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SAN FRANCISCO —It’s impossible to watch a Queen concert and not think of Freddie Mercury: His voice, personality and performance style were all iconic. Yet he’s now been gone longer than he’s been in the band. For the last decade, glam rocker Adam Lambert has been filling his shoes. While there will never be another Mercury, Lambert is plenty comfortable now alongside guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor, and together, the three are having fun while helping the band’s fans relive their memories. And that’s exactly how the first night of Queen’s two-night stand at Chase Center went down on Wednesday.
The band’s years-running Rhapsody Tour last touched down in the Bay Area in 2019, and while there were a few setlist changes since then, the mission has largely remained the same for May and Taylor when they decided to keep Queen going: honor Mercury’s legacy. With Lambert, they’re accomplishing the goal with flying colors. No disrespect to Bad Company’s Paul Rodgers, who had the mic for the half-decade before Lambert, but Queen’s songs didn’t come across quite right with him singing them.
Lambert’s voice is distinct from Mercury’s, but his pipes are nonetheless incredibly powerful, multi-octave and operatic. He showed them off early and often, starting with the combination of “Machines (Or Back to Humans)” and “Radio Ga Ga.” Large video screens lifted and moved about the stage.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=isuEjjkXRsQ&t=1sThe band started off on stage together but would take turns making their way down a catwalk to a secondary stage in the middle of the arena floor. The 76-year-old May and 41-year-old Lambert likely got all of their day’s steps in. At the back of the stage, there were several opera-like boxes that housed about 30 more fans. It would have been nice if the band incorporated them into the show more, but their view was the band’s backs for the majority of the time. There were numerous other bells and whistles like hydraulic platforms, props that were lowered from the rafters and a bit of pyrotechnics.
It was cool when May shot off fireworks from the neck of his guitar while walking down the catwalk during “A Kind of Magic,” surrounded by beautiful kaleidoscopic imagery. It was less cool when, on multiple occasions, the production crew set off loud flash-bang grenades that made this writer see spots for the next song.
Lambert went through at least six different glittering costumes through concert, starting with a silver superhero-like costume, with matching cape, platform boots, hair and oversized fly shades. He was part-frontman, part emcee for the evening, though May and Taylor also had several chances to speak with the crowd.
During songs like “Hammer to Fall,” he’d make his way to the secondary stage where he’d solo with his face either pointed down or out at the crowd with a grin from ear to ear. Taylor, 74, sang lead on a couple of songs, including classic power ballad “I’m in Love With My Car.” And he expertly handled David Bowie’s parts of “Under Pressure.”
During “Bicycle Race,” Adam Lambert perched himself atop a motorcycle bedazzled in headlamps that resembled a fungus growth. There was a camera mounted on one end, perfectly situated for a shot between his legs, which Lambert took full advantage of. Mercury would approve.
Lambert introduced the dramatic “I Want It All” with ominous vocalizations, and several songs like “Somebody to Love” and “The Show Must Go On” were a platform for him to showcase his range from low to high like swinging on a trapeze. Later in the show, he chatted for a bit about his time in Queen and noted that he thinks of Mercury every time he takes the stage.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=GStLayXeDY4&t=2sQueen breezed through hits like “Another One Bites the Dust,” “Fat Bottomed Girls,” “Killer Queen” and “Don’t Stop Me Now” in the early portion of the show. Backing members Spike Edney (keys), Neil Fairclough (bass) and Tyler Warren (percussion) enriched the sound, which came through clearly in the mix.
The next part of the show moved to the secondary stage in the middle of the room, starting with May’s solo performance on acoustic guitar of “Love of My Life.” Many sang along to the tender ballad and later cheered as Mercury appeared on screen, singing as well.
“Oh boy, you just want a time machine, right?” the astrophysicist asked before explaining the physics of the time travel involved in their next song, folky “’39.”
Taylor then took over for an extended drum solo, before the rest joined in for “Under Pressure” and bluesy bar singalongs “Tie Your Mother Down” and “Crazy Little Thing Called Love.” After the euphoric “I Want to Break Free,” Queen downshifted into the sobering “Who Wants to Live Forever.”
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riffmagazine.com/reviews/queen-and-adam-lambert-20231108/
, and Adam in all his deliciousness and glory. He is humble yet more confident than ever, and I can't quite remember when he looked this good 
What a night that I shared with a special friend today 
We both agreed that the audience was very diverse and that our section was really into it. Lots of folks on their feet throughout most of the show. 
