Queen are a band who certainly need no introduction.
They don’t need a support band either.
A dramatic instrumental plays as the audience files into the arena bowl. The track builds and builds until, at its climax, the arena goes dark, the curtain bearing the Queen logo drops and the band launch into the 1985 hit ‘One Vision‘.
The 13,000 capacity crowd are quick to roar their approval at their first view of Brian May and Roger Taylor, Queen’s two remaining members following singer Freddie Mercury’s death in 1991 and bassist John Deacon’s decision to retire from the limelight.
Joining May and Taylor on stage for the next two and a bit hours are several musicians, including Taylor’s son Rufus on percussion. But all eyes in the arena were focussed on the man standing in the spot the legendary Mercury once did – Adam Lambert.
Although probably not familiar to the majority of the Queen crowd, Lambert is a successful artist in his own right. Having gained his singing credentials working in musical theatre, Lambert auditioned for American Idol in 2008, eventually finishing in second place. He’s released two full-length albums since American Idol, ‘For Your Entertainment‘ and ‘Trespassing‘, which entered the U.S Billboard 200 at numbers 3 and 1 respectively.
With his wide vocal range and dramatic flair, Lambert is the perfect replacement for Mercury; although as he says himself only a few songs in, he doesn’t want to replace Freddie, he wants each show to be a “celebration” of the late singer’s legacy and of Queen’s music.
Throughout the show, Lambert stalks the stage in leather, pointed boots and studs, encouraging the audience to join in with classic tracks such as ‘I Want to Break Free’, ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’ and ‘Don’t Stop Me Now‘. And the audience are more than happy to oblige him.
Having received rapturous applause following each of his guitar solos, May takes the chance halfway through the main set pick up his acoustic guitar. What follows is one of the show’s standout moments. After stating how he feels Mercury should be perched on a stool beside him, May performs the Mercury-penned track, ‘Love of My Life‘ solo and there is near silence in the arena while he sings.
Later in the show, Taylor and Lambert duet on ‘Under Pressure‘, Lambert’s vocals shine on the 1980 single ‘Save Me‘ and a large disco ball helps ‘Who Wants to Live Forever‘ soar.
The encore kicks off with young Scottish bagpiper Craig Weir playing the massive ‘We Will Rock You‘ chorus. The crowd responds with the handclap routine instantly when the band step back onto the stage and Lambert is fabulously adorned with a leopard print suit and a crown.
The final song of the night is of course ‘We Are the Champions‘. This particular number must be a strange ‘full circle’ moment for Lambert who performed the song with Queen during the 2008 ‘Idol’ finale.
And when those on stage take their well-deserved bows to ‘God Save the Queen‘ at the end of a fantastic night, the audience rises as one to give them a standing ovation.