09 November, 2011

Adam Lambert and Queen at the 2011 EMA's

My lovely, wonderful, amazing, hardcore counterpart Audrey asked me to voice my opinion on Adam Lambert singing with Queen at the 2011 EMA's... so that's what I'm doing.

I've probably listened to the whole performance five times now, and I think I have a very solid and fully processed thought on it. But if I had just three words to pick from: It was boring.

Adam Lambert did a good job. Queen did a good job. But it was pretty much watching Adam Lambert do some pretty unnecessary vocal acrobatics and Brian, Roger and Spike Edney just happen to be there with some bass player - who the cameras don't even focus on for more than a second. I mean, even if that guy is merely just a piece of furniture, the bass player's important - especially the really fucking bad segue into We Will Rock You by using the riff from Under Pressure.

I'm not entirely sure how much rehearsal time each performing act got, but it either wasn't enough, or an off-performance, or the lack of cohesion between these artists is just so fucking obvious (my money's on all of the above). I mean, even Queen + Paul Rodgers weren't very tight during Live In Ukraine, but at least there was chemistry. With Adam Lambert, there doesn't seem to be any at all. And that's not a bad thing, some people just don't work, y'know? I'm not ripping on Adam as a performer or person. But it's a bit insulting that Queen are essentially treated as just a backing band in this performance. It reminded me of Brian performing at the VMAs and it seemed like almost everyone in the audience didn't seem to know who the hell he was and why he's so important.

Don't get me wrong, Freddie was probably more engaging than Brian, Roger and John back in the day and had the spotlight 95% of the time, but at least they'd interact with each other on stage. It's like Adam's just kinda doing his thing and then, "Wait, Brian's trying to share the catwalk with me? Oh. Okay then. I guess that's cool."

So yeah. I was bored and underwhelmed. And that sucks because you'd think Adam Lambert working with Brian and Roger would make total sense.

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