The hits, of course, but be daring. Don't just give us a straight replication of Wembley (as so many cover bands unfortunately do). Reach into the back catalog for some deep cuts. There's one band over here in the US called "Queen for a Day" that used to do a rocking rendition of "Dead on Time." I don't know if they're still active--I know there was some drama with their lead guitarist a while back--but look them up on YouTube.
QFAD, in my opinion, is about as daring as Queen tribute acts get. They reach in for deep cuts, they do a couple of songs which were never performed live, and they aren't afraid to try new takes on classic songs. For example, the lead singer does a full intro for BoRhap, using all the album lyrics, but instead of trying (and failing) to do a straight album cover of it as so many other tribute acts do, he does a more vocally-impressive rearrangement of it. Likewise, most tribute acts I've seen (almost all on Youtube, by the way) do one of four things with the operatic section: they play "Killer Queen" live in place of it, they leave the stage as the real band did and play the backing tape, they try (and fail miserably) to reproduce the opera live, or they just skip it entirely and go from the end of the guitar solo to the rock section. Not these guys--they bridge the gap with "The Hero"--and it actually works!
That's what I like to see in a Queen tribute band. Play the hits, we know you're going to anyway, but don't just do a straight cover of the Wembley set with one or two other popular hits mixed in for laughs. Reach into the back catalog and play some stuff from Queen II, Jazz, or Flash Gordon (preferably Queen II!). Give us new takes on the old songs so that, instead of saying, "This guy sounds nothing like Freddie," we're saying, "It was really cool to hear Tenement Funster live," or, "Wow, I wasn't expecting them to do a slow/fast medley of 'Rock You' before 'Champions'!"
I know what you mean - it's good to hear a few unusual songs.
Having said that - the last Queen tribute I saw (a few years back) played Man on the Prowl ffs!
Thunderbolt wrote: There's one band over here in the US called "Queen for a Day" that used to do a rocking rendition of "Dead on Time." I don't know if they're still active
No longer. Greg Finsley is now drumming for Soul Tsunami.
"Almost Queen" in the States are pretty decent... seen them in Cleveland at the House of Blues, and there playing for free in Warren, Ohio on July 19th... link
Cool. I'm starting out a Queen tribute band. For fun, you know.
And we're discussing which songs we should play. I say that we should go for rare songs instead of the usual One Vision/TYMD - WWRY/WATC whatsoever.
Meh, we'll see
lol
in 2007 I see "dios salve a la reina" (link the best tribute band for many in the world.
in that time they played "the march of the black queen"...absolutely amazin'....
but by other side, i never listen the hitman for any band...
a couple of tribute bands ive seen are now incorparating some Paul Rodgers songs into their sets which I think is cool and they also do some older tracks like Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy and such saw a tribute band do Breakthru once as well (which was awesome live) but I like the fact that some tribute bands are doin a couple of Paul Rodgers songs because it shows they're covering all of Queen's carear. I mean All Right Now & Can't Get Enough sound awesome anyway lol