"A NIGHT OF QUEEN," Kingsbury Hall, Feb. 26
Sure the members of the real Queen recruited Bad Company vocalist Paul Rodgers as a replacement for the late Freddie Mercury for their live shows, but it would have been interesting to see what Gary Mullen would have done.
Mullen is the ace of Mercury impersonators. In fact, a lot of people feel that Mullen is the best thing next to Mercury, and that was proven at Kingsbury Hall Thursday night.
Mullen and his band The Works, a Queen tribute band, played a full Queen concert that featured the band's trademark light show, electrifying musicianship and lead-singer/audience connection.
The Works — guitarist Davie Brockett, bassist Billy Moffat, drummer Jonathan Evans and pianist Malcolm Gentle — played the Queen classics as Queen plays them live. Every nuance was dead on and Mullen's vocals would have flattered Mercury, who died in 1991.
The set included "One Vision," "Tear It Up," "Somebody to Love" and "Under Pressure." During the low-thumping groove of "Another One Bites the Dust," the band slipped into an excerpt of Chic's "Good Times" before wrapping up the song.
Emotion rose from Mullen's vocals during "Save Me," "Killer Queen," "Now I'm Here" and "Don't Stop Me Now."
And that was all included in the first set.
The second kicked off with "Tie Your Mother Down," after a brief guitar glitch, but then continued with "Keep Yourself Alive" and the sing-a-long of "Fat Bottomed Girls."
A tribute to Elvis Presley came in the form of "Jailhouse Rock" and the epic "Bohemian Rhapsody" had the audience singing loud and strong.
Queen always left the stage during the operatic interlude of the song, and re-emerged during the coda. And that was exactly what Mullen and his band did, showing how authentic the tribute show tried to be.
A touching acoustic version of "Love of My Life" slowed things down a bit. And "Crazy Little Thing Called Love," "We Will Rock You," "Friends Will Be Friends" and "We Are the Champions" wrapped up the night.
Mullen tapped into the spirit of Mercury while he strutted and posed as he hit those dramatic notes. The iconic white and yellow jackets and the imperial crown and robe were brought on stage in full flamboyant tribute.
The band members, while not looking like their Queen counterparts, did play the songs faithfully and showed their finesse with crowd-pleasing solos.
Mullen took time to banter with the crowd and gave Mercury that touch of playfulness, while teasing the crowd and slapping high fives to the concertgoers who opted to step into the orchestra pit at the foot of the stage. And while his character interpretation was dead on, there was enough of a difference that kept the audience from fully believing.
Still, it was "A Night of Queen" to remember. And for those who have never seen Queen live, it was the next best thing.
E-mail: scott@desnews.com