melliemom, this is my translation - pardon my very rusty colloquial French - some of the references are a bit difficult for me to put in context. Someone with better French, feel free to correct me.
On paper, it was risky. Queen without Freddie Mercury will never be Queen, but Brian May and Roger Taylor have continued to keep the flame alive for more than twenty years. So last night at the Zenith in Paris a not totally complete Queen opened like old times with a version of "One Vision", close to the 1986 version. A studded-leather clad Adam Lambert brings the charm and the voice of someone young. At ease in his new role, he clearly follows in the footsteps of Freddie Mercury. But it would be wrong to assume his queerness is their only similarity.
Adam screamed, Adam danced, he sang and challenged, Adam did the job, a thousand times better than Paul Rodgers did between 2005 and 2008. Draped like someone in their lingerie, Adam reclined on a chaise in the audience to interpret "Killer Queen". Invoking the spirit of Freddie he rolls his eyes and ass, all done with humour, and a smile. "Don't you love Freddie he asks the crowd? Just know that I love him as much as you do." There is no need to say anything else. Adam is here to pay tribute to his idol and is not bothered by the comparisons.
Behind, Brian May and Roger Taylor look great. Brian's grey hair is is still long, Roger has a white beard, but their passion is the same, to see them having fun like young people, one behind his guitar, the other behind his drums, is simply an enormous joy. The essentials remain. In 2 hours and 20 minutes they play an impressive setlist that reminds you straight away why this group defined contemporary rock. Yes, Queen is as important as David Bowie and Led Zeppelin. They haven't, unfortunately, been given the same credit (? not sure about this).
But the number of classics is spine tingling. Brian May and Roger Taylor have put together a set that intelligently mixes all eras, the first are hard rock ("Seven Seas of Rhye", powerful "Tie your mother down, gritty) with sumptuous ballads at the end (" Who wants to live forever" magical, "the show must go on" a stand out). As rock gods they can do solos without emptying the room. Taylor plays drums like his life depends on it, while May once again takes his guitar into the stars.
Everything is played immaculately, without leaving the impression you're seeing a concert that's been done a hundred times before. Who would have thought that in 2015 Queen, not having made new music for 20 years, would sound so fresh? Who would imagine that one day Brian May and Roger Taylor finally would find someone to walk in the shoes of Freddie Mercury. Even purists were won over last night in Paris, there was "a kind of Magic" in the air.
Better go...) 