Kristy and Lindsay see Queen with Adam Lambert!

The wonderful Kristy has always been a  big Queen fan. Once I told her that Queen were touring with Adam Lambert there was never any doubt about whether or not we would be going, I'll concede I had some concerns about the $160 price tag but these were brushed aside! So, last night was spent at Allphones Arena or whatever it's called these days at Homebush, watching Brian May, Roger Taylor, Adam Lambert and a group of other musicians perform from the Queen catalogue. The boys are certainly respecting John Deacon's retirement as he was never mentioned. Freddie, of course, was mentioned quite often.

One might think that holding a QUEEN concert without Freddie Mercury is a bit of a stretch and that's a legitimate view. As Adam Lambert put it, one does have to "suspend one's disbelief." Lambert made that a pretty easy job. He's got a superb voice, which easily hits all the high notes that Freddie's left for him. He's bold on stage, campy,  delightfully gay and thus makes an excellent fit with Queen. He made some nods towards Freddy without pretending to be anything other than Adam Lambert. Lambert performed with Queen during his American Idol season and clearly made an impression on Taylor and May. His version of Killer Queen was especially wicked. I found that he occasionally got drowned out by the loudness of the band but that might just be a personal quibble.

There was a long session in the middle of the concert where Adam was off stage and Brian May and Roger Taylor tried to carry the concert on their own, with a series of solos and a few songs where they took the microphone. While I found myself in awe of their technical skills, both clearly remaining at the summit of their profession, as entertainment it paled a little. I think had they shrunk that session considerably and kept Lambert out the front it would have worked better. Why on earth would you hire a voice like that and leave it in the dressing room?!

The technical proficiency of the concert was consistently in evidence, the light were blinding, the sound was explosive yet very clear, these were professional entertainers who knew what they were doing. But the hits were so loud and that reduced the ability of the audience to involve themselves in the singing - despite Queen possessing an almost unmatchable catalogue of concert ready singalong anthems!  Maybe it works better in the stadiums where there's more audience members to push back against the loudness. So, for me, that was a bit of a letdown.

Overall though, it was a strong concert. It was great to see Roger Taylor and Dr Brian May looking so happy and enjoying themselves dusting off the Queen catalogue. They're so good that I'd quite like it if they drag John Deacon out of retirement, pull Adam Lambert into a studio with them and have a crack at making some new music. Just as Dr May found he had unfinished business with his Phd thesis and finished it off, possibly there's some unfinished musical business too.

Kristy had a great time, she resisted the lure of the overpriced T-shirts but the power of the program was not to be denied - $35 later she had her souvenir of the evening! She was thrilled and that was the point of the evening.