ADATR or NOTW?

I stopped in Newbury Comics - Harvard Square Store​ last month, and there was a woman who seemed to be talking to someone next to her near the vinyl records. I perked up as soon as she mentioned Queen​ because, duh. I made my way over to her to hopefully offer suggestions. It turns out she was on the phone via headset, and the guy next to her was just a guy next to her. The only two records under the Queen label were A Day At The Races and News Of The World.

I feel really terrible for bothering this woman and possibly coming off as creepy when I told her I loved Queen (it was only then that I realized she was on the phone), but the person on the other end of her line not knowing which of those albums to pick got me thinking...

If you could only pick ADATR or NOTW to introduce someone to Queen, which would you pick? And no, there's no possible way to get around it or access any other media in this scenario. Your friend in this scenario bases their taste in music on the first two seconds of the first song on an album because this friend grew up in an anti-music/TV/internet/anything remotely fun household and is only just starting to branch out, but really can't venture all that far from their comfort zone of talk radio and audio books because they still haven't completely forgiven you for what has since become known as "The Simon & Garfunkel​ Incident", and there's no hope for even a gray area when they decide whether to write the album and band off. You have to give them a compelling and well-thought out argument. I'd love to read your responses!

Placeholder and winter holiday present for you

I'm not happy with the quality of the cellphone pictures, but oh well. The next time it's not raining I want to try to nail the exact positions and angles!

Audrey and I talk about the concert

Yes! Another post about the Queen + Adam Lambert concert in Boston! Because I can!

Audrey and I originally wrote these at the end of July and in the beginning of August, but I'm posting them now. Because I can!

Audrey is a writer, rocking the Queens, NYC poetry and indie arts scene like a boss. She released her first book, Decisions We Make While We Dream, in 2012. Her second book, Traversals, was released this month. She had a (horribly edited) story published in the book, Bohemian Rhapsodies, but has kindly featured the original, non-shitty version on her website. Check out her work!

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as a queen fan born too late, you just accept the fact.. you can never see your band. it's part of the ache that comes with falling in love with any of the classics - and this fact has broken my heart time and time again. there's a thing with queen, for me.. i always know it, it's always inherent - how much i wholeheartedly adore them and their music - but even still, all these years later.. it surprises me. after a childhood filled with the greats of rock & roll, i officially became a queen fan during the summer i turned 12 - we were riding home from upstate, i was sitting shotgun, my dad asked me to change the CD, and fatefully, he brought their greatest hits album classic queen. i had started to come into my own as a music fan the previous summer, and my life was ripe for destiny. at a time when i was trying to put sounds to names and piece back together the ever-present soundtrack of my life thus far, so many of the songs i remembered so fondly were ALL by queen..

and then, there was freddie. freddie, freddie, freddie, FREDDIE. when i first got into the band i didn't count on falling hopelessly head over heels for their frontman, but renting a VHS copy of their we will rock you (now billed as rock montreal) concert solidified it. there was just a moment - a moment when that feeling bloomed, never to stop - ever, ever again. he was everything. everything.

still now, i am struck dumb by the depth of this emotion. it all came back to me last night - the night during which i was able to see MY BAND - not as a shadow of themselves, not as a tribute, not as a substitute. but MY BAND. and all the magic they always stood for - live, joyous, electric. brian and roger, my steadfast companions through so many, many years - manifesting this beautiful opportunity to surprise everyone, and even themselves - touring with adam lambert, touring with this music again - recognizing that, no matter what - no matter how many years pass, and despite the tragedy of freddie's absence - that this is something BIGGER than them. bigger than tragedy. more powerful than any ending mortal lives could meet. this is the life this music has, this is the life this music BREATHES into countless people, the world over. this is how deeply it resonates. this is the beauty of QUEEN - the true, ETERNAL MAGIC of all they created.. last night, all i could do is marvel: how GLORIOUS. CAMPY. PLAYFUL. MASTERFUL. it was just as it should have been.. and so, so much more.

