re: Queen in Houston - who's going?

So, TigrrrDad, how was the show?

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I'm glad my kid gets the chance to see Queen in concert.

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Your kid will never see Queen in concert.

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Your kid will never see Queen in concert.

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Granted, NO ONE will ever replace Freddie Mercury, but Adam Lambert does as good a job as any could ever hope to do to pull off the replacement job. I saw Queen with Paul Rodgers in 2006, and as much as I love him and Bad Company, it didn't mix with Queen's music. Lambert does.

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Hell, I wish they could've gotten the singer on the Bacon Bowl commercial...he's killing it as Freddie, lol

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That's Marc Martel, lead singer of a Christian rock band called Down Here, and they open up their shows with We Will Rock You. He actually won a competition several years ago to do a Queen tribute band called Queen Extravaganza whose shows and tour was actually operated by Brian and Roger. Here was the video that got him noticed:

LINK

Waiting for it to start - 30 more minutes.

Annnnnnd.......still waiting. 30 minutes late so far.

Ironically, I just got my DVD of the 1977 Queen concert in Houston. While this was never officially released, it is out there and in damn good quality.

I extracted the audio files and it is also a nice live recording to listen to.

The show was unfreakingbelievable. Just an incredible experience. I've been to probably around 75 concerts in the past 40 or so years - acts ranging from the light stuff like Elton John, Neil Diamond, and Tom Jones on up to the heavy stuff like Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, Megadeth, Pantera. I've seen Queen in their classic heyday (1978 Jazz tour, before the more commercial '80s stuff) and KISS at their peak around the KISS Alive II days. This Queen concert easily ranked in the top 5.

The stage set up was cool but not overwhelming, and the light show/screens were amazing, yet complemented the show without overwhelming it or removing the focus from the band. The screens and props celebrated the New of the World album, featuring the robot form the album cover. This was the last date on the tour and the song lineup was amazing, including classics like Stone Cold Crazy, Tie Your Mother Down (which I think was missing from the lineup in most cities), and Roger Taylor singing I'm in Love With My Car. Get Down Make Love was one of the highlights of the show, with a lengthy interlude vaguely reminiscent of the one in Led Zep's Whole Lotta Love. I kept telling my son that they probably wouldn't do Bohemian Rhapsody because there are just too many parts that can't be accomplished on state in a live setting. However, they did it as the last song (pre-encore). For all of the backing vocals, the huge screens behind and above the stage showed parts from the video with the soundtrack doing the backing stuff. It even included Lambert trading vocals with the on-screen Freddie during parts. I'm usually not a fan of piped in music for parts of concerts, but this worked to perfection.

Adam Lambert's vocals were incredible. Having followed him closely on Idol and having seen him perform live before touring for his first album, I knew going in that he is even better live than he is on recordings - I'm not a fan of the direction he took musically, and his stuff is always overproduced and they restrain his voice. He just unleashes live. The guy sang for around 2 hours and just nails every note from start to finish. And it's not like Freddie's music is the easiest to sing. He doesn't try to impersonate Freddie's tone or inflections. Again, I've seen a LOT of concerts, and I can't think of any singer offhand that sounded so on cue from start to finish in a concert. Geoff Tate might be the only one I'd put in a similar class live. I don't think there is any other singer out there that could bring the Queen experience to life like Lambert does.

They did a fantastic job of highlighting Taylor and May. The stage was set up as a guitar, with the neck stretching out well into the crowd. Brian May came out to the edge alone on a stool and did an acoustic version of Love of My Life, and for the last part of the song Freddie was on screen singing along with him. Just amazing. Then they set up a drum kit out on that protruding point of the stage and Taylor did drum solo, as well as singing Under Pressure along with Lambert. They probably did 20-30 minutes out on the point of the stage featuring May, Taylor, and Lambert without the rest of the band. May did a guitar solo that was one of the most engrossing I've seen. Despite being a guitarist (albeit a bad one) for 35+ years, I get tired of lead guitarists who spend 5 minutes showing how fast they can do pull offs and finger taps to try to impress the crowd. This solo was just great musically. And the backdrop of stars, planets etc. highlighted the fact that Brian May is a PhD astrophysicist in his spare time.

It was just an amazing experience. Anyone who thinks it wasn't worth going to because "Queen isn't Queen without Freddie," I don't know whether to laugh at you or just plain feel sorry for you for missing out. This wasn't a tribute band featuring two members, it was a celebration of Queen music. No one can fill Freddie's shoes - he will always be the GOAT. But Adam Lambert came as close as one could possibly come. While it would have been worth it just to see Brian May and Roger Taylor performing live, this was very much a "Queen" experience.

Stone Cold Crazy video clip

Fat Bottomed Girls video clip

The show is fricking unbelievable. No one will ever be Freddie, Lambert acknowledges it early on, and then kills it for 2+ hours. That's coming from the kid who slept with the News of the World vinyl when he was 4.

I paid $150/ticket for floor seats. Worth every penny.

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Queen at the Municipal Auditorium on Halloween night in 1978.

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Was there
Front row in front of Brian May
I think it was 79'...