A Little Taste Of QE From Brian's Channel

Zebonka12 wrote:
Yeah. I wouldn't mind so much on a song like that where they played it well, but on Bohemian Rhapsody the guy was so busy posing that he kept flubbing notes and his pacing. It's -the- solo of the night. I don't care what you do, get *that* one right. But no, he was busy consulting his hairdresser with head gestures or something.
"Yo Niaz - Niaz, yeah about that cut you gave me - how does it look?".

Ok, I'm gonna stick up for these guys here. As one of the finalists myself, I got to know them at the finals, and I saw them again the night of the AI show. Both Brian (the lefty) and Tristan (the "poser") are great guys, and great guitarists. Not just good, great! Yeah, they're both being a little over the top with this, but I think that's perfectly in the Queen spirit of things. It's obviously not meant to be a look-alike, exactly-like-Queen band, but a tribute to their music and legacy. And from what I've seen so far, this show is absolutely living up to that promise.

This is the Bo Rhap video I saw:
http://youtu.be/m4AWAL9R3II
I have no idea what you're talking about as far as Tristan missing notes in the solo due to over abundant posing. He hits every note in there, as far as I can hear. His phrasing is of course, a little different from Brian's, as will be any other guitarist you hear playing it. That's part of Brian's uniqueness and brilliance as a guitarist, that NOBODY else sounds just like him. But even though he's playing someone else's parts, Tristan has a right to sound a bit like himself, too.

Everyone's going to have different expectations of what they want to hear from a tribute show. Some will want it to be identical to the originals, some will want some new interpretation. And others will simply not like it no matter what, because it's not the real thing. But damn, for a night out to see a live show, I dont see how a Queen fan could be dissapointed with this band. I think they all really stepped up to the plate, in a BIG way, and pulled it off with flying colors. What they're doing here is NOT easy, and obviously, a lot of hard work and passion went into it. And I'm sure as the tour goes on, it will only get better.

Cheers,
Steve Z

^ what he said.

"Ok, I'm gonna stick up for these guys here"

*headdesk* I feel a true sadness for anyone who has to sit up and say 'X is a great musician and a great person!' just because they've met them. I know a guy who does Freddie, and I pretty much always butt out of any conversation when he's being mentioned, because my opinion is going to be coloured. I'm privy to all the behind the scenes stuff, I hear the rehearsals and the unguarded moments 'n' all of that. I think more highly of him that your average punter because I know what he's capable of outside of the format of a 2 set show. Unfortunately, there is no real point trying to intimate your impression of someone to a 3rd party who's never met them. It's meaningless and just sounds like a bit of a circlejerk.

Now that we have that out of the way - I guess I worded it wrong in the first place. I don't find that he missed any notes. He might've choked a bit much when he did that big Brian scrape, and the articulation of a couple of the ascending runs was not pleasant. I put it down to maybe a bit much zeal with the vibrato arm or something. There's hitting notes, and then there's the actual sound you're making - I'm being super picky with this, but I think they're both just as important. Plenty of us have probably done a solo where the notes were right but the articulation was out the window. It's no different than a singer who's on pitch but who's mispronouncing a vowel because they're out of their range, or whatnot. The note isn't everything; good expression can carry even a slightly mangled note.

I really have to say I think they're both great. He has a great tone in his fingers, but I just found some of the sounds in that solo to be unpleasant. Not horrible, just a bit off. It's the kind of thing I would not have even mentioned if he wasn't trying to do it at the same time as pitching for Garnier.

It's worth adding that if I heard something like this and Brian was playing, again - might not have even mentioned it. This is such a minor thing and was merely the example I chose to mention in response to the thread because it was one that I'd seen.

Honestly, he's a great player. You don't need to be defending him though, and it's embarrassing to see you try because music's not like that. You can't invalidate what someone else heard by saying 'I didn't hear that'.

I wouldn't have written such a long ass post but I felt the need to back up and correct what I said earlier and repeat the point that I did not feel it was some sort of huge messup or absolute trainwreck. It was a little bit of wobbly playing during a key point of a big song, and I didn't mean to make it sound like anything else.

Thanks for the thoughtful reply, Zebonka12. I would agree, yes, you worded it wrong in the first place, because what you're saying here is a far cry from what you said originally. I don't object in the least to what you've said here either, as that falls squarely in the