i have always been an emotional person. yet in recent months - through struggle, heartache, disillusionment, darkness.. letting out the tears has become extremely difficult. it felt like something welled up in me with a thickness that could not be released. but last night. last night. i remembered. i remembered everything. it was the kind of primal shakeup, shock to the system, SONIC BOOM of emotion that QUEEN, only QUEEN, can draw from me. i remembered everything. i saw the path out in front of me, the path that began to be laid when i was just barely a teenager. i heard "in the lap of the gods (revisited)" - the song that carried me through my very first heartbreak - and couldn't sing the words through the tears. "no beginning, there's no ending. there's no meaning in my pretending. believe me, life goes on and on and on.. forgive me, when i ask you where do i belong?" the words. those songs. that profound DEPTH of meaning. being there. with MY BAND. and my god, feeling, feeling SO MUCH that freddie was there. freddie was around me. freddie was with ALL of us, so pure and joyously. each time he came onscreen i just wept. wept in a way i haven't in so long.. and not because of pure sadness, wishing - why isn't he here? why did it all work out this way? but instead embracing that reality and crying instead from that WELLSPRING of gratitude. that JOY from knowing him. for all he taught me, for all he gave me. for all he means.

i realized again, as i do over and over - how much this band, and the spirit of THIS MAN mean to me. i will never love ANYONE the way i love freddie mercury. and i will never love ANY BAND the way i love queen. i remembered all over again who i AM. who they helped me to BE. this wild-eyed dreamer moving against the grain who was always too loud, too big, too fanciful.. QUEEN gave me a place to me. FREDDIE made it okay. so many things have beat it out of me.. toned it down.. made me less confident. last night i remembered the performer i always wanted to be, the performer i AM, the FREDDIE inside me that always has the opportunity to burst out. the music that shaped my world. accompanied me through my aches, my uncertainty, my greatest joys..

the concert last night was more than a concert. i could write about a thousand moments - standing there BASKING in the sound of brian's red special, laser lights piercing the air, shimmering in their sacred geometry.. seeing roger in the flesh for the first time - seeing him play, hearing him sing. he and brian performing 'these of the days of our lives.' knowing - god, all at once - yes, those days are all gone now, but one thing will ALWAYS be true. love. love love love for QUEEN. WE LOVE YOU, i screamed, i called their names, i sang every word, and i cried and laughed through my tears. i was so IN THE MOMENT i didn't notice time passing, i wasn't thinking of anything but being THERE, marveling at this perfect spectacle of rock & roll glory, being there with the ONE person in the world who understands the depth of this love like i do, my best queen friend zander, who i met in the official queen fan club chatroom when we were 12. two friends broken off from the norms of early adulthood in our separate states, to find each other in this unexpected way, and suddenly, all these years later, to be standing next to each other. appreciating this like no one else could.. MAGIC.

and adam. oh, adam. OH, ADAM. this gorgeous, shining jewel of a creature.. freddie would've been so proud of the FUN he was having. of the camp. of the pomp. of the SASSINESS. he would have absolutely eaten him UP! his costumes, his expressions, his banter, his UNDENIABLE WEALTH OF TALENT. that leopard print suit and glittering crown. toasting the entire bottle of champagne to brian, taking a swig, and then spitting it on the crowd. swooning on that couch - catlike with pure mischievous expression, kicking up his platform heels like freddie's in the 70s, FANNING HIMSELF like a true KILLER QUEEN.. i couldn't. i was there for queen but i was SCREAMING for adam, too. his PRESENCE. his VOICE, absolutely SOARING. he fits. he. so. FITS.

and do you know why it all fits? there is something about QUEEN that defies EVERYTHING. i am far from the 12 year old girl that began this journey but i am EVERMORE deeply in love. what this band originally gave me, they gave back to me last night - and for every night after i will try to remember.. there is triumph after tragedy. there is art that lives forever. there is beauty that will stun you, drain you, pull from you every emotion trapped within you - if it comes from this place of magic. i am so thankful to have been there. i am so thankful for adam. i am so thankful for the band. i am so thankful for brian and roger to be able to stand on these stages around the country and KNOW: WE LOVE YOU. we have always loved you. and we always will.

because when it comes to QUEEN: it doesn't end. it can never end. always and forever, the show must go ON.

