After singing the nation in to the New Year, Queen & Adam Lambert embarked on the European leg of their worldwide tour, stopping at the Leeds First Direct Arena on January 20th.
On arrival, the main stage was covered with a purple lit curtain decorated with the original Queen logo, attached to a walk way which turned in to a second stage in the crowd. At 8:15pm, the sounds of different chords from âOne Visionâ began to play before the lights went off at 8:30pm, and âOne Visionâ started with the sound of Brian Mayâs guitar that everyone had been waiting for accompanied by his silhouette on the curtain, before the curtain dropped, and the show began.
Glam-rock singer Adam Lambert, who was runner up in âAmerican Idolâ was wearing all leather and black nail varnish â the perfect homage to Freddie Mercury. The second song was âSheer Heart Attackâ track âStone Cold Crazyâ, which featured Mayâs flawless guitar playing on the âQâ shaped screen behind Roger Taylorâs drum kit, as heâd attached a GoPro to the end of his guitar. The show went on to feature an endless amount of Queen hits, all of which couldâve been an encore, and all of which had the crowd singing at the top of their voices, including âI Want To Break Freeâ, âDonât Stop Me Nowâ, and âRadio Ga Gaâ.
When Lambert was announced as lead singer to accompany May and Taylor on tour (bassist John Deacon retired in 1997 and as expected, isnât present on tour), there was a lot of speculation, as nobody wants to see Freddie replaced, or a Freddie impersonator, but Lambert is far from it. He doesnât try and be Freddie, heâs similar in many ways, including his flamboyant outfits and his vocal capacity, but he makes each Queen song his own, as he struts across the stage showcasing his incredible voice. âKiller Queenâ for example was spectacular, featuring Lambert on the second stage lay on a couch. May approached the couch during his guitar solo and Lambert mimed âoh my god itâs Brianâ, heâs a remarkable showman! He also paid tribute and raised a bottle of gold champagne to Freddie; âwithout him, I wouldnât have a clue what I was doing up here tonightâ. âSomebody To Loveâ was also a highlight for Lambert, as he reached high notes that I didnât think were possible!
Lambert wasnât the only one to pay tribute to Freddie, as the entire night featured videos and pictures of Freddie on the screen in an extremely tasteful manner, always receiving continuous cheers from the crowd. May took to the second stage where he was on a stool and joked how he used to stand on stage next to another guy, that âwas alrightâ, before talking about losing his best friend, and how playing his songs make him happy, he introduced the next song as âa Freddie songâ, before starting to play his acoustic guitar and singing âLove of my Lifeâ to a tearful audience who both sang along and were silent at the same time. It was a beautiful rendition, which featured a duet with Freddie on screen. May then asked the audience if it was ok if he immortalized the moment, as he introduced them to his selfie stick/GoPro, which he took a video of the crowd with â if anybody else did this Iâd have been outraged, but the concept of Brian May using a selfie stick seemed like the best thing in the world! May was then joined on the second stage by the rest of the band to sing âNight at the Operaâ track ââ39â.
It was then Taylorâs turn to pay tribute to Freddie, as he sang a raspy version of âThese Are The Days of Our Livesâ accompanied by videos of Freddie and the band, including Deacon. The band left the stage leaving the current touring bassist Neil Fairclough playing a brilliant bass solo which included bass lines from âBody Languageâ, featuring Taylor entering the stage tapping his sticks together towards the end, before engaging in a drum battle with his son Rufus Tiger Taylor, who played percussion for the band, often taking over from his Dad on the drums. There was no doubt that it was a father and son battle as Rufus is an extremely talented drummer, with his Dad commenting that heâd âhave to do something about that boyâ during the insane drum off.
The entire band joined together once again on the stage as Lambert and Taylor sang âUnder Pressureâ together, followed by Lambert blowing everybody away with âSave Meâ and the beautiful âWho Wants To Live Foreverâ, before May was left alone for his 12 minute long alluring solo which included the guitar from his solo track âLast Horizonâ, and a backdrop of stars, which may have seemed strange to anybody else that doesnât know Mayâs astronomical background! Taylor and Mayâs solos conveyed exactly how they became to be the rock gods that they are today.
The last track before the encore was âBohemian Rhapsodyâ, which was ironically Adam Lambertâs first audition song on âAmerican Idolâ. An absolute spectacular rendition that was an imitation of the way the original line up performed the track, with the video in the middle as itâd be almost impossible to perform any other way. Of course at the end of the video May stormed the stage nailing another flawless guitar solo, draped in a gold jacket with a cape, long curly hair flowing behind him! I canât be alone when I say that I could watch him play guitar all day.
The band returned for the encore with Lambert dressed in a leopard print suit, as he lead the band in to âWe Will Rock Youâ, as well as the crowd in to providing their own percussion in the form of clapping, before the final song, âWe Are The Championsâ. Before the band left the stage, they had the most modest goodbye Iâve ever seen, where Lambert was pointing for the crowd to cheer for May and Taylor, they were pointing for the cheers to be directed at Lambert, the crowd was cheering for them all, and eventually Taylor encouraged May to join him front of stage as they both bowed. One of my favourite things of the night was how they all patted each other on the backs, shook hands, and said âwell doneâ to each other at the end of tracks, it was so lovely to see. Lambert also showed his appreciation to and of May and Taylor, as he regularly watched them play in awe. If that isn’t nice enough that they all did that, May also stated how nice it was to play in such a warm atmosphere, as well as how he wasn’t sure what kind of noises they were making, but the noise from the crowd was unbelieveable. What a perfect band. What a perfect night.
If you can catch the band at any shows, then I’d highly recommend you do so!
http://youtu.be/mwYRU4TTZLs
By Laura Dean – @modestlauraÂ
