On the 5th of June 2016 I went to see the Queen and Adam Lambert perform at the Tallinn’s Song Festival Grounds in Estonia. Standing in the VIP area, just a few metres from the stage, I was provided with a good view of the show. Admittedly I was probably one of the very rare few who had come to see Adam Lambert rather than the legendary Queen (especially due to the concert taking place in Estonia – a land, where Adam Lambert is relatively unknown and where openly gay artists like him are not very popular due to conservative society norms).
I have always thought of Adam Lambert as one of the most outstanding vocalists of the 21st century: with his ability to navigate between different vocal modes with a clarity and power that only Freddie Mercury could master (which was exactly why he had been chosen to tour with the currently living members of Queen), I was very excited to see him live. As for the band, for some reason I have never really related to their songs, apart from “Love of My Life”, even though I have always respected their multiple talents and excellent songwriting skills.
The main act of the night (Rootsi, 2016) came on stage two hours after the concert was scheduled to start, but the freezing audience (the weather was cloudy, windy and cold) was soon warmed up by well-loved tunes and a great show.
Generally speaking, the warm-up process lasted longest regarding Adam Lambert (for the reason mentioned above). His performance was theatrical and extravagant (praising Freddie Mercury’s performance style), but rather a tribute than an imitation of the original Queen frontman. His costumes and vocalisation as well as communication with the audience followed his own signature style (which has partly been inspired by Freddie Mercury as was clear by how naturally he fitted with the rest of the band). Despite having a flamboyant style, wide vocal range and exceedingly skilled singing technique, Adam Lambert did not come across as a copy of his predecessor:
– He reached all the notes powerfully, but his ornamentations of the songs were characteristic of himself and the pop genre he has strongly been influenced by .
– His costumes were tailored to fit with the rest of the Queen, but had more of a glam rock appearance rather than the rock outfits that Mercury used to wear.
– He spoke lovingly of Freddie Mercury’s influence on the music scene and himself.
– He was very clearly enjoying the opportunity to be as extravagant as possible on stage (as that was what the fans of Queen were expecting, whereas usually he dials it down a little bit in order to have a more universal appeal rather than being categorised as a gay artist at all times). This was both the reason why Estonians (at least majority of the audience consisted of Estonians) gave him a lukewarm applause in the beginning compared to the rest of the band members and the reason that made the audience enjoy themselves so much after they got over the initial shock of seeing Adam Lambert’s self-expressions, which could be considered homosexual (a provocative dancing style, tight clothes, speaking with lots of exclamations, walking like a mannequin).
– His vocal skills left nobody in doubt about his unique talents as a singer and earned him the respect of all the audience quite fast.
As for the rest of the performers, they interacted with the audience masterfully and performed skilfully:
– Roger Taylor had a fun play-off with another drummer (a supportive act for some of the faster-paced songs, since Taylor, despite having ample talent, does no longer possess the same stamina that he once had as a young man), during which he showed some truly excellent rhythmic abilities and impressive speed, leaving the other drummer unable to compete.
– Brian May showed his great interpretational and guitar playing skills and created a great feeling of rapport with the audience (he had even learned to say “Hello” in Estonian). He also did a sweet-sounding acoustic version of “Love of My Life”, proving to be a good vocalist as well.
– The bass guitarist (a new addition for the tour whose name was not publicly mentioned) kept smiling and giving friendly nods to the audience, which certainly lifted the mood in the front rows.
All in all, the flow of the programme was quite smooth: well-known hits, clips of Freddie Mercury performing, solo pieces and talking parts were fused together nicely. Not all songs were familiar to me, so I cannot say how similarly to the original these were performed, but for me personally, it was an eye-opening experience: I became more aware of the phenomena behind the timeless success of Queen and the ways in which to successfully communicate with the audience (both verbally and in body language).
References:
Rootsi, A. (2016) Queen+Adam Lambert: One Vision
. Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9vLiZoXuEI [accessed 21 December 2016].