7.27.17 More great reviews for QAL Collaboration (and Adam)
Jul 27, 2017 0:12:13 GMT -5
Post by Q3 on Jul 27, 2017 0:12:13 GMT -5
Next up – Barkley Center, Brooklyn, NY
Music review
Adam Lambert, Queen prove to be a marriage made for an arena
Guitarist Brian May, drummer Roger Taylor, and Adam Lambert at TD Garden Sunday.
Nicholas Pfosi for The Boston Globe
Guitarist Brian May, drummer Roger Taylor, and Adam Lambert at TD Garden Sunday.
By Maura Johnston Globe Correspondent July 26, 2017
Since the ’90s, guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor have performed as “Queen +” with a number of singers — famed tenor Luciano Pavarotti, original Fugee Wyclef Jean, former Bad Company frontman Paul Rodgers — attempting to fill the jazz shoes of Freddie Mercury, who passed away in 1991. Recently, the duo has joined up with singer and “American Idol” alumni Adam Lambert, whose flamboyant style and theatrical vocals are of a piece with Mercury’s aesthetic, if a bit more amped-up.
During Tuesday night’s energetic, if sometimes odd show at TD Garden, Lambert and his new bandmates roared through some of the Queen catalog’s highlights, the six-piece band’s hefty arrangements resulting in an atmosphere that at times felt arena-shaking.
Lambert’s “Idol” run, during which he originally met May, showcased why he and Queen were an ideal fit. He auditioned with “Bohemian Rhapsody,” hinting at both his appreciation of the British band and his flair for the dramatic. Over the course of his season, he skipped through the singing competition’s gauntlet of genres with gusto, adding a sitar to “Ring of Fire” and stripping “If I Can’t Have You” of its disco flourishes. Queen’s approach to genre was even more omnivorous — “Radio Ga Ga” combines sumptuous synthpop with an arena-ready chorus, “Stone Cold Crazy” is so thrashy it warranted a faithful Metallica cover, and the fanciful vocal melodies of “Bicycle Race” and “Killer Queen” throw back to early-20th-century pop.
The setlist offered up a run through the band’s biggest hits, with the one solo track by Lambert — his just-released single, whose phonetically challenging title can’t be printed in a newspaper — getting an arrangement that called to Queen’s arena-size rock instead of the recorded version’s sparse EDM-pop backing. That track came after a short monologue where he enthused over being onstage with artists he’d idolized, and answered snipes that he’s “not Freddie Mercury” with a curt rejoinder.
Mercury himself would have probably noted that a concert — particularly a large-scale show with songs embedded in the pop firmament — was about the audience as well as the performers onstage, and on that level, the show delivered. While Lambert’s vocal pyrotechnics contrast with the approach taken by the exceedingly precise Mercury, his obvious enthusiasm for the material was infectious. The version of “Under Pressure” with Lambert taking Mercury’s part and Taylor handling the late David Bowie’s vocals was surprisingly moving, while his swooning “Somebody to Love” showed how he could maneuver around one of the band’s trickiest songs.
The late Queen frontman appeared a few times via archival video; the most arresting came during May’s sweet solo version of the 1975 ballad “Love of My Life,” while his appearance during the choir interlude of “Bohemian Rhapsody” was akin to him leading a singalong. They were brief yet tasteful, giving American audiences who never got to see Queen in its original run (the last North American tour was in 1982) a glimpse of the past, while Lambert’s performance showed how the band’s catalog will remain a pop force well into the 21st century.
Maura Johnston can be reached at maura@maura.com
Link: www.bostonglobe.com/arts/music/2017/07/26/lambert-queen-prove-marriage-made-for-arena/Pb0CbCN6vggwrOoBc2FReI/story.html
That's Show Biz Entertainment
Chris Pizzello/AP
Adam Lambert, left, and Brian May of Queen perform during their concert at The Forum on Thursday, July 3, 2014 in Los Angeles.
July 26, 2017
Adam Lambert proves to be a killer Queen vocalist
Former ‘American Idol’ runner-up a strong fill-in for late rock icon Freddie Mercury
By Chuck Darrow
PhillyVoice Contributor
In 2006, Queen co-founders Brian May and Roger Taylor decided to tour with a program featuring the beloved British glam-rock band’s music. To replace legendary lead singer Freddie Mercury, whose 1991 AIDS-related death ended the original quartet’s run, they recruited Paul Rodgers, a pillar of ‘70s rock thanks to his work in Free (“Alright Now”) and, more importantly, Bad Company.
The experiment was an artistic fiasco as Rodgers’ gritty, blues-soaked sound was totally unsuited to Mercury’s florid, higher-register sonic blueprint. Five years later, the two Queensters tried again by recruiting “American Idol” insta-star Adam Lambert, who wowed judges and the public (and May and Taylor) with his performance of “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
Last Sunday night at the Arena inside Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville, Conn., Lambert emphatically proved that while, in his words, “there is only one Freddie Mercury,” it’s doubtful any other current singer could best him when it comes to replicating the Mercury experience, vocally and stage-presence-wise.
At Mohegan Sun, the act, now called Queen + Adam Lambert —which on Sunday plays the Wells-Fargo Center—provided a demographic cross-section of fans a pretty good facsimile of what it was what like to be at a Queen concert between the 1ate-1970s (when they hit the arena-headliner level) and the late-1980s, when Mercury’s illness began to take its toll.
NoneBarry Brecheisen/AP
Adam Lambert and Roger Taylor of Queen + Adam Lambert perform during the tour opener at the United Center on Thursday, June 19, 2014 in Chicago.