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It should be noted that when I first read this, I was still struggling to find all the words to describe my experience with this concert, and Audrey seemed to figure out pretty much EVERYTHING I wanted to say!

My piece is next. I do not have kickass credentials outside of this blog.

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It’s been a little over two weeks since my dream came true, and things have settled and Audrey inspired me to write about the emotional impact of the greatest concert I’ve ever been to.

I’ve tried and failed for years to talk about what Queen - and Freddie, in particular - mean to me. I’ve historically always been shushed, waved off, or humored. “Yeah, Freddie was pretty cool,” some would say if they were making an effort to be nice despite my being relentlessly annoying - like when I was 10 and learned the words to Bohemian Rhapsody by listening to my (US) Greatest Hits cassette over and over and over and over and…

And while I loved anyone saying anything nice about Freddie (growing up in the conservative Midwest, there were many “original” gay “jokes” hurled around, so anything said that wasn’t intended to be insulting was pure gold), they didn’t truly get it. I didn’t get them, either. I didn’t get how they could see a concert video or documentary, or hear any Queen song without becoming dumbstruck! How could they watch Freddie doing pretty much ANYTHING and not find him the most fascinating and engaging, God-like human being on the planet?! How could they make fun of me for being sad that Freddie’s dead?!

We got the internet in my house when I was 12, and it was there that I finally connected with other Queen fans via the Queen Fan Club chat room. I don’t know if I was making it a bigger deal than them, but all the same, their kinship couldn’t have come at a better time. I was in middle school and boy bands were the “in” thing, and I refused to jump on board. My peers couldn’t understand why I loved Queen and classic rock, just like I couldn’t understand their love of formulaic, soulless, auto-tuned drivel. The QFC chat room was a really lovely break from that relentless pressure!

And then, one fateful day, a new nickname arrived. “freddiegirl86”. “YOU LOVE FREDDIE?? ME TOO! YOU’RE FROM THE US?? ME TOO! YOU WERE BORN IN 1986?? ME TOO!”

As much as I liked everyone else, I felt I had found my Queen soulmate in Audrey. We talked online constantly, and jacked up our respective phone bills (dial-up internet is really no laughing matter, kids). We would call each other on the phone and REALLY jack up our phone bills, pretend to perform concerts, and talk about Freddie and Queen on a level that remains very special.

Audrey and I seemed to enable each other, and it was glorious. Brian and Roger hadn’t started touring as Queen yet, but we were determined that - somehow - we’d meet in person and meet them and see them live.

15 years later, it finally happened. I took a day trip from Boston to New York City, finally met Audrey, and we went to meet Brian May at a book signing. That remains one of the greatest days of my life.

I’m very privileged to have had the experiences I’ve had so far. It’s a combination of luck and having amazingly kind and generous friends. But seeing Queen live was something I NEVER thought would happen for me! Ever! When Queen + Adam Lambert added Boston to their North American tour, I thought I’d be lucky to get Audrey and I the shittiest seats in the stadium!

Stubhub.com is a wonderful thing. Miraculously, I was able to secure floor tickets not *too* far from the stage! As a believer in karma, I’m still wondering what I did to be able to make that happen!

The days leading up to the concert were hard to get through. My stomach would do one somersault after another. “This is happening!” I thought. “Holy shit! Audrey and I are going to see QUEEN!” followed by, “The tickets you got must be fake! Audrey’s going to come all this way only for you both to have the stadium doors slammed in your face! She’ll never forgive you! The gig will be canceled, everything will go to shit!”

The tickets were fine and everything else was fine!

