Bohemian Rhapsody, the single from Queen’s fourth studio album A Night at the Opera was a groundbreaking work of art in 1975.
Everyone remembers the innovative and stunning video and the weird, operatic, clever, hybrid song that catapulted Queen into everyone’s consciousness. It is still considered to be one of the greatest songs of all time.
They were marvellous times too. The Vietnam War was put to bed and the future looked fabulous: everything was big. Big hair, big flares, shoes, sounds, personality. Money.
The 80’s were even better. People wore white jeans and flashy fake gold jewellery and the whole thing was enormous fun. The nasty Grim Reaper started hanging about with dire warnings but otherwise all was grand for the happening people of the day.
Those “happening people” are now in their 50’s and 60’s, the dreadful Baby Boomers who are hogging the property market and leaving a financial black hole for everyone else. And there they were at Wests City, Newcastle for the QUEEN IT’S A KINDA MAGIC show, performed on Friday 21st July, a sea of blonde bobs, grey or balding heads and some ears with obvious earplugs in. Gosh, when did everyone become so sensible and start wearing earplugs to a music concert?
Not that they needed to. The sound mix was terrible and “that voice” that was at the centre of the whole Queen zeitgeist was hence muffled and definitely not centre-stage, despite the obvious talents of Giles Taylor as Freddie. Nothing was terribly loud or overwhelming in any way at all.
We were all meant to believe that this was Queen with Freddie Mercury at the helm instead of Giles Taylor and that the drum solos were by Roger Taylor and guitar solos by Brian May and John Deacon. We were then informed right at the end the names of the performers representing the original Queen members. It was weird and oddly insulting.
It was also particularly annoying to have to do the mandatory encore clap and whistle to get what we knew everyone was waiting for – Bohemian Rhapsody. Bloody hell. Play the damn song, it’s iconic. On the weekend that Splendour in the Grass was happening I reflected on the efficient, energetic and slick sets played to tight schedules and wished that there was some lesson learned from festivals for the travelling gig. Ditch the egotistic encore – it’s stupid, particularly from a tribute band.
Or go to a Green Day Concert. Apparently on July 1 as 65,000 Green Day fans eagerly waited at London’s Hyde Park concert for the punk rock band to set up and start playing, the stadium blared out Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody on the speakers.
The waiting crowd spontaneously and passionately broke into song, matching Freddie Mercury’s voice note for note and even humming out the guitar solo.
Back to Queen, the original band with toothy, talented Freddie Mercury at the helm. Even if you were an alternate whose choice of music lent more towards the Talking Heads, Supertramp, Devo brand, Queen was always right in there, grabbing attention and throwing out hit after hit, creating sporting anthems, pub set lists and everlasting memories.
So, one of the gigs that this reviewer has worked on for well over two decades is Star Struck, a Department of Education singing and dancing spectacular that involves about 3,500 students plus teachers, musos and so on. It’s a hoot and every year we trawl for suitable songs that will support the chosen theme as well as engage the audience and provide variety; country, jazz, classical, contemporary and so on
Most of the songs played in IT’S A KINDA MAGIC have been in Star Struck at some stage – some of them have been in my segments! A mash-up of We Will Rock You and We Are the Champions set in a medieval tournament; Under Pressure (the version when he collaborated with David Bowie) involving 75 office wheelie chairs in a complicated choreography representing being oppressed by the corporate world and denying creativity. They are great songs for all manner of events and occasions.
There’s no doubt they were brilliant. Freddie Mercury’s wild creativity was classic and he is an icon of musical invention and he maintained that status by tragically dying beautifully young and at the height of his career.
Newcastle is a tough crowd, but I think they were keen. The lady next to me had come alone, all kitted out in a red dress and toting a fake queen’s crown and trashy gems. Most of the local drag queens were there as well, not in drag though, just fancy socks and lovely shoes.
Fat Bottomed Girls got people on their feet. I Want to Break Free brought all the women down the front, and You’re My Best Friend brought couples down. One beautifully impassioned woman danced all the songs, down the front, by herself.
Some songs were supported by old black and white film footage that had featured in official Queen videos. Under Pressure had the footage of buildings and bridges being blown up, people boarding trains in Japan, the Great Depression era and riots. The Bicycle Song had a 30 second loop of young naked women riding pushbikes! Other songs like Radio Ga Ga were supported by the post -industrial black and white footage from early black and white films.
Ultimately it was a combination of factors that made this a less than impressive evening. Mostly it was the venue and sound mix that was poor, but the presentation was also a little hackneyed and a bit stale and the majority of the audience were hard to rack up, despite “Freddie” urging everyone to “go wild in the aisles, drink and sing”.
It didn’t rock me!
Editor’s Note : On a national tour, QUEEN IT’S A KINDA MAGIC is coming to Sydney, and will play the State Theatre next Saturday 29th July.