Pic Thread 5 -All the pretty you can handle (2019)

brianmayforreal
BIG THANKS to all of you kind folks at the United Arena tonight in CHICAGO. We experimented a little with the set list - and a new shirt for me, courtesy of the fabulous Marley !!! Thanks also to @helenbovill3d , Mary Kate (@murtate44 on Twitter) and @kaybeetodd also on Twitter for these mementos. Tomorrow (well, today, actually) we journey to St PAUL. No rest for the wicked !!! Are you ready, Minnesotans ?!! Bri

www.instagram.com/p/B0-T6ViFp0Z/

www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/ct-ent-queen-adam-lambert-review-0812-20190810-pa5nkuf5dnamllmvksumr43t2a-story.html
Review: Queen and Adam Lambert reigned triumphant during a dazzling United Center performance
By ALTHEA LEGASPI



A massive crown rose from the stage before Queen + Adam Lambert appeared at their sold-out show at United Center on Friday. It set a grand tone for their Chicago Rhapsody Tour stop and befitted their material, which was reinforced by visual displays that included pulsating psychedelic laser lights and set designs that mirrored the lyrical and musical range of the band, from the intimate to the fantastical.

Queen is no stranger to musical extravagance; it’s in those spaces where the band pushed excess and experimentation that some of its most memorable work was born, coaxed further by the group’s erstwhile frontman and one of rock 'n' roll’s greatest singers, Freddie Mercury, who died in 1991. And while Mercury remains irreplaceable, Lambert’s talents and interpretations have proved to be a formidable match since he began touring with Queen in 2014.

On Friday he added theatrical flourishes and injected campy, knowing winks during songs such as “Killer Queen,” where he primly crossed his legs while fanning himself, and the bombastic “Bicycle Race,” where he sat on a spinning motorcycle as he hit falsettos. Lambert’s delivery was not about mimicking the icon but rather about reverence, his gratitude for the position evident when he thanked Queen’s co-founders, guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor, and paid homage to Mercury.

“Do you love Freddie,” Lambert asked the audience, which responded with cheerful affirmations. “See, that is what’s cool. I’m a fan, too. And there’s no replacing Freddie ... Mercury. I’m only here to celebrate Freddie and Queen with you tonight.”

While Lambert was one focal point with his showmanship, sparkly costumes and compelling vocals, which perfectly melded with May and Taylor’s harmonies, May’s center stage moments were equally engaging. During an acoustic run performed at a mini stage that extended from a catwalk into the audience, he delivered a poignant, intimate “Love of My Life,” which closed with a projection of Mercury singing the outro.

May’s intricate solos drove the band’s churning tracks, but it was his highlighted solo turn where he appeared atop an asteroid prop that went next level. With the guitarist bathed in red lighting, his soaring melodies soundtracked a cosmic backdrop that made it appear like he was being propelled through space, a fitting display for Dr. May, who has an astrophysics PhD.

Meanwhile, Taylor took lead for the propulsive, revving “I’m in Love With My Car,” and duetted with Lambert during the riveting “Under Pressure.” May, Taylor and Lambert’s harmonies buoyed the set, particularly on standouts such as the a cappella openings of “I Want it All,” “Fat Bottomed Girls” and “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which transformed into an audience-wide sing-a-long.

Queen didn’t need a victory lap, as its rock 'n' roll pantheon status has long been evident through the band’s ubiquitous presence in pop culture over the course of five decades. If anything, its fan base has grown since last fall’s release of the long-gestating, Academy Award-winning biopic, “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Still, the United Center encore, which included “We Will Rock You” and “We Are the Champions,” was triumphant.