| YourValentine 05.07.2012 02:23 |
When I heard they played in Moscow it was pretty soon clear to me that I would go. I have had a long standing invitation by my friend and long time Queen fan Alex to visit him, so as soon as the tickets were on sale I bought tickets, booked flights, got a new passport and Russian visa. Too bad that the group rescheduled the concert and I did not get a refund for my original return flight but had to buy additional flight ticktes. But that was really nothing compared to fans from Argentina who kept rescheduling thei travel plans after Sonisphere was cancelled, Moscow rescheduled, Kiew and Wroclaw added and a new date for London added. My advice for future events if there should be any: do not trust in ANY announcement by Queen! The Moscow Olimpiyskiy stadium is a very big venue but it was divided in half, so that the stage was built into the center of the venue and the second half of the hall was hidden behind a curtain. The first impression was the many empty spaces, probably twice as much people would have fitted into the place. The so-called "fan-zone" area right in front of the stage was half empty ( approx 500 euro per ticket) like any other area I could see.Thousands of moere people would have fitted in the hall. I was on second gallery - quite far away but the tickets still cost 125 euro and that is all I can pay for a ticket when I have to travel so far. Maybe the cheaper galleries behind and above us were better filled but we could not see that. Wheelchair users were brought in shortly before the start of the concert but they were just put behind the standing audience, very bad. I know it's not the band's fault but I felt ashamed for my favourite band to see that. When the concert started the people in my block started to move into the totally empty neighbour blocks to the left and the right , so we had a lot of room but it was weird to have so few people around. The stage had the now familiar cat walk, a video screen right behind the band and two (much too small) video screens to the left and right. Due to the lights behind the stage aiming right at the audience we could not see much of the screen behind the band and the two screens which should give us better detailed view were very small, so we had a real bad overall view, Unfortunately, Brian forgot the rule "white clothes in big venues" and wore the same dark thing he wore at the Anthems concert in RAH , so he was hard to make out on stage in the first part of the concert just like AL who was in black, as well. Luckily Brian's white hair shines far and bright :-) The sound was very loud and mostly very good except for a few parts when annoying noise was mixed into it, I do not know where this came from. The concert starts with the Flash theme and the excitement explodes when you hear Freddie from the tape and then the so familiar guitar roaring through the hall but then - a screeching Mickey Mouse-like voice squeals some "hello Moscow" and starts singing with this annoying sqashed vibrato - just awful, what a downer. This roller coaster continued through the whole cocert: emotions, warm feelings interchanged with the horror of ths awful shrieking voice. I do not have any bad feelings versus AL, he does what he can and he was asked to do this shows, so there is nothing to blame him about. Quite obviously he has no say in the arrangement of the songs or anything and just does what he is told. For example, I felt that Dragon Attack and AOBTD suited him best and he should have danced but he visibly restricted himself, maybe he was afraid to upstage Brian but that was wrong. In my opinion he simply could not do justice to songs like IWTBF, IWIA, WWTLF - songs that require more than just vocal range. This was most obvious when they made him sing the first verse of BoRhap followed by the second verse coming from tape Wembley 86. The difference could not be more striking. Actually, this is not fair to AL: The best parts of the concert were the ones when AL was not on stage at all: "Magic", and "DOOL were so touching, TYMD rocked. Life Is Real with Zemfira was very much appreciated by the audience. The double drum solo was nice, it is great to see Roger and Rufus, proud father and talented son. What I take from this concert is that Brian and Roger can always put on a show but AL is a very bad choice, he turned a Queen concert into a travesty. I never felt so alienated in a Queen related concert, it was very disillusioning. 2012 seems to be the year of the end of the adventure for old fans like me. I have a ticket for Hammersmith Apollo and of course I will go but in future the "glamberts" and "Queen Extravaganza" fans will have to take over. |
| john bodega 05.07.2012 03:14 |
