|
|
Post by pi on Jul 22, 2022 9:10:20 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by pi on Jul 22, 2022 9:15:46 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by pi on Jul 22, 2022 10:33:20 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by pi on Jul 22, 2022 10:53:39 GMT -5
Translated from Norwegian music news Queen + Adam Lambert performed at Telenor Arena yesterday. - Even after half a century, they're still unstoppable! Read our review on Musikknyheter.no http://instagr.am/p/CgUTmyZqktH Queen + Adam Lambert at Telenor Arena
Even after half a century, they are still unstoppable9/10 Review To see Queen live is to witness a hit parade without equal. Just the fact that you have to have a 25-song long set to be able to cover everything, testifies to the degree of exceptional discography the band has. After a postponed world tour, it was time for The Rhapsody Tour, which has not least created increased interest after the Bohemian Rhapsody film came out in 2018.
The stage curtain slid aside and showed the silhouettes of the band members on their respective screens. The whole session was a majestic one and really got the concert started with Now I'm Here and Hammer to Fall . Several of the songs were cut and slid into each other to be able to get through the sea of Queen's diverse material. The concert was perhaps over two hours long, but almost every moment felt justified.
Today, Queen consists only of Brian May and Roger Taylor with Adam Lambert as a "guest who has been there a little too long", as he himself said. We can only hope he continues, because Lambert has a star factor of 1000! He is not a copy or trying to be like Mercury, but completely his own thing. With a good mix of charisma and humor, there was rarely a moment he did not radiate. Especially on Who Wants To Live Forever , the goosebumps rose in the rainbow-colored light. What a power he has in his voice!
The concert was divided into several acts, but it was not entirely clear what separated them. Acts 2 and 3 had several solo moments from May and Taylor, while act 2 took place mostly on the catwalk. At the end of the first act, the Queen logo "faded" on the screen and the constructions collapsed. After a small explosion on stage, the room was darkened. This made the concert feel like a long play with a climax you will only be able to get at a Queen concert.
Virtually all of their biggest hits were performed with a few goodies in between. It must have been possible to go home with the feeling that much was missing. We got a "journey through time" with 39 ' and These Are the Days of Our Lives . On the latter and I'm In Love With My Car took Taylor to the microphone. It sounded good and it was great to see each member get their own moments in the spotlight, but it was noticeable how much distance there was between it and their biggest songs, especially when there were so many of them in a row.
Brian May's solo moments were more varied, from the acoustic Love of My Life and 39 ' to his long guitar solo, standing on an asteroid traveling through space. Although it was in the longest team, it was entertaining to see and hear the music take new turns, and May is also (not surprisingly enough) fantastic on guitar. The classic Queen sound was really present.
Under Pressure has been covered by several bands and artists over the years, but to see it performed by the original musicians behind it was something in itself. Sometimes the arena was darkened and a screen showed Mercury singing, among other things, a duet with May and later at the audience courtship of Ay-Oh from Wembley in 86 '.
Playing Queen songs at all is a guarantee of singing. The audience sang along, but there was something that did not make sense: they stood completely still. Maybe the band was not always at its most engaged after a 50-year career, as expected. Still, it was surprising that songs like Don't Stop Me Now and I Want To Break Free did not start alive anymore.
This meant that the mood did not reach the heights that could be expected in advance. Now it is a known fact how the Norwegian audience is at a concert, and perhaps especially when old legends come to town. It was just not entirely to shake off how weak the response was to what otherwise engaged so much.
Apart from this, it was enough to let the eyes and ears rejoice. The stage show was spectacular with cool effects from the screens in the background. First you were in a kind of theater, before you went out into space and to a disco party. And how beautiful was it not when everyone pulled out their mobile phones and bathed Telenor Arena in light during Love of My Life ?
It was especially fun when Lambert rode his gleaming motorcycle at the Bicycle Race. Isolated from the audience, the show was something completely different and there was never just one idea they stuck to. This made it always exciting to wonder what kind of effects would characterize the next song.
Things picked up quite a bit in the end with a hit cavalcade of Queens biggest songs that really were the icing on the cake. There was clapping in time on Radio Gaga , headbanging on Bohemian Rhapsody and more tramping and clapping on We Will Rock You . When We Are The Champions ended the evening, it was so nice to see it played in the right way and not just at sporting events.
Queen + Adam Lambert was really something very special to bring along. Lambert is truly a wonderful frontman - a worthy descendant of Mercury. May and Taylor still have it in them, and hearing such classics live is something you will soon forget.
Photo Gallery: Queen in Telenor Arena 2022
www.musikknyheter.no/konserter/22227/Queen-+-Adam-Lambert-p%C3%A5-Telenor-Arena-.html
|
|
|
|
Post by pi on Jul 22, 2022 10:56:03 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by pi on Jul 22, 2022 11:11:04 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by pi on Jul 22, 2022 16:41:06 GMT -5
NORWAY ROCK
MAGAZINE Queen + Adam Lambert @ Telenor Arena, FornebuThursday 21 July 2022
Queen was a band where all four members were equally important, although Freddie Mercury naturally received the most attention. That's why it felt a little strange when the news came that only two of them were going to continue the Queen name on tour with guest musicians and a new vocalist in 2004. At that time it was Paul Rodgers, ex-Free and Bad Company, who was going to try as frontman, without it being a huge success.