The first time I heard Procession felt like I was hearing music for the first time in my life all over again. I loved picking up the subtle sounds on Queen II on my headphones (cranked up to full volume, because the 1992 CD releases were lacking compared to the 2011 CD releases). Every single note of every guitar part in Procession was so ominous and sad and triumphant and glorious! Somber, but building to something greater than myself! So hearing the drum pound in the taped intro in TD Garden in 2014, surrounded by other Queen fans, feeling the electricity build, brought out that response. The guitar parts came in, and it was like I was back in that moment listening to Queen II for the very first time. Except it didn’t sound ominous this time! I spent years watching concert videos and listening to CDs, hearing crowds get excited and knowing precisely why they were excited - but to actually be there! To be in it! To feel your pulse ramp up and synch with everyone else’s! The fact that I was sharing this with Audrey especially! There really is no comparison between that and any of their concert videos!

Only after Now I’m Here did my brain suddenly process that I was seeing Roger Taylor on drums (along with his son, Rufus), Brian May playing guitar - HIS guitar! The Red Special! The most perfect and amazing guitar that will ever be! Neil Fairclough doing John Deacon justice! And Adam Lambert as front man! He had finally come into it! I’d seen other videos of him performing with Queen, and he was lacking as a showman. Until I’d heard other people gush about earlier concerts in the tour, I was worried he’d fall flat again. But he was perfect! He brought himself to the stage, owned it, and - maybe inadvertently - filled in some of the gaps where Paul Rodgers couldn’t! Champions Of The World was a great concert, but that was it. It was a concert. This was a show! Queen is supposed to be big lights, big sounds - completely overwhelming in the best way! I kept watching Adam and thinking of how Freddie must be positively BEAMING with joy from wherever he is! I wonder if that’s how the band felt when John Deacon auditioned for them back in the day? Like Audrey said, “Adam just fit!”

I did the Radio Ga Ga clap when I saw Queen Extravaganza in 2011, and I thought that would be as close as I’d get to the real thing. It was fun, but the connection doesn’t compare when doing it with the greatest band in the universe (obviously). I felt a sense of purpose, and finally truly understood what people meant when they said that Queen could connect with even the person furthest from the stage (still, I’m glad I got us good seats!). I revisited that sense of finally belonging on first entering the QFC chat room all those years ago.

Bohemian Rhapsody felt like I had come full circle. This was the first Queen song I fell head over heels in love with, and the only way it could have been more perfect is if Freddie were still alive and performing it! Hearing Bohemian Rhapsody for the first time at the age of six had brought me to this moment, and my entire journey as a Queen fan came bubbling up through the course of the taped operatic section. The lights, the video on the screen, flashes of my childhood playing in my mind not unlike the video footage playing during These Are The Days Of Our Lives, the sounds, the stadium filled with people, the camaraderie, my friends a few seats down in the next row, my counterpart right by my side! It was like feeling every ounce of joy from hearing every Queen and Freddie song for the very first time all at once. Like how I felt when I listened to the Made In Heaven album and heard Freddie sing his ass off on It’s A Beautiful Day.

It was fucking amazing, is what I’m getting at.

After the show, Audrey and I watched VH1 Legends. Brian said (and I’m going to paraphrase) that Queen wanted to leave their audiences “deafened, blinded, completely emotionally drained - and totally wanting more!” We looked at each other and exclaimed hoarsely, “THAT’S HOW WE FEEL!!!”

As I write this, I’m still feeling the aftershock from the show. My voice took a few days to recover, and I have moments where I start to tear up because this was such a huge deal for me in so many ways. I go through Youtube videos of the Boston show, and it’s like I’m there again. I look at the pictures I took and stare in amazement because, “Holy shit! These are pictures of Queen! That I took! At one of their concerts!”

I still can’t find all the words to describe what Queen and Freddie mean to me, and how much this concert means to me. Eventually, I’ll stop trying. Because really, you either get it or you don’t. And those who get it know that there are multiple intricate layers, subtle notes, bits and pieces that will be missed the first time around, revitalized joy when you drop everything, look at any part of your Queen collection, and let it hit you all over again just how much you love this band.