The fulcrum of the set’s success was, of course, Lambert, who impressively handled both Queen’s most popular (and schlockier) material, including “BoRhap” (probably the emotional pinnacle in a set chock-full of lump-in-the-throat moments), “Somebody to Love,” “We Are the Champions” “Bicycle Race” and “Fat Bottomed Girls,” and turbo-charged rockers, including the show-opening one-two punch of “Hammer to Fall” and “Stone Cold Crazy.” On all of these, Lambert recalled Mercury’s style, but fell admirably short of mere imitation. Instead, he used his own vocal gifts to build upon Mercury’s foundation.
Lambert likewise outshone his immediate predecessor in the role of frontman. Theatrically garbed in a series of outfits that ranged from George Michael black-leather-fetish-wear to a pink satin suit (with brocaded flowers and black platform shoes with stacked heels) that could have been nicked from Elton John’s closet circa 1976, Lambert paid homage to Mercury’s onstage flamboyance, but never appeared to either mock or clone it. And he had the good sense not to wield a half-size microphone stand as did Mercury—another way in which Lambert’s turn transcended mere mimicry.
youtu.be/GEBhpiT-V4g
Mercury’s presence extended beyond Lambert’s reverential performance: He regularly showed up on the giant video screen behind the stage, with each appearance garnering vociferous applause from the audience. But this was not a one-live-man, one-dead-man affair. Major props also go to the two senior citizens who actually run the show. Drummer Taylor, who turns 68 today, was his usual steady-if-un-showboaty self on the drums, and pleasingly contributed his crucial, yet often-overlooked, backup vocals.
May, who last week celebrated his 70th birthday, constantly reminded the assembled multitude that he is one of rock’s criminally underrated guitarists. Throughout the 25-song performance, May’s unique style was preeminent. It’s a blueprint that is far more streamlined and clinical (as befits a university-degreed astrophysicist) than those of other classic-rock British guitar heroes who have always worn their blues-love on their sleeves. Sunday, May thrilled repeatedly with his singular metal-meets-melody six-string strategy.
Sure, his guitar-solo segment—a celebration of electronic effects like phasers, flangers and loopers (which May was building and using decades before the digital era made them ubiquitous) was a tad self-indulgent, but hey, he's earned it!
The bombastic, state-of-the-art staging, whose motif centered on the giant robot that appears on the cover of the band’s mega-smash LP, “News of the World” (celebrating its 40th anniversary this year) also added to the enjoyment, and provided yet another tribute to Mercury-era Queen’s live act. And it was another reason Queen + Adam Lambert’s Mohegan Sun gig was such good fun.
See Queen’s Mohegan Sun set list here.
Chuck Darrow is a veteran entertainment columnist and critic. Listen to “That’s Show Biz with Chuck Darrow” 3 p.m. Tuesdays on WWDB-AM (860), WWDBAM.com, iTunes, iHeartRadio, and TuneInRadio.
Please feel free to share your thoughts via Twitter @chuckdarrow
Link: www.phillyvoice.com/adam-lambert-proves-be-killer-queen-vocalist/
QAL 2017 Tour Schedule
North American Tour
June 24th Las Vegas, NV - T-Mobile Arena
June 26th Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Bowl
June 27th Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Bowl
June 29th San Jose, CA - SAP Center
July 1st Seattle, WA - Key Arena
July 2nd Vancouver, BC - Pepsi Live at Rogers Arena
July 4th Edmonton, AB - Rogers Place
July 6th Denver, CO - Pepsi Center Arena
July 8th Omaha, NE - CenturyLink Arena
July 9th Kansas City, MO - Sprint Centre
July 13th Chicago, IL - United Center
July 14th St. Paul, MN - Xcel Energy Center
July 17th Montreal, QC - Bell Centre
July 18th Toronto, ON - Air Canada Centre
July 20th Detroit, MI - The Palace of Auburn Hills
July 21st Cleveland, OH - Quicken Loans Arena
July 23rd Uncasville, CT - Mohegan Sun Arena
July 25th Boston, MA - TD Garden
July 26th Newark, NJ - Prudential Center
July 28th New York, NY - Barclays Center
July 30th Philadelphia, PA - Wells Fargo Center
July 31st Washington D.C. - Verizon Center
August 2nd Nashville, TN - Bridgestone Arena
August 4th Dallas, TX - American Airlines Center
August 5th Houston, TX - Toyota Center
European and UK Tour
November 1st - Prague, Czech Republic, O2 Arena
November 2nd - Munich, Germany, Olympiahalle
November 4th - Budapest, Hungary, Sportarena
November 6th - Lodz, Poland, Atlas Arena
November 8th - Vienna, Austria, Stadhalle
November 10th - Bologna, Italy, Unipol Arena
November 12th - Luxembourg, Amneville Galaxie
November 13th - Amsterdam, Netherlands, Ziggo Dome
November 17th - Kaunas, Lithuania, Zalgiris Arena
November 19th - Hartwell Arena, Helsinki, Finland
November 21st - Friends Arena, Stockholm, Sweden
November 22nd - Royal Arena, Copenhagen, Denmark
November 25th - Dublin, 3 Arena
November 26th - Belfast, SSE Arena
November 28th - Liverpool, Echo Arena
November 30th - Birmingham, Barclaycard Arena
December 1st - Newcastle, Metro Radio Arena
December 3rd - Glasgow, The SSE Hydro
December 5th - Nottingham Motorpoint Arena
December 6th - Leeds, First Direct Arena
December 8th - Sheffield Arena
December 9th - Manchester, Arena
December 12th - London, 02 Arena
December 13th - London, 02 Arena
December 15th - London, The SSE Arena, Wembley
December 16th - Birmingham, Barclaycard Arena