But in 2009, when Brian May and Roger Taylor were invited to play with the finalists on American Idol, they caught the eye of the then 27-year-old contestant Adam Lambert. Lambert didn't win the final, but the Queen guys were so impressed that they invited him on tour as a replacement for Rodgers. And after over 10 years of reasonably great success and several world tours, one could well say that Lambert won after all. Who remembers the winner?
Telenor Arena is completely packed tonight. I can't see a single free seat, which is rare these days. It is clear that corona rules and flight strikes are over. Well over half an hour before the lights go out, it boils in the hall. Not only because it's like a sauna in here (don't they have air conditioning, or has the electricity become so expensive that they didn't turn it on?), but also because the audience is clearly excited and ready. There is yelling and screaming and clapping at every change in stage lighting, even if it's just the technicians doing their final checks.
Precisely at 20:15, the lights are dimmed, the iconic crown that adorns the stage is raised, and an orchestral excerpt from "Innuendo" serves as an introduction as the band enters the stage. "Now I'm Here" is a good song to start with, and you can make out the silhouettes of the band members one by one, until the song takes off and the concert really kicks off. "Hammer To Fall" follows close behind, and the audience is now well warmed up.
Adam Lambert knows as well as we do that he is not Freddie Mercury, nor is he trying to be. But he has enough self-confidence and voice to pull it all off. He spices up the show with his own style and expresses humility and gratitude for the role he has been given. As he himself said during the concert; "I am so lucky to be allowed to stand here tonight, sing these songs with this band, and celebrate and honor the irreplaceable Freddie Mercury." He is good at including the audience, and I also think he impresses even more vocally tonight than the last time they visited Telenor Arena. It shakes the soul when he goes to "Who Wants To Live Forever".
The rest of the band is slightly overshadowed by May, Taylor and Lambert, but on "Another One Bites The Dust", bassist Neil Fairclough also gets the spotlight and shows that he is more than good enough to fill the shorts of the retired John Deacon. Incidentally, the band also consists of an additional percussionist, Tyler Warren, as well as regular keyboardist Spike Edney, who has been with Queen since the mid-80s.
So to what tends to be the big ape with Telenor Arena, namely the sound. And tonight it's fantastic! The only time I have heard such good sound in this arena was four years ago with the same band. All credit to the band's sound engineers who, for one reason or another, achieve something that very few others do. Everything was mixed correctly. It was clean and tidy throughout the concert. A pleasure!
Midway through the concert, Brian May walks out onto the top of the guitar-shaped stage and sings "Love Of My Life" on his own. The arena is lit up by mobile phones and I don't think there is a single person in the hall who is not singing along. Freddie himself appears on the screen behind and pulls the final verse, resulting in a total goosebumps moment. They also did this last time they were here, but it's just as strong and works just as well in replay. Even over 30 years after his death, he gets the biggest applause of the evening. I'm sure he would have loved this moment.
Roger Taylor makes his way along the neck of the guitar and out towards the edge of the stage to sing "These Are The Days of Our Lives", in his raspy but still powerful voice, while old film clips with Freddie roll in the background. It's nearing the end when the robot woman from Metropolis appears on the big screen, and "Radio Gaga" makes 25,000 people hold out their arms and clap along as they do in the video for the same song. And if it wasn't already boiling enough in the hall, "Bohemian Rhapsody" ends the main set. After the operatic part, which is on tape as usual, the pyro explodes so powerfully that you almost expect Axl Rose to come out swinging.
As the band take a breather before the encores, Freddie appears on the screen again with his classic audience courtship from Wembley 1986. The concert closes in familiar style with "We Will Rock You" and "We Are The Champions" before they say goodbye to a respectable two hours and fifteen minutes of "God Save The Queen" over the facility as confetti rains down on the crowd.
Although the show itself is new and different from the last time they played here, the set list is a little too similar. I wish they were a little more adventurous and dug a little deeper in the catalog for gold, preferably a song or two from the first couple of discs, which are completely ignored tonight. But I reckon that this set list is gold for most people in the room, and it will be a real folk party with such a hit-based song list as this.
I'm glad Brian May and Roger Taylor are keeping the legend alive, and together with Adam Lambert they deliver a delightfully nostalgic yet modern entertainment package. I think Freddie himself would be proud to see his old friends honoring their careers and himself in this way. A worthy tribute to a unique band, a unique frontman, and a fantastic catalog of songs. 5/6
More HQ photos: norwayrock.net/queen-telenor-arena/
|
|
|
|
Post by pi on Jul 22, 2022 16:51:25 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by pi on Jul 22, 2022 16:55:56 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by pi on Jul 22, 2022 17:01:40 GMT -5
|
|