Comprehensive. I think Lambert is doing a little better than I thought he would. But the best I can say is that he's a somewhat talented mismatch who hasn't had the time or experience to apply what he does to the Queen catalogue. It just doesn't sound right. I love hearing Brian and Roger get up again though. |
| Montreux 05.07.2012 05:41 |
YourValentine wrote: I never felt so alienated in a Queen related concert, it was very disillusioning.And that's the reason why I will not donate this stuff. I don't want to go through this feeling... |
| Ghostwithasmile is BACK! 05.07.2012 11:30 |
Hey YOURVALENTINE, Nice review. Do you have any idea about the attendance : was it 10.000 + or 25,000 + ? What is the venue capacity ? |
| Mr Mercury 05.07.2012 13:40 |
Aahhhh now I get your response to me on facebook, Barb.... :) As Zeb said, I too thought Adam did a better job than I had expected him to do. I originally had fears of him oversinging everything, or just about everything. And his vibrato does still get on my nerves. Would much preferred to have had Paul Rodgers back on tour, but he doesnt seem to want to do it anymore..... Oh well cest la vie..... :) |
| david (galashiels) 05.07.2012 18:02 |
i still think his voice is a bit to high,but has promisse. but i prefer paul. |
| epson 06.07.2012 16:02 |
Thanks for the review. It is sometimes hard to feel part of the concert when you are far away from the stage, it might explain some of the disconnect. I'm looking forward to the Hammersmith shows and I hope that they do not disappoint. |
| suprnatrulcat 06.07.2012 16:04 |
I don't think your review of the concert was at all subjective. You were out to nail Adam Lambert and you did. People constantly mention Adam's vibrato, yet Freddie used vibrato all the time. Also, during live concerts Freddie often lowered his range due to nodules on his throat and left the higher notes to Brian. As for stage prescense, a lot of what Freddie did what planned ahead of time like the crown, septar, and cape, whereas Adam is just reacting to the music, the Band, and crowd as it happens. And Freddie spent part of his time at the piano, he wasn't out walking around on the stage throughout the whole concert, nor was he dancing, he mostly played with the microphone stand. Don't get me wrong, I love Freddie Mercury, he had a style and sound all his own. But, I honestly feel that Queen fans are not being realistic in their comparisons or really giving Adam Lambert a real chance. Adam does have a great voice and he uses vibrato - so did Freddie and alot of other great singers. During live concerts all singers will have some flat notes, pitch problems, and or forget lyrics, even to their own songs - thats expected. If you had been subjective you would have mention some of the sound problems or misques by Brian and Roger. Remember Queen+AL had two weeks of rehearsal and Adam had to learn a lot of songs. I think they did great and get better in each concert, they have fun, the audience has fun, its a good time and thats what is about! |
| YourValentine 07.07.2012 02:49 |
@ ghostwithasmile - it is hard to say how many people attended because the arena is really very large. When I bought the tickets the seat plan already showed only half of the complete hall. I would say that each sector was filled between half and two third of the capacity. Some blocks were completely empty. Definitely considerably less than 20 000. When you google for the venue you often get the information that the capacity is 80 000 but that is a mix up with the Olympic stadium. @epson - you are right. In fact we were not quite so far away but the light did not fill the hall and the video screen was quite small. With the empty spaces between standing area and gallery the distance felt bigger than it actually was. I always have gallery seats and I am used to it. Normally it does not lead to a feeling of alienation. I will see how it feels in the Hammersmith which is very small. @ suprnatrulcat - welcome to Queenzone. Please look up the word "subjective" in a dictionary. Then read my post and then comment. I appreciate that you joined Queenzone to lecture me but you should read what people say and not answer to something that was not said in the first place. The last thing on my mind is to "nail" Adam Lambert :-) |
| tomchristie22 07.07.2012 03:07 |
He obviously doesn't really know what he's talking about - Brian sang the lower notes live. Freddie used vibrato in a controlled and tasteful way, Adam uses it all the time. And subjective just means that it's based on opinion rather than fact, so unless you're insinuating that what he was writing was fact and not what he thought of Adam, then yes it was a subjective review. |
| ptr 07.07.2012 06:18 |
