Who isn’t a fan or was a fan of Queen? I have been listening to this band for as long as I can remember. I am glad they decided to continue even without their great frontman, the late Freddie Mercury, who essentially made the band the success they still have. Adam Lambert isn’t a bad replacement, but MIKA was the ideal replacement for Freddie because he seems like a modern-day Freddie with his onstage persona and vocals. 

This live album features songs performed over the last six years from the tour, with Adam adding his unique persona and showmanship. The “American Idol” (I forget which year.) runner-up doesn’t pretend to emulate Freddie, nor should he. It is about being unique and bringing something new to the band while still being capable of delivering the vocals well, if not better than your predecessor, which Adam does.

Let’s look at how he does that in “Don’t Stop Me Now”. Since his inception, Adam has given this track new life in the live capacity. He teases the crowd by stretching out notes when the crowd is ready to jump up and down and go nuts. Thus, by doing that, they have to wait for the note to reach the summit. After this happens, Adam gives a cheeky wink and a nod to the crowd. I am not a fan of the next track, which I must confess I first heard being performed by Father Noel Furlong (Played by Graham Norton.) while he was under a pile of rocks in “the Tentacles of Doom” Father Ted episode. The track in question is “Fat Bottomed Girls”. There’s another reason why I am highlighting this track: it was performed at the AT&T Stadium, which is the home of my beloved National Football League franchise, Dallas Cowboys. Queen performed at this particular gig in Arlington, Texas, with the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders dancing onstage. Adam cheekily threw in “Not true” after the line “Ain’t no beauty queens in this locality”. Now, he said it about himself rather than the Cowgirls, which makes this ad-libbing somewhat comedic.

Adam could be considered one of the best vocalists around at the moment (In rock, anyway.), and sometimes, he even surpasses Freddie by taking risks to reach higher notes, which makes drummer Roger Taylor redundant in the vocal aspect. Whereas Freddie often relied on him for backing vocals to look after his vocals, Adam would instead go it alone and take the risk of being vocal-weary over a long and arduous tour. So, Freddie would want to take care of his vocals and pace himself, whereas Adam would give it his all every show regardless of the health of his vocals. It’s not a destructive mindset for Adam, but as the years pass on the tour, some in the crowd might feel short-changed by hearing tired vocals.

“Who Wants to Live Forever” is another standout on the record. Adam dedicates it to those unfortunately caught up in the Orlando shooting earlier in the year, and this live performance is taken from the night before the concert. You can hear the emotion in his vocals, especially as he reaches the chorus.

As well as a plethora of the band’s hits, they found room for two solo tracks by their beloved late frontman in the shape of “Love Kills” and “I Was Born to Love You”. Just to let the crowd and Freddie know that he is remembered and his legacy lives on even though he is no longer on stage.

There are bad points to the record, and I was highly disappointed that two of their most iconic tracks were shortened to just over two minutes. I mean, how on earth can “Bohemian Rhapsody” (Voted the best song of all time.) and “We Are the Champions” be given such short shrift and disservice? I find this insulting. I looked forward to hearing them the most and was left cold by the time they were performed.

Song recommendations: “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “We are the Champions”, “Don’t Stop Me Now”.

7/10