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I will immortalize you

What I desperately wish was the worst part of my date from the other night:

Guy: I *love* Broadway musicals!

Me: I've only been to one so far, but I didn't enjoy it. It was We Will R-

Guy: Stop right there! I loved it! How did you not love it??

Me: The story was flimsy, the pop culture references were forced, and the protagonist referring to her as "his woman" and that crap didn't sit well with me.

Guy: But that's how it was back then!

Me: The story takes place in the future.

Guy: ...

And then the rest of the evening continued to careen downhill for several reasons that had nothing to do with Queen.

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As my friend/writing coach/pastor/fellow Queen fan Toni Amato always says: Never piss off a writer! We will make you immortal, and you will not like it!

Some creative title

Well! A lot's been happening! I got to see Gunpowder Gelatine twice in under six months, which is awesome! I'm still waiting for a hat that I ordered from the QOL store at the end of July (apparently issues with the manufacturers?), which is decidedly not awesome I finally decided to ask for a refund because that's way too long to wait for something. But my collection is being slowly built and re-built! For reasons I won't get into, I'm trying to come to terms with the very real possibility that I'll never get my stuff back from IL. In some ways, it's been... maybe a bit cathartic? For instance, I got a cassette copy of the US Greatest Hits off of ebay! I don't have a tape player anymore, but I'm still excited about it because I feel a lot less guilty for having to throw out my old copy when I was a kid. And that one didn't even have a case to it, which definitely did not help keep the tape itself protected. I also suspect that this reclaimed copy doesn't have a bit of Under Pressure recorded over because someone's brother was being a fucking asshole and wanted to prove that music tapes could be recorded over and didn't want to use literally any of the other dozens of tapes their parents never listened to anymore.

... Yeah.

But anyway! It sits on my shelf now, lovingly protected from harm. Maybe I'll start trying to collect all the cassette copies of albums...

I also got some VHS tapes! I've reclaimed Classic Queen, Champions Of The World, and Magic Years vol. 2 so far. I guess I could technically say the same for We Will Rock You, but this copy is the 1992 re-release. It feels nice to have all three "proper" tapes of the Magic Years series -which is not to say that I'm not appreciative of my taped copies of vols. 1 and 3 that my friend Jen made for me! And for the first time, I have a VHS copy of Live In Budapest, which is really exciting. It's been my dream for many years to own all their VHS releases.

And then in early September, I bought a red military belt and an inexpensive microphone stand so I could dress like Freddie on his birthday. Hopefully I'll eventually find the Adidas with the red stripes (has anyone else noticed that Adidas' shoes are fucking ugly as sin these days?)

You'll notice that my Magic Tour box set is on top of my shelf and blocking one of my posters. My cat kept trying to scratch off the stickers and I'm waiting to re-purpose my current TV stand as a cat-proof display.

I had time to kill yesterday before going to my friend's house for lunch, so I stopped in Newbury Comics in Harvard Square to poke around. As soon as I walked in, I heard Jailhouse Rock and it was very clearly Queen. I talked to who I'm presuming was the floor manager and said that that was a badass pick, and we chatted about Queen for a couple minutes. Then I went to look through their music stuff just to see what was there, and found that Freddie had his own CD section!

This kind of thing never happens in the US, so it's kind of huge for me. Anyway, I looked through Queen's CD section, and found the two-disc set of Live At The Rainbow '74. It took everything I had not to buy it because I'm going to order the Super Deluxe box set. Because if I can make that work, why not?

But Newbury Comics having the CD set marked down from $19.99 did not help matters. I had to remind myself that the Deluxe box set comes with other goodies that I want. And the small bit I heard over the stereo sounded amazing!

I'm also looking so intensely forward to Queen Forever that it's probably a bit concerning to others!

Freddie Mercury Album review - with a bonus public shaming

Those of you who read this may recall this post about a... really interesting Amazon review of The Freddie Mercury Album. I've decided to break it down further because - well, it's such a golden opportunity!