suprnatrulcat wrote: People constantly mention Adam's vibrato, yet Freddie used vibrato all the time. Also, during live concerts Freddie often lowered his range due to nodules on his throat and left the higher notes to Brian. As for stage prescense, a lot of what Freddie did what planned ahead of time like the crown, septar, and cape, whereas Adam is just reacting to the music, the Band, and crowd as it happens. And Freddie spent part of his time at the piano, he wasn't out walking around on the stage throughout the whole concert, nor was he dancing, he mostly played with the microphone stand. Adam does have a great voice and he uses vibrato - so did Freddie and alot of other great singers. During live concerts all singers will have some flat notes, pitch problems, and or forget lyrics, even to their own songs - thats expected. You must be joking.... A) Listen to this: link Compare it to this: link Where is that "Freddie's vibrato used all the time"??? Adam's voice is that one which shakes constantly.... B) Freddie's stage presence is theaterical BUT natural... He was such a kind of person. And whats most important - Freddie never seemed to be embarrassing - just because of everything he did was natural - and crowd loved it.... When I watched the Kiev concert, there were so much silly awkward moments when I asked myself - WHY is he doing that. Its complete appearance - face, gestures, posture, cooperation with crowd.... All what Adam did seemed WRONG to me. His "serious" or "rocker" faces during the concert made me laugh.... He seems like poor actor in C category catastrophic movie....By the way have you ever noticed Paul Rodgers to check up his ear monitors during the whole 2 hours concert? Lambert touch them in almost all songs.... It makes very distracting and "unproffesional" impression... There are not many performers of Freddie's league - but I would recommend you to see Robbie Williams Live 8 performance.... This is how it should be done! But yes I admit, this is a gift. |
| Daniel Nester 07.07.2012 07:14 |
YourValentine, your post/review was in fact subjective. And informative. And biased. And that's OK. |
| Tarabostes 07.07.2012 11:32 |
Tarabostes 7/7/2012 Flat, flat review, more than a half is about the venue, stage , lights, outfits, hair, you don't mention anything about bottles, though! The only passage about Queen music and Lambert's performances contains general ideas not sustained by arguments, "...songs that require more than..." (exactly what) or childish epithets or jokes??? "...a screeching MM-like voice..." For an old fan , with 7320 posts , accustomed to putting his/her ideas down so often , accustomed to listening to Queen music with an open mind and wild heart (or not?) , just disappointing. My only concern, why to spend so much money on another concert if you feel so alienated ? PS Oh, and I adore my neighbour's comment on being theatrical BUT natural. |
| Nought Space 07.07.2012 11:58 |
Theatrical but natural is so subjective. |
| john bodega 07.07.2012 12:22 |
Freddie didn't have the most controlled vibrato when he was doing rock stuff or louder songs; he saved it up (or just found it easier to do) for the softer numbers. In any case, all of the vibrato in the world isn't going to help a shrill voice mesh with a rock band if it's not to your taste. |
| notimeforlosers 07.07.2012 12:25 |
ptr wrote: Listen to this: link Compare it to this: linkNot even talking about Adam's weak performance on this song (vocally, artistically and everything) but when you listen to both versions, man, what a difference in the sound! Ok, Live Aid may be Brian and Roger's prime, but the contrast is too big. Also, here you can see what a difference one John Deacon can make. Listen to his bass: it's so powerful and precise! In this Q+AL thing you can barely hear the bass, and the sound is pretty weak and slow too. I wouldn't talk about Adam but I just have to: he sounds like a chick in this song. P.S: I guess I don't need to talk about Freddie's maestry. Every Lambert fan coming around this forum, check this and stop saying your boy is alike Freddie in artistry. He's not and never will be. |
| Missreclusive 07.07.2012 13:35 |
Why would anyone critisize Valentines review? A personal review is just that. I appreciated it and the way it's written. |
| Mr Mercury 07.07.2012 13:36 |
suprnatrulcat wrote: Remember Queen+AL had two weeks of rehearsal and Adam had to learn a lot of songs.Please also remember that Adam had months to listen to and learn the words of most of Queen hits, so he would have known how the songs went before he stepped on the rehearsal stage with Brian and Roger. |
| YourValentine 08.07.2012 03:50 |
