NOLA review. It doesn't have much retweets yet so I'm not sure it's very positive...
NOLA.com @nolanews
Queen + Adam Lambert in New Orleans: Sometimes more Broadway musical, other times a concert: But impossible not to feel "at least a rush"
“Pink elephant in the room. I’m not Freddie. And there’s no replacing the irreplaceable.”
Review from @keithspera:
buff.ly/2zdunLnOn Halloween 1978, Queen headlined New Orleans’ Municipal Auditorium, then hosted a party at what was then the Fairmont Hotel. That celebration of the band’s forthcoming “Jazz” album was notoriously decadent; its legend has only grown over the decades.
It must have been a doozy: Queen avoided New Orleans for the next 41 years — and, technically, never really came back.
The band that performed at a full-to-the-rafters Smoothie King Center on Tuesday night was billed as Queen + Adam Lambert. The “+ Adam Lambert” acknowledges the obvious: without the late Freddie Mercury, the classic Queen simply doesn’t exist.
His remarkable, operatic voice, grand vision, campy yet commanding stage presence and overall cheekiness largely drove and defined Queen. He was, without question, one of rock's great frontmen.
Thirteen years after Mercury's 1991 death, original Queen guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor recruited Bad Company singer Paul Rodgers to record and tour as Queen + Paul Rodgers. Lambert, an alumnus of “American Idol,” was inserted into the frontman slot eight years ago.
In what has become a standard line of his, Lambert addressed the “pink elephant in the room” early in Tuesday's show: “I’m not Freddie. And there’s no replacing the irreplaceable.”
Thus, to enjoy Queen + Adam Lambert requires a suspension of disbelief. Fans must get past who Lambert isn’t and accept him for who he is.
That didn't necessarily happen right away.
After a tiara-shaped LED screen ascended to the rafters, Lambert emerged in a lavish gold and black patterned suit and black silk pirate shirt. That the show opened with him singing “Now I’m Here” was no accident (sample lyric: “Now I’m here, now I’m there, I’m just a new man”).
From jump, it was clear that, musically, this incarnation of Queen remains rock solid. The guitar work of the 72-year-old May was spot-on; in his trademark sneakers, often standing on the tiptoes of his left foot, he alternated bedrock riffs with sculpted solos. Taylor, 70, was up to the task of replicating his drum fills and driving the arrangements.
The supporting cast did its job. Keyboardist Spike Edney is a holdover from the latter Freddie Mercury years; he’s toured with Queen since 1984 and was onstage during the band's legendary Live Aid show in 1985. Bassist Neil Fairclough is the stand-in for long-retired Queen bassist John Deacon. Tyler Warren, the newest recruit, helped out on percussion and backing vocals.
Early on, they banged out “Keep Yourself Alive” and a slightly truncated “Hammer to Fall.” Lambert’s voice was potent but lacked the inherent playfulness and precise phrasing of Mercury’s. He sometimes came across more like he was playing a role rather than fully inhabiting it, as when, during “Killer Queen,” he fanned himself dramatically, then splayed across the grand piano, kicking his gold boots in the air.
At times like these, the show felt more like a Queen-themed Broadway musical rather than a Queen concert. Or like the final Live Aid scene in last year’s Oscar-winning Freddie Mercury bio-pic “Bohemian Rhapsody”: a faithful recreation of the real thing, though still not real.
But it was impossible not to feel at least a rush of recognition at the opening piano notes of “Somebody to Love.” Lambert hit his marks vocally, but the tinge of vulnerability that Mercury brought to bear was missing. The merits of Lambert’s voice could be better appreciated in the lesser-known “In the Lap of the Gods,” since the original version isn’t as codified in the collective consciousness.
For “Bicycle Race,” Lambert arose from beneath a secondary stage at the end of a runway aboard a gleaming white Harley-Davidson. His spiked leather jacket and shades recalled “Faith”-era George Michael; again, he seemed to be playing a part.
However, a subtle shift occurred midway through the show, when May sat down with an acoustic guitar at the end of the runway for a solo “Love of My Life.” Mercury originally wrote the ballad for his closest friend and ex-fiancée, Mary Austin. Now, May sings it as a tribute to Mercury: “You’ve hurt me, you’ve broken my heart and now you leave me.”
To bring home the point, Mercury materialized on the LED screen to “sing” alongside May. Even a virtual Mercury can still ignite an arena.
Lambert rejoined May and Taylor on the small stage for “Crazy Little Thing Called Love.” In a sleeveless jacket that showed off his tattoos, he finally interacted with them more like a peer than a stand-alone character. He also faithfully recreated Mercury’s Elvis Presley imitation.
Taylor struggled to sing the David Bowie parts in “Under Pressure” as Lambert cruised. Lambert caressed “Who Wants to Live Forever,” showing off the sumptuousness of his voice. Surrounded by miniature planets, May detoured into an outer space-themed guitar solo.
After another Lambert showcase in “The Show Must Go On,” it was bombs away. “Fat Bottomed Girls” finally got many fans in the bleachers off their bottoms. For “Radio Ga Ga,” many engaged in the above-the-head double clap from Queen's Live Aid set. During “Bohemian Rhapsody,” Lambert mimicked Mercury’s pointed enunciation of the “face … the TRUTH” lyric at Live Aid and May unpeeled the solo every listener of classic rock radio knows by heart.
For the encore of “We Will Rock You” and “We Are the Champions,” Lambert returned in a glittering crown and long, red, royal cloak. Once again, he was wearing a costume. But he wore it well.
NOLA.com @nolanews
More photos (via
chris _granger) from Queen + Adam Lambert in New Orleans:
www.nola.com/multimedia/photos/collection_bc452730-c3ca-11e9-a28e-c738504cdeec.html#2 …