If you're a Queen fan and you'd like to sample some of Freddy's solo work, then this might be a good buy. But if you're a true Freddy fan, then you'll be appalled at how they butchered his compositions in the re-mixing room.

I'm not going to attack this person's personal tastes just because they didn't like the album. That part's irrelevant. But as I all-too-often have to point out, they're claiming to be a "true" Freddie fan while misspelling his name. And once you fuck that up, you're in no position to judge musical arrangements on anything attached to Queen or Freddie. And you know what? A lot of people think they know what constitutes a "true" fan, but they don't. Neither do I, neither do you. Like many identities and communities in life, there is no One Right Way, and the sooner we collectively get that through our heads, the sooner we can all sleep better at night.

As far as how some of the songs on this album are arranged, I don't think they're that bad. The only one I don't like is for Time, and that's because the music doesn't make sense up against Freddie's vocals in some places, and the overall arrangement sounds boring.

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In a weak attempt to bridge the gap between Queen's heavy rock sound and Freddy's gay style (I say "gay" meaning "happy"), the mixing engineers have slaughtered these pieces.

There was zero attempt to bridge the gap between Queen's catalog and Freddie's - the Made In Heaven album being an exception. And let's be real - Mr Bad Guy was intended to sound like something you'd hear in a gay club in the 80's, so it's more than a little insulting that they're qualifying their use of "gay" up there. It's okay to say it had a gay sound because IT DID, and this person clearly cannot see that that was a conscious decision. Also, if early 1990s dance remixes don't scream, "gay" to this person, I cannot help them. They are beyond help.

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If I want to hear something heavy, I'll pop in "Night at the Opera". I don't need some presumptuous mixing engineer adding heavy reverb on the drums, stupid house-techno beats and distorted guitars.

... So go pop in A Night At The Opera, then..? Since you clearly want Queen's sound and not remixes of Freddie's solo stuff? And that's not the correct use for "presumptuous".

*ETA: Also, comparing any of the band's solo projects to any of their Queen albums is like comparing apples and bobsleds. Queen's music and albums are successful in being variant while also still having an overall signature sound (as in, you know damn well it's a Queen album even though it doesn't sound precisely like every other Queen album), and it's presumptuous to think that the sound Queen went for in 1975 should be expected - even on a subconscious level - to show up in a dance-oriented solo album in 1985, let alone a 1992 remix of a track from 1985. Seriously, what the hell is this person's problem??!!*

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The worst is the absolute murder of the song "Mr. Bad Guy", originally a fully orchestrated piece, now reduced to some stupid "star search" sounding tripe with a whiny guitar soloing overtop everything. ... What's next? Will some video engineer edit out all of Freddy's flamboyant concert outfits and digitally superimpose a bunch of tattoos and body piercing?

Yes. That's exactly what they'll do. The Mr Bad Guy remix forever changed the sound and influence of death metal. It won several awards and is widely considered among metal enthusiasts to be the be all-end all of heavy metal. Every release of every Queen and Freddie album since 1992 has Freddie on the cover rocking a mohawk and enough facial piercings and tattoos to make him virtually unrecognizable. This is sarcasm. Because I get sarcastic when people are being stupid on the internet.

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C'mon Atlantic (or whatever label was responsible for this travesty), give us some credit. Give FREDDY some credit. He liked it the way it was, and WE liked it the way it was.

Actually, from what I've seen in The Great Pretender documentary, Freddie wasn't as invested in Mr Bad Guy as, say, Barcelona or any Queen album. He never expected it to be a massive commercial success, and when it wasn't, he pretty much just shrugged his shoulders and went on to the next project. Also, this person should remember that they're only speaking for themselves and not anyone else. I don't doubt there are others who share this person's views, but this person doesn't represent the entire Freddie fan base, and as a Freddie fan, I'm tempted to find them and follow them around with a sign, "I'm not with them"...

--

Now pardon me whilst I throw this rubbish in the can, put on my leotard and listen to "Mr. Bad Guy" the way the artist intended it. Heavy on the gay. Party on.