Daniel Nester wrote: YourValentine, your post/review was in fact subjective. And informative. And biased. And that's OK. Of course it was subjective:-) After all, music is a very personal thing. If you mean I was pre-judging when you say "biased" I would challenge that. I do have a problem with casting shows but I never blame that on the contestants, just on the producers: I do not care how a singer became famous - "talent will out" the one or other way. I went to the concert with an open mind. When you still go to Brian and Roger concerts after so many years you expect to experience this little extra excitement they can always provide - but Adam Lambert could not provide that for me. I do not apologise for my opinion and I do not care what other people think. I know that many people like that set up and that is perfectly allright for me. I am not someone who wants to spoil it for the fans who like these QAL shows and I never was someone who claimed that Freddie would not have liked it or that "real fans" should not like this or that or similar rubbish. I still think I can and should voice my opinion and for me AL was horrible. He would have been better if Brian and Roger would have picked songs for him that suited him better but they did not because they think that the set list always must contain the 10 unavoidable mega hits. |
| Ghostwithasmile is BACK! 08.07.2012 07:55 |
Traveling to london next week YV ? |
| YourValentine 08.07.2012 09:13 |
Yes, I do - the July 11th concert :-) You too? |
| cacatua 08.07.2012 09:29 |
I think that everyone pretty much sees and hears whatever they want/expect to see and hear from these shows. |
| Ghostwithasmile is BACK! 08.07.2012 13:15 |
YourValentine wrote: Yes, I do - the July 11th concert :-) You too?Yep we can meet again. I am doing all 3 shows. Because then my chances to hear inneundo live are bigger... ;-) Hope the setlist will be slightly different each night. |
| Matias Merçeauroix 08.07.2012 16:28 |
cacatua wrote: I think that everyone pretty much sees and hears whatever they want/expect to see and hear from these shows.yes |
| inu-liger 08.07.2012 17:07 |
ghostwithasmile wrote:YourValentine wrote: Yes, I do - the July 11th concert :-) You too?Yep we can meet again. I am doing all 3 shows. Because then my chances to hear inneundo live are bigger... ;-) Hope the setlist will be slightly different each night. Dude, I don't mean to burst your bubble, but if Innuendo was going to be on the setlist, they would have thrown it in there right from the get-go as that song would've been too huge to limit to just one show or two in a tour. I highly doubt at this point it's going to make the setlist. |
| Bad Seed 08.07.2012 17:14 |
I think you're correct about Innuendo, although I do hope/expect they will throw in the odd surprise at the Hammersmith shows. |
| Sebastian 08.07.2012 17:47 |
I wasn't there but I did watch some videos on YT, and I think it was OK. It reminds me of how great they used to be ... they didn't do a bad job but it sounds, more than ever, like a Queen tribute band which happens to have two of their former members. Adam has the popularity, stage presence, blah, blah, blah but he's not *that* great IMO. I loved the fact they did Life Is Real goes to show the Queen repertoire DOES include other things to choose from other than the same hits as always), but I think Brian's solo on that song was really mediocre. By mediocre I don't mean I could do it better, I mean he could do it better. Had it been someone other than Brian, I'm sure a lot of people in the audience would've booed him. Brian and Roger are great musicians but they're not even the shadow of what they used to be. I wonder how the KYA solo would've sounded... |
| Holly2003 09.07.2012 04:51 |
Brian didn't turn up at all for the solo. Very weak. He could've done what Nuno Bettencourt did for Love of my Life at the Fred Tribute concert i.e rearranged the song to give the acoustic solo a fuller sound. I thought that was great. |
| shamar 09.07.2012 16:27 |
YourValentine wrote: ...a screeching Mickey Mouse-like voice squeals some "hello Moscow" and starts singing with this annoying sqashed vibrato - just awful, what a downer. This roller coaster continued through the whole cocert: emotions, warm feelings interchanged with the horror of ths awful shrieking voice. (...) The best parts of the concert were the ones when AL was not on stage at all: "Magic", (...) AL is a very bad choice, he turned a Queen concert into a travesty. I never felt so alienated in a Queen related concert, it was very disillusioning. 2012 seems to be the year of the end of the adventure for old fans like me. I have a ticket for Hammersmith Apollo and of course I will go but in future the "glamberts" and "Queen Extravaganza" fans will have to take over. Brian and Rog probably slapped his face later coz in Wroclaw he wasn't freakin out with his voice. On previous shows (includind Kyiv) he sings tragic. Now he sings better but his voice STILL DOESN'T FIT QUEEN! Come on... weren't somewhere someone else? |
| cacatua 09.07.2012 17:12 |
