For something a little different for my birthday a couple months ago, my wife planned a night out for us with tickets to a surprise show. Granted, it had her in mind more than me, since she is a big Queen fan, but I don't mind at least some of their music - the more popular ones that is. However, it has taken me quite a while to actually appreciate any of it. Obviously, it wasn't Queen, it was a tribute band called
Majesty from the UK - but it was pretty decent.
After a shaky start.
We suspect the singer was having some vocal issues as he kept going off stage and there was an unscheduled intermission, but the shaky start was with the first number - a melody of songs that didn't quite hit the mark. But after that, it was pretty good.
Of course, it is hard for anyone to truly replicate the voice of Freddie Mercury, as he had an incredible range and stretched it in most of the songs - however, there were a some songs where the singer had the right range (like in Crazy little thing called love), and a few others where he subdued the range to make it work. Overall, the show was decent, and the guy had a great voice if not having to compare it to Mercury - and he was also a decent pianist.
The band was good too, though I thought it was funny to have the guitarist (playing Brian May) wearing a silly wig that looked more like Slash, but still a decent guitarist. As was the drummer and bassist. And what I did like was it was more of a band, with a bit less polish and more adjustments as they were playing along, with the singer signalling to the sound engineer for more volume, and the guitarist and bassist making adjustments as they went. And at the intermission, they took requests from the audience, which they played to finish off the night.
My wife requested the entirety of Bohemian Rhapsody, as they only played it in a medley earlier.
They finished with it.
But there was one thing I didn't like.
Audience participation.
Normally it is probably a cool thing and when Queen played at Wembley in the mid 80s, it would have been phenomenal - but this was a sit-down event with Finns. Finns aren't great with participating or cooperating with anything at all, so when he turned the mic to the crowd,
Crickets.
And tumbleweed blowing through.
And he did this a lot. This might have been to give his voice a rest due to some cold or whatever, but it was obvious from the start that it wasn't going to work, yet he kept on trying. Maybe with a different crowd it would have been suitable - but not this one.
Normally I am not a huge fan of tribute bands, but I think this is because I am not a big fan of anything at all. I don't mind cover bands at weddings though and prefer those to a DJ. Still, it was a nice night away with some tapas and a cider to start the evening, and the live music of the show. A nice change to working like a slave of old in the garden.
If you could see any band or act that is no longer available, which would it be?
Taraz
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