Again, I cannot help this person with their inability to understand the evolution of gay club music since 1985 and how some of these remixes fall into that category. It's okay to not like this album, but it's really not okay to say that the dance remixes aren't gay when, honey, they are. Super gay.

Actually talking about Queen in Boston

Okay! Now that I've regained the ability to think beyond, "OMG THAT TOTALLY HAPPENED!!!!"...

I met my counterpart Audrey at the bus terminal in South Station. I'm really glad I (strongly) suggested that she aim for getting in around 2:30 in case of delays, because that happens all the time. I guess New York City traffic was to blame for her getting in a bit after 3:00, which does but doesn't surprise me. I was so sure Boston would be the clusterfuck it always is.

Thankfully there was still time to get back to my place, drop off her things, and take a breath before heading to North Station. We were meeting Allison (who was wearing the shirt she got from their 1982 Boston concert), Amanda, and their friend Sarah for an early dinner at Boston Beer Works. Before we got there, Audrey and I noticed one of the tour trucks, and we both screamed and began taking pictures. And then other people started stopping for pictures as well. Audrey and I are trend setters! Once at the restaurant, and after intros were done, we got down to business and talked about Queen (duh) and how it seems now that their collaboration with Paul Rodgers has since become something they just don't want to acknowledge if they can help it - like a super embarrassing prom picture. Considering The Cosmos Rocks didn't do as great as we'd all hoped it would, and Live In Ukraine was... well, total shit, it's not too surprising that that would be their reaction.

We would also occasionally bond with passers-by rocking some sweet Queen and Freddie shirts. Turns out the shirt you see me in all the time is really popular!

The doors were opening at 6:30, and Boston Beer Works was within super easy walking distance to TD Garden, so we maybe got there at about 6:45-6:50(?). I swear you could feel the anticipation all the way from the restaurant, so of course it was massively amplified just outside the stadium! We saw Queen fans of various ages walking by and posing in front of one of the promo signs. So of course Audrey and I had to do that as well, because I don't think it would have occurred to me otherwise.

I'd never gone to North Station except for commuting purposes before this, so the construction going on was not making getting to the stadium any less confusing. This also gave my brain time to fill me with dread. "I bet those tickets you got on Stubhub are fake! Some asshole must have fabricated them! TD Garden's layout for stadium concerts says section B only has seven rows, and the tickets say 'row 24'! Etc, etc."

Anxiety disorders suck.

Anyway, There was supposed to be a parting of the ways. Allison's, Amanda's, and Sarah's seats were in the balcony, while Audrey and I had the floor. THANKFULLY the tickets I scored were legit, and we were directed to our seats. And because of the construction, Allison, Amanda, and Sarah got to be moved to the floor as well! They were one row and a number of seats down from us! We were planning on having them move next to us if our row didn't fill up. But it did. Oh well.

The concert was delayed for 45 minutes for reasons I don't know, so this gave Audrey and I time to take it all in and get more pictures (you can see them in my previous post). We even helped a few people who were failing to get decent selfies, because yay human kindness!

Gradually, the ending instrumental from Made In Heaven faded in to let the crowd know that 15 minutes or so from now, shit was going to get real. The time for fucking around was over! At random points, as the stadium continued to fill with people, and as we saw the movement of the crew behind the curtain, we'd all cheer! They do deserve praise for the work they put in, you know! The energy was building just enough to be exciting, but not abruptly so, so it was easy to just ride and enjoy it. And every minute that ticked by was one getting me that much closer to my dream! Finally! The concert started at 8:15! I heard the bass drum and proceeded to lose my shit that they were using Procession as their taped intro! BECAUSE HOW PERFECT IS THAT?! This was also the first instance I screamed too loud and too hard.

Setlists have been posted on Twitter and Facebook since the start of the tour, but I only ever glanced at them because I wanted to be surprised. While the curtain was still up, Procession transitioned to Now I'm Here. It wasn't until Adam started singing that there was zero doubt in my mind about anything anymore. I was really worried based on other performances I'd seen on video where Adam sounded great, but didn't have his footing. But throughout the tour, people kept saying that the concerts were amazing, and as the curtain fell, and hands went up, I knew he had gotten it together.