shamar said: "Come on... weren't somewhere someone else?" As I've said elsewhere, Brian and Roger were very much impressed with Adam's voice from when they worked with him at the Idol finale. I don't know that it was so much a matter of choosing someone as it was that they had all been wanting to get together and have a go at it. Now you may not like it, and you have lots of company there, but they seem to be having a good time and getting better each show. Adam was always a very polite and well mannered fellow on the show, who took criticism constructively and was helpful to others, and if that follows here then they are able to make adjustments to better the show. Brian has said he is a joy to work with so it sounds that way. If you do not like Adam or his voice, then none of that will matter to you. I have been able to let go of Freddie's presence and listen with a more open mind, and either I am imagining things or Adam has dropped his voice a bit lower and stronger. I personally thought they sounded pretty good at Wroclaw, from what I was able to glean from the abysmal assortment of videos on YouTube, which either had good sound and no picture or good picture and lousy sound, or both good but the camera jerking all over the place. |
| YourValentine 09.07.2012 18:38 |
cacatua wrote: I have been able to let go of Freddie's presence and listen with a more open mind What has Freddie to do with all this? He was already dead when Brian and Roger toured with Paul Rodgers in 2005, 2006 and 2008 - which was great in my opinion. You seem to suggest that people who criticise AL must necessarily live in the past. |
| cacatua 09.07.2012 19:39 |
YourValentine said: "What has Freddie to do with all this? He was already dead when Brian and Roger toured with Paul Rodgers in 2005, 2006 and 2008 - which was great in my opinion. You seem to suggest that people who criticise AL must necessarily live in the past." Could it be that there is someone here who does not compare anyone who may sing with Queen to Freddie and come up short? Or say that Brian and Roger should have quit trying to be Queen without Freddie? (And John too of course, though he left because Freddie was gone to my knowledge.) Hell, I liked the idea of this Q+AL show and I have had a hard time with the Adam vs Freddie comparison. Those songs are seared into my brain with Freddie's voice and it's hard to lose that or to see anyone else out there. There are things about Adam's demeanor, and sometimes what he does with his voice too, out there with Queen that still make me cringe, so if you think I am just here to defend Adam you are wrong. There was a time when that may have been true but not for some time now. Not since his first album came out and his out-of-control performance on the music award show. We haven't thought much about him, except to shake our heads and wonder what happened, until I heard that he and Queen were going to get together. I also said that pretty much nothing Queen + Adam Lambert does will make it any more acceptable if you do not like Adam or his voice. That is not intended as a criticism, but an observation. Paul Rodgers may have been great with them but I didn't particularly care for Paul Rodgers in that particular slot. Just my opinion. |
| Matias Merçeauroix 09.07.2012 21:38 |
cacatua wrote: YourValentine said:"What has Freddie to do with all this? He was already dead when Brian and Roger toured with Paul Rodgers in 2005, 2006 and 2008 - which was great in my opinion. You seem to suggest that people who criticise AL must necessarily live in the past."Could it be that there is someone here who does not compare anyone who may sing with Queen to Freddie and come up short? Or say that Brian and Roger should have quit trying to be Queen without Freddie? (And John too of course, though he left because Freddie was gone to my knowledge.) Hell, I liked the idea of this Q+AL show and I have had a hard time with the Adam vs Freddie comparison. Those songs are seared into my brain with Freddie's voice and it's hard to lose that or to see anyone else out there. There are things about Adam's demeanor, and sometimes what he does with his voice too, out there with Queen that still make me cringe, so if you think I am just here to defend Adam you are wrong. There was a time when that may have been true but not for some time now. Not since his first album came out and his out-of-control performance on the music award show. We haven't thought much about him, except to shake our heads and wonder what happened, until I heard that he and Queen were going to get together. I also said that pretty much nothing Queen + Adam Lambert does will make it any more acceptable if you do not like Adam or his voice. That is not intended as a criticism, but an observation.Paul Rodgers may have been great with them but I didn't particularly care for Paul Rodgers in that particular slot. Just my opinion.I agree with most of what you say. |
| shamar 10.07.2012 11:25 |
