Queen is one of the greatest bands ever…that said, much can be expected of them from their live shows, and this concert is no exception. Fans of Queen from the first ‘half’ of their illustrious career may not jive well with the band on this performance. Don’t get me wrong, this is an AMAZING show, in front of 65000 screaming fans. However, Queen got a little too showy and a bit less concerned with the music itself. In the old days, there were just four guys on stage, Freddie handling quite adeptly all the piano parts. They rocked like the great rock band they were, with no breaks for air. Now…Freddie hardly plays at all, with the addition of stage musician Spike Edney. He dances and sways and sings wonderfully, but it’s all show. Then, the song selection…it’s comprised mostly of Queen lighter tunes from their post-Jazz second half: One Vision, World We Created, I Want To Break Free, Bite The Dust, Kind Of Magic, Under Pressure, Radio Gaga. These are great songs, but to me, don’t compare to Don’t Stop Me now, Spread Your Wings, Death On Two Legs, Somebody To Love, Brighton Rock (why do the solo without the song? Why?), Liar, Keep Yourself Alive, Dead On Time, Sheer Heart Attack, the list goes on and on. THESE are the songs that made Queen the great rock act they are. NOT Who Wants To Live Forever. Then, I can never understand why bands elect to do Blues Medleys when there’s such an amazing library of wealthy songs to choose from. Ask anyone in that stadium that night, I’m sure they’d agree that they’d rather hear a few more QUEEN songs than Tutti Frutti and Hello Mary Lou. Again, this is a great show from a great band, but I’d rather have LIVE KILLERS any day of the week.I hear that there will be other classic concert releases from QUEEN, including the wonderful Rainbow ‘74 show. This I’ll be looking forward to.
Posted on March 9, 2010 -