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.

Do not get me started on Robbie Williams

There are collaborations that have happened over the years that I've really fucking hated questioned. 5ive (I'd rather listen to Rick Rubin's remix - which is saying A LOT!), Robbie Williams, Britney Spears with Pink and Beyonce (I do love me some Pink and Beyonce individually... but not Britney), so when I first heard of Brian May working with Kerry Ellis, my first thought was: "Who the fuck is Kerry Ellis?" because I'm uncultured and originally from the midwest.

I think I first heard her sing Who Wants To Live Forever sometime in the late 90's..? I have to admit, I turned off the recording after a few seconds because I couldn't handle someone else singing Queen (it was right around when Robbie Williams butchered WATC, so he's to blame for temporarily ruining other vocalists for me). But she was good! Better than Sarah Brightman, in my opinion!

And then I started listening to showtunes. Not that I'm a total queen about it, but there are some shows I like. Anyway, One of my roommates introduced me to the musical version of Wicked during one of our many heated card games ('Go Fish' and 'War' made us both verbally assault each other - but it was never serious). Of course, it was the version with Idina Menzel singing. Cut to about a year later when YouTube recommend I watch the live version of Defying Gravity with Brian May and I was completely sold!

So now Kerry Ellis has a new album coming out in September this year! And Brian's been contributing to it! Can you tell I'm pretty excited?