cacatua wrote: I personally thought they sounded pretty good at Wroclaw, from what I was able to glean from the abysmal assortment of videos on YouTube, which either had good sound and no picture or good picture and lousy sound, or both good but the camera jerking all over the place. Yes. He sounded definitely better than at Kyiv or Moscow. So what? cacatua wrote: "Could it be that there is someone here who does not compare anyone who may sing with Queen to Freddie and come up short? Or say that Brian and Roger should have quit trying to be Queen without Freddie? It's not about comparing Lambert to Freddie. It's about rock vocal. Lambert hasn't good rock vocal. He sounds like musical singer. They should get good rock vocalist, not celebrity talent-show star. "C-lebrity!" Remember that song? May and Taylor probably not and it's main case why they're untrue and pathetic. Thin Lizzy was playing with Jon Sykes = good, old style TH but not copy. GOOD. Genesis with Ray Wilson = old style with great new rock vocal and real artist. GREAT The Doors with Ian Asthbury = old style with almost Morrison's imitator ). NICE Queen + Rodgers = old style of Queen + taste of Rodgers. GOOD Queen + Lambert = old style of Queen + musical c-lebrity vocalist... |
| Matias Merçeauroix 10.07.2012 11:49 |
If Rodgers had any taste, it must have been SHIT. That's what he tastes like. |
| cacatua 10.07.2012 12:18 |
shamar said: "It's about rock vocal. Lambert hasn't good rock vocal. He sounds like musical singer." I'm not arguing that at all. Of course it isn't what would be considered a rock voice. It's a theatrically trained voice. I'm just saying that Brian and Roger both really liked Adam's voice, and that was apparently the voice they wanted when they heard it. Brian also really likes Kerry Ellis' voice, of the same type. |
| Sheer Brass Neck 10.07.2012 22:21 |
Yes, Cacatua, you are right about Brian liking Kerry Ellis' voice, and the similarities to Adam Lambert's voice. But as GratefulFan pointed out, B and R have been in the musical world so long they've "lost their chops" when it comes to talent identification. Brian has posted that both Kerry and Adam "rock" on his site. They don't rock. Axl Rose and Dave Grohl are a fraction of the technical singers that Kerry Ellis and Adam Lambert are, but a million times better rock singers. It's like the quote pertaining to money. Adam and Kerry know the price of everything, but the value of nothing. In musical terms, they can hit every note, but have no fucking idea of what to do with it emotionally. |
| cacatua 10.07.2012 22:44 |
Sheer Brass Neck said: Brian has posted that both Kerry and Adam"rock" on his site. I'm not going to argue about Adam and Kerry being rock singers, because they obviously are not, in any authentic way, but as to Brian saying "they rock", you perhaps have not seen that saying "you rock" has become a term meaning more "we love you" or "you are great with us", as in the current Wildlife Rocks event coming up in September, so it does not carry the meaning in the strict sense that you have attached to it, just as "Rock Star" is now used to describe someone who shines in most any capacity. |
| GratefulFan 10.07.2012 23:07 |
Brian has said that while Kerry is a West End diva, "she is also a rock chick". Also, he presumably is aware he plays guitar in a rock band, so it may be safe to assume he thinks he has a rock singer in Adam Lambert. :) |
| Daniel Nester 11.07.2012 07:38 |
We are re-fricking-defining the term "rock" right here in this thread. This is important work. Applause all around. |
| GratefulFan 11.07.2012 08:33 |
We critique language. I thought you liked that sort of thing. |
| cacatua 11.07.2012 09:20 |
GratefulFan said: Brian has said that while Kerry is a West End diva, "she is also a rock chick". Also, he presumably is aware he plays guitar in a rock band, so it may be safe to assume he thinks he has a rock singer in Adam Lambert. :) Language evolves, and if Brian said it then it must be true. ;o) |
| GratefulFan 11.07.2012 14:28 |
You are definitely my favourite Stepford in the whole wide world Ms. Bird. :P :) |
| Micrówave 11.07.2012 14:37 |
Missreclusive wrote: Why would anyone critisize Valentines review? A personal review is just that. I appreciated it and the way it's written. If I answer that question, then I'm giving my review of your review of Barbara's review of a concert. |
| Missreclusive 11.07.2012 20:03 |
Micrówave wrote:LOL, okay. This is why I love this site, wit abounds.Missreclusive wrote: Why would anyone critisize Valentines review? A personal review is just that. I appreciated it and the way it's written.If I answer that question, then I'm giving my review of your review of Barbara's review of a concert. |
| Nought Space 14.07.2012 16:32 |
Waarom dan in neuken werd het geplaatst? Dit is geen spelletje "laten zien en vertellen." |