Malek (even recruiting Nashville-based soundalike Marc Martel for vocal work), the modern Queen has gone in a different direction in tapping Adam Lambert, and it’s the right one.
The 37-year-old “American Idol” alum has fronted the band since 2011, and he makes no attempt to sound like Mercury. Instead, he’s an inspired, kindred spirit: an openly gay performer with plenty of vocal power and a fondness for theatrical flair.
"I'm gonna address the big pink elephant in the room, OK?" Lambert told the crowd.
"I'm not Freddie. I know. And there is no replacing the rock god Freddie Mercury. Every time I take the stage, all I'm hoping for is that I'm doing his memory proud, and that I'm celebrating his amazing legacy, and this amazing band with all of you guys."
He also expressed his honor over sharing the stage with two of Queen’s founding members — or "rock and roll legends,” in his words — guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor.
One thing “Bohemian Rhapsody” took pains to establish: Queen, ironically, was a democracy, with all four members contributing songs and designing their sound.
That's made clear during a 21st century Queen concert, too, whether its Taylor belting and pounding his way through “I’m In Love With My Car,” or May taking center stage for another instantly recognizable solo. In concert, you quickly realize that no Queen classic is complete without one of his searing, hyper-melodic bursts.
Queen performs with Adam Lambert at Bridgestone Arena Thursday, Aug. 15, 2019.
Queen performs with Adam Lambert at Bridgestone Arena Thursday, Aug. 15, 2019. (Photo: Alan Poizner)
And May, it turns out, is an effective vocalist too — though he left much of the singing during an acoustic “Love of My Life” to the crowd. Then, archive footage of Mercury appeared alongside him on the screens, in a moving bit of video trickery.
Even with the laser lights, a spinning motorcycle Lambert strode atop during "Bicycle Race" and a trippy guitar solo break that saw May riding a projected asteroid while planets hovered around him, the show's best special effects were any hint of Mercury.
Nothing made the room's hair stand on end quite like the beginning of "Bohemian Rhapsody," which had Mercury's recorded vocals from 1975 bouncing off the walls. He also reappeared — seemingly on the Bridgestone stage via video projection — to lead the crowd in his iconic brand of call-and-response.
Of course, not all of Queen's catalog is so iconic. In terms of audience recognition, there’s a pretty wide gulf between "Another One Bites The Dust" and, say, "Keep Yourself Alive." But that's not a new problem for the band, and they've learned a thing or two about set pacing over the last half century.
It's only fitting that a Queen concert builds to a crescendo over the course of two hours, The final stretch tore through the hits, from the Elvis ode "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" to "Under Pressure" (with Taylor impressively tackling David Bowie's vocal part), the southern-styled "Fat Bottomed Girls" and set-closing "Rhapsody."
The crew — which included Nashville resident Tyler Warren on percussion and vocals — returned to encore with their two unwitting sports anthems, "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions."
Whether you left the arena in a tour bus or spilled back out onto Lower Broadway, chances are you felt like a winner, too.
Queen + Adam Lambert setlist
Now I'm Here
Seven Seas of Rhye
Keep Yourself Alive
Hammer to Fall
Killer Queen
Don't Stop Me Now
Somebody to Love
In the Lap of the Gods... Revisited
I'm in Love With My Car
Bicycle Race
Another One Bites the Dust
Machines (Or 'Back to Humans')
I Want It All
Love of My Life
'39
Doing All Right
Crazy Little Thing Called Love
Under Pressure
I Want to Break Free
Who Wants to Live Forever
Tie Your Mother Down
The Show Must Go On
Fat Bottomed Girls
Radio Ga Ga
Bohemian Rhapsody
Encore:
We Will Rock You
We Are the Champions
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
4 Sept Adam Lambert, “SuperPower” single releases
27 Sept VELVET Side A releases - Pre-order now! empire.lnk.to/VELVETsideA
28 Sept QAL - Global Citizen Festival 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).
TBD Velvet Side B