I honestly think that Adam Lambert has developed into the perfect fit for Queen frontman. He wasn't trying at all to be like Freddie. Like Paul Rodgers, he brought only himself to the table, and there were points where he was right along with the rest of us, staring admiringly, enjoying the show, and getting excited about the most amazing band in the universe. I think it makes a difference, too, that he's a Queen fan that's not a rock veteran. Like me, his introduction to Queen was watching Wayne's World in 1992. There was absolutely no point in the show where he seemed not to think it was a huge deal what he was doing. And he also happened to be massively engaging, armed with a voice that didn't falter. Much like his prettiness, it defies logic.

Seriously. Pictures and videos really don't capture how gorgeous he is. Like, if Captain Jack Harkness from Doctor Who/Torchwood had a lovechild with Freddie, that lovechild would look like Adam Lambert!

Anyway! There was a hitch for me during Love Of My Life. There was a guy behind me who had been spouting some Queen trivia to his concertmate off and on, and with my processing difficulties, he was just loud enough at this point that I literally could not hear anything else. I turned around and told him to shut up, but I couldn't get into what was happening. Love Of My Life is supposed to be this amazing and intimate moment we share with Brian and Freddie, and - just like when watching concert videos - I was on the outside looking in (except I couldn't hear a lot of it!). I honestly feel like I let Brian and Freddie down, and I will probably never forgive that guy.

He started up again during Last Horizon, telling his concertmate, "I think this was on The Miracle..." It took everything I had not to tell him how wrong he was. Because seriously?????!!!!!

But the rest of the show continued to be amazing. The times Freddie came on the screen was nothing like watching the DVDs at home. Obviously, it was video, but it was sort of like getting to see him on stage, too. I can't explain it properly.

The band was pressed for time, so they couldn't perform The Show Must Go On. It would have been awesome if there was time, but Audrey and I - at least - didn't feel like the set was lacking during the show.

Despite their living on the North Shore, Amanda and Allison gave Audrey and I a ride back to my apartment. It was nice to keep the momentum going while not having to deal with public transportation. We sang along to Play The Game and Princes Of The Universe :-)

I plugged my camera into my desktop computer to import the pictures I took. I was sure I took maybe 100 at most, so imagine my surprise that it was 505! I glanced at them to get a general idea of what was good enough to be posted online while Audrey looked through my Queen stuff. It was really nice getting to appreciate those things with her in person (which obviously means I should have Queen fans over more often)!

Audrey and I ordered a pizza and popped in disc 2 of Greatest Video Hits 2 to watch the One Vision documentary, followed by going on Youtube via my Roku box to watch VH1 Legends. This was special to us because it was the first thing the both of us had to look forward to as die-hard Queen fans. We finally crashed around 2am!

Before taking the bus back to New York, I brought Audrey to a hole-in-the-wall record shop near Harvard Square. The only Queen stuff we could find were two copies of A Night At The Opera on vinyl for $20 each, which I think is too expensive. But I did find a copy of Greatest Hits III on CD for $4. I'm slowly coming to terms with most likely never getting my stuff that's still at my father's house, so I'm rebuilding those parts of my collection where I can. I also got a CD copy of The Velvet Underground & Nico, and the soundtrack to the film, Magnolia, because Aimee Mann is awesome.

Audrey managed to get a good haul of stuff on vinyl - including some records she got for her sister. Then we walked to Harvard Square to see if we could get her a copy of July's Rolling Stone for the awesome Queen article. Apparently Out Of Town News no longer carries Rolling Stone, but they now have Classic Rock. Dammit.

I'm glad that this was able to happen! To say the least! I would do this again and again in a heartbeat! This wouldn't be possible if Stubhub didn't exist. Some guy named Steven Radchenko originally bought the tickets I got, so thanks Steven!