One Night of Queen
Friday night my wife and I started the weekend off right by hitting a local venue for a show. It was billed as a Queen tribute act and knowing how prolific Freddie Mercury was, I didn't really know what to expect. Let's just say my hopes weren't set too high, but we had some friends and family that wanted to attend, so I bought 8 tickets and put the date on the calendar.
Actually, that is a lie. I forgot to put the date on the calendar, so when I booked another concert for just my wife and I, I had to quickly cancel and get a refund on that one. If we hadn't been going to this one with a large group of people, we probably would have done the opposite in terms of cancellations.
One Night of Queen was held at the Midland Center for the Arts. It is a really nice venue near where we live that I have talked about many times in the past. I spent a good part of my youth browsing the exhibits at the on site science museum. More recently I have seen my fair share of orchestras, plays, operas, and other events in the large theater they have.
Not that it matters, but they also have a small theater on site for community plays and stuff like that.
I was a bit surprised to find out that the show was sold out. It turns out Gary Mullen and the Work are something like the 2nd highest rated Queen tribute band in the world. I guess you would probably have to shove them down to #3 if you considered that without Freddie, the original Queen is kind of a tribute band now as well.
As I said, I wasn't expecting too much. My friends and family kept talking about the show as "going to see Queen", and I kept interjecting "tribute band" every time they would say it. Probably to their annoyance I would imagine.
It turns out I was pleasently surprised by the show. Gary Mullen did a quite good job of leading the band. You can tell that he has made it a career of studying the late Freddie Mercury. He was very animated on the stage and even had many of the same dance moves and mannerisms down to the T.
His voice was pretty spot on as well. There were definitely some notes that he couldn't hit, but to his credit he didn't even try. I think that was smart. Had he tried and missed, it would have been quite disappointing. Knowing the limits of his range he played it safe and wow'd us when the moments presented themselves.
The backing band was quite exceptional as well. Specifically I want to highlight the drummer Jon Halliwell. He did most of the backing vocals and he also sang a bit solo. He had a pretty phenomenal voice. According to his bio he has worked with many bands and projects. I don't know if he has any solo stuff out, but if he does, I am going to dig it up and check it out.
The show clocked in at just about two and a half hours with a short intermission in the middle. Starting at 7:30, it was nice to be home from a show before 10:00 at night for a change. Most concerts we attend go until around 11 PM and then we generally have an hour or two drive home from there.
Dang, I am getting old!
They covered all of the hits that you would expect. I would have liked to hear bicycle, but they didn't play that one. The crowd was pretty into the show and they spent very little of their time seated. Which is kind of interesting for this venue.
It is simply the fact that Midland (where this is located) is a pretty affluent community due to Dow Chemical and Dow Corning being headquartered here. Lot's of corporate types and lots of "old money". Even at a show like this, I would guess the average age of the crowd was closer to 60 than they were to 30.
Some of that is the material of course. While Queen is iconic, it touches the older generation probably a bit more than the younger one. I'm serious when I say there were quite a few couples pushing their upper 70's if not 80's in attendance.
I guess that was a bit of a tangent. My apologies.
There were a couple of songs where the band or portions of the band would leave the stage. They played with so much energy, that it isn't shocking that they would need to take a break or two to get a drink of water or whatever.
During Bohemian Rhapsody, they all left the stage during the "Thunderbolts and Lighting" part. While they were gone we got to see a little light show and listen to the backing vocals. When the infamous heavy guitar part of that song started, they were back on the stage actively playing.
The lead singer Gary did have a bit of an accent when he talked. I couldn't tell if it was for show or if it was his actual voice. The bio on the band page doesn't indicate where he is from, not that it matters. He did a good job of interacting with the crowd.
I figured the encore would go either one of two ways. It would either be Bohemian Rhapsody or the famous medley of We Will Rock You and We are the Champions. Since they sang Bohemian Rhapsody earlier in the night, I knew it was going to be the latter for the encore.
I'd say my two most favorite parts of the night were "Fat Bottomed Girls" just because it is such an awesome song. The other would probably be when he sang "Under Pressure". That second one was a little moving for me having seen David Bowie in 2004. He sang this song and had a video tribute to Freddie during the concert. Knowing neither of them are with us anymore was a little gut wrenching.
If you get the chance to see them, I do recommend checking out Gary Mullen and the Works. They do a great job and they are enjoyable to watch. I guarantee it will end up being a fun evening for you.
Sports Talk Social - @bozz.sports
Great report Bozz. It sounds as though they played a few of their decent songs. Freddie had talent for sure. Good work on interjecting "tribute" when it was said wrong. Lol
It was a great show. Knowing what it was going in, I was quite surprised at how well they did. If they every come around your way and someone says hey, let's go, you likely won't be disappointed.
I think there was a documentary about it on Netflix, I wonder if it was the same guy!
I will for sure look out for it.
It might have been. I guess I don't know. There is one other band that was ranked above them, but I don't remember their name now.
That was amazing! I like Queen's soongs too, though I'm a youngster. Sometimes, I still play their songs on my phone. Even though they are just a tribute band, they performed it well as I see in your posts. It's great to witness and experience such kind of event.
Yeah, it is pretty cool. I was really impressed with them. More than I thought I would be. I guess when you dedicate your life to something it really pays off!
I remember when Gary won a UK TV talent contest for soundalikes (Stars in Their Eyes). That was a while back and I had no idea he was still doing it. Having seen Queen twice it would be hard for a tribute act to match up, but it's all about the show they put on. My other half fancies seeing the old Queen guys (Roger and Brian) with Adam Lambert. Will have to see when they are touring.
Our friends who went to the show with us have seen the Lambert fronted Queen. They said it was really good. I think they enjoyed both shows for what they were. I can imagine how hard it would be to accept this after seeing the real thing. You are quite a lucky guy!
I'm going to a gig in a couple of weeks. I'll report on that.
Looking forward to it!