Entertainment
This was a bucket list gig, with all the boxes ticked.
After missing out on seeing Queen during their last visit in 2014 (and never having experienced seeing the peerless Freddie Mercury), I vowed that if they ever came back, I’d be there.
So is there life still after Freddie in this 48-year-old musical phenomenon? You better believe it.
There was little doubt that Brian May and Roger Taylor were going to bring their impressive pedigree to the vast and dazzling stage set in Spark Arena. They are, after all, rock royalty in the truest sense of the term – champions of one of the last great 1970s arena rock bands. And there was no shortage of energy or application from either, with the 70-year-old May’s masterful, instantly recognisable guitar work and Taylor’s muscular drumming and soaring harmonies gracing a generously long set list of classic, timeless anthems.
The real question was whether “Madam” Lambert would own the stage in the spirit of Freddie, and he answered that emphatically from the outset by making it clear that he wasn’t going to try to.
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“There will only be one rock god named Freddie Mercury,” he announced, before throwing himself into the Queen catalogue with style, flair and an obvious sense of respect for his place in this revitalised rock institution.
During numerous costume changes, camp theatrics and sublime vocal chops, Lambert easily held his own in the imperial and sprightly presence of Dr Brian May, who covered an impressive area of real estate on the massive, guitar-shaped stage. The Queen veterans clearly appreciate the life Lambert has injected into the band, backing him to the hilt during Lambert’s own hit song, Whataya Want From Me?
It didn’t sound out of place amidst a collection of songs that are the soundtrack to millions of lives: We Will Rock You, Another One Bites The Dust, Somebody To Love, Radio Gaga, Under Pressure, Hammer To Fall and, of course, Mercury’s magnificent Bohemian Rhapsody.
The sensory tsunami of audio/visual effects, lasers and lights almost faded into obscurity, however, when the late, great Freddie himself joined May from a generation ago on the big screen for a duet of Love of My Life. Tears were shed in this transcendental moment as the thousands of worshippers in the audience paid homage to their rightful, irreplaceable, and always remembered Queen.
God save the Queen.
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Review: QUEEN + ADAM LAMBERT, Spark Arena, Auckland, 18 February 2018, By Chris Chilton.