It’s been a massive 29 years since Queen last hit the shores of Australia, and despite sadly missing the group’s arguably most well known member, with guest frontman Adam Lambert, they are as big a rock force as ever.
With anticipation at fever pitch, Queen opened the night, and the first leg of their Australian tour, with 1974 smash hit ‘Now I’m Here’. The backdrop of the stage an enormous Q, Adam Lambert sporting a fabulous golden microphone, and the rest of the band going full speed from note one.
They are a testament to artists who don’t rest on their laurels: they’re not ageing superstars out for another buck, they’re doing it for the love of the art and for the memory of their late friend.
Ever since the passing of Freddie Mercury, the band have never sought to replace him, only to pay tribute to him, and Lambert immediately blew the crowd away with his homage. He’s got the head tosses, the hip thrusts, the model’s stalk and the outfits – and does he ever have the voice. It’s impossible to try to compare anybody to the great – the greatest, even – Mercury, but if anybody can, Lambert is the man.
Lambert truly was royalty on stage, with four costume changes, the first coming in time for a brilliant cover of ‘Killer Queen’. Losing the all-leather look (for a few songs) Lambert donned a spiked and fringed jacket with a killer pair of platform heels which he flashed proudly as he lolled on a golden couch and purred through the number. ‘Killer Queen’ was the first true crowd favourite of the night; prior it seemed as though everybody was too in awe of the band and Lambert’s debut Australian performance to do anything try to take it all in.
A few songs later, Brian May (who miraculously has the same hair today he did in the 70s) briefly took the spotlight for an intimate cover of ‘Love of My Life’. As he chatted to the audience, he encouraged everybody to sing along, and “Do it for Freddie”. The tributes to Mercury were a frequent feature of the evening, and as he sang, a collection of videos of the band back in the day played on the screens.
After finishing up his number, May took an opportunity for a few iPhone selfies with the audience, which he promised would be up on Twitter asap. If Brian May saying those words isn’t an indication that times have changed, what is?
Drummer Roger Taylor also had a chance on his own in the spotlight, and sang through ‘These Are the Days of Our Lives’ as more images of Mercury and the old band played on screen.
After a huge bass solo, and a drum battle between Taylor and his son Rufus ‘Tiger’ Taylor, where Taylor Senior proved that he’s still got the chops, Lambert returned to stage once again in a new outfit to run through of ‘Under Pressure’.
For the first time in the evening, Lambert let the fabulous diva act (which he was totally rocking, btw) and had a giggle with Brian May and a little boogie on his own, after which May asked for the crowd’s verdict on the new guy: Officially, overwhelmingly, approval.
After playing through some of their most well known numbers, the time of the night finally came: The best sing-along song in the history of music; ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’.
This was one of the most touching numbers of the night, as Lambert stepped aside to let Freddie Mercury himself (tragically, in video form only) perform the verses. The back and forth between them was the last proof any doubters needed that Lambert is every bit the performer Mercury was, and the end of the number proved Lambert’s great respect and admiration for the man he has been privileged to represent. Few singers have ever had both the stamina and range of Mercury, but Lambert showed he has both.
The evening’s encore finally came through with two numbers the crowd had been waiting for all night: ‘We Will Rock You’ followed by a gigantic ‘We Are the Champions’ to close the night out.
After forty years together, and in various forms with a multitude of guest additions, Queen’s latest tour is so much more than just a band doing it all again. The night and all performances were an honour to the lives, and the friendships forged through the band. We will never get the chance to see Queen in its original entirety, but the current line-up is an incredible tribute, and is definitely the next best thing.
Check out the full gallery here.
Setlist
Now I’m Here
Stone Cold Crazy
Another One Bites the Dust
Fat Bottomed Girls
In the Lap of the Gods… Revisited
Seven Seas of Rhye
Killer Queen
Somebody to Love
I Want it All
Love of my Life (Brian May acoustic solo)
’39 (May, Taylor, Taylor, Fairclough and Edney)
These are the Days of our Lives (Roger Taylor solo)
[Bass solo]
[Drum battle]
Under Pressure
Dragon Attack
Who Wants to Live Forever
[Brian May epic guitar solo]
Tie Your Mother Down
Gimme That Love (Lambert vocal solo/crowd sing along)
I Want to Break Free
Radio Ga Ga
Crazy Little Thing Called Love
Bohemian Rhapsody
Encore
We Will Rock You
We Are the Champions
(Bows, thanks and exit to God Save the Queen)
