I'm still hip enough to be at a rock concert on a Thursday night, trying to download the concert lighter app on my iPhone to wave in appreciation. But my aging eyes can't see the details without my reading glasses, and the concert is a tribute act to a band led by a guy who's been dead for 26 years. And, rather amazingly, I'm on the young end of this crowd.
Welcome to a night with Killer Queen, one of the oldest and most respected of the tribute bands that tour the world re-creating concert experiences of iconic acts that are no more.It's an extraordinary evening. Queen's hit-laden catalog stretches over 20 years; this concert is packed with anthems everyone knows. The illusion is near perfect. Costumes, wigs, moves and voices bring the band to vivid life (circa the late '80s). The guy who plays Freddie Mercury both sounds and looks the part. Brian May's doppleganger is a tremendously talented guitarist. This isn't lip-syncing play-actors; these guys are obviously talented musicians.
So dedicated are they to creating the illusion, in fact, that they've purposely hidden their own identities. Unlike the Fleetwood Mac evening that first introduced me to the merit of tribute bands, there are no pauses here to discuss the original band or introduce the modern musicians. (The one exception is a reverent performance of These Are The Days of Our Lives during which the background screens are full of images of Freddie and the band in their glory days.) It's pure concert performance. Even a search on Killer Queen's website doesn't reveal much. Though the band's been going since 1993 and is obviously wildly successful (they tour globally), there are no biographies of the band members to be found.
Of course, reality pokes a few holes in the illusion. The intimacy of the 1,400 seat Anvil auditorium in Basingstoke means every seat is a great one, but it's hard to conjure the electric buzz of tens of thousands of screaming fans in a stadium. And though the crowd was on its feet dancing at times throughout the evening, the preponderance of white heads and their propensity to sit down to enjoy the show definitely edged us solidly into the theatre category. The years roll back by the time you get to the inevitable encore/closer of "Bohemian Rhapsody", "We are the Champions" and "God Save The Queen", however. With Freddie in crown and ermine-edged robe and everyone on their feet, bellowing at the top of their lungs, everyone in the audience has regressed to their 18-year-old selves. (Except for a few actual teenagers, gazing at the elders who brought them with curious speculation.)
My only real complaint was the badly balanced sound production. The lead vocals were swallowed beneath the instruments, and none of it seemed loud enough. It was another irony: last week we were at Kingsman: The Golden Circle worrying that our ear drums were going to be blown out. Here, where our bodies should have been throbbing to a near-physical wave of sound, it was all very sedate. I don't know whether this was a one off, a complication of The Anvil or a trait of the band, but it was a shame. Our "Freddie" had a beautiful voice ... obvious in a few quiet bits when he accompanied himself with the piano ... and he deserved to stand out more.
I admit I came to Queen's music late. My youthful musical tastes weren't particularly sophisticated, leaning to bubblegum pop. As a somewhat geeky kid who read sci fi and fantasy, I was mainly aware of them through the Highlander and Flash Gordon soundtracks. They weren't as big in the States, of course; it took moving to the UK for me to start to grasp the magnitude of their talents. Marriage to a huge Queen fan completed the journey. He enjoyed the evening even more than I did.
If you're even a moderate fan, see these guys if you get the chance. Just remember to download the concert lighter app before you go.
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