6.3.22 QAL Glasgow #2

MANCHESTER SHOW REVIEW

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MANCUNION 

LIVE REVIEW: QUEEN + ADAM LAMBERT AT AO ARENA

I can’t quite believe I’m writing this. I’m still processing what just happened. I saw Queen + Adam Lambert! If this is a dream, don’t pinch me; I never want to wake up.

Now, I usually begin my live reviews talking about the opening act. I won’t be doing that for this one, because Queen never have an opening act; their concerts are too long for that – it started at 8PM, and they were onstage until after 10! On top of that – as much as I love an opening act, how could anybody possibly get you ready for Queen?!

If you read my theatre reviews, you know I’m a sucker for production value. The Rhapsody Tour‘s use of technology (lighting, projection, pyrotechnics, etc.) is incredible.

The show opened as big and loud as one would expect, made even mightier with projections that created a regal theatre stage, complete with rich red curtains. Dressed in a top hat and sparkling suit, Adam Lambert looked the part. What I love about him is he honours Freddie Mercury without mimicking him. He is just himself – his own fabulous self – and he sings Queen songs as himself, but he does not turn them into Adam Lambert covers. He really is the perfect frontman (if you will) – and given the scores of people who have been flocking to see Queen + Adam Lambert over the past decade, I’m clearly not alone in thinking that.

All the big hits were performed, with some added bonuses – including Queen’s third single and first hit (third time lucky), ‘Seven Seas of Rhye’ – which they performed, yes, third.

‘Bicycle Race’ was a highlight. I was not familiar with the song, but the performance was mesmerising. Sat on a motorbike, Adam rose from under the stage – at the end of the walkway. He looked like a Sex God from Hell!

Brian May CBE performed a couple of lesser known songs by himself, before Roger Taylor joined him for ‘Those Are the Days of Our Lives’ – a particularly poignant moment. Lambert joined them for the end of the song – which seemed to represent May and Taylor moving on, embracing the future – though never forgetting the past.

‘A Kind of Magic’ was arguably the best performance of the night. The lighting and projections were, well, magical. The overzealous, old man next to me told me to record May when he got to the end of the walkway – and I am so glad he did, for he fired two pyrotechnics out of the head of his guitar! Granddad then told me to record Adam. Adam held up some glittery tube – perhaps it was a fleshlight, but on second thoughts, it was probably a fleshjack – as fireworks shot out of it. The performance ended with several pyrotechnics at the end of the stage. It was magical.


More..  mancunion.com/2022/06/03/live-review-queen-adam-lambert-at-ao-arena/

New post: Pride Month Spotlight: Adam Lambert

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THE SCOTSMAN

Music review: Queen + Adam Lambert, Hydro, Glasgow

This romp through Queen’s greatest hits rivalled the Platinum Jubilee celebrations in terms of pageantry, writes Malcolm Jack





Queen + Adam Lambert, Hydro, Glasgow ****

A giant wraparound crown was slowly hoisted from the stage as a regal orchestral fanfare played, revealing the unmistakable rock royalty silhouette of Queen’s Brian May, with his bouffant hair and signature self-designed Red Special guitar. Was it a coincidence that all of this was happening at the same time as Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee? Yes and no.

A long-awaited UK tour by one of Britain’s biggest ever bands, together with their guest frontman of now 11 years Adam Lambert, had originally been scheduled for summer 2020 before being twice pushed back by the pandemic. With Queen and Lambert set to perform at Buckingham Palace this weekend in the monarch’s honour – apparently she is a long-time fan – this must have seemed like as good a time as any to get back on the road.

Pageantry of a different sort was in plentiful supply here, because that’s just how the never knowingly understated Lambert rolls – whether parading around in a ridiculously oversized top hat and spangly suit, crooning Killer Queen from atop a grand piano, or dispatching the camp diptych of Bicycle Race and Fat Bottomed Girls from the saddle of a jewel-encrusted Harley Davidson. While he can’t hold a candle to the late great Freddie Mercury as a frontman – who could? – Lambert brings plenty of his own undoubted vocal prowess and entertaining personality to the role, sufficient to keep the flame alive in Mercury’s memory.

Lost friends were remembered touchingly throughout, be it May duetting with the ghost of Mercury on acoustic ballad Love Of My Life by an impressive twist of audio-visual trickery, or drummer Roger Taylor – who took lead vocals on a number of songs – dedicating Under Pressure to Taylor Hawkins (Queen were the late Foo Fighters drummer’s favourite band).

We could have lived without May’s tedious solo guitar set-piece performed atop a speeding comet, but Lambert rescued the mood by reappearing bedecked in full queenly regalia, even doing the royal wave, before Bohemian Rhapsody, We Will Rock You and We Are The Champions crowned the show.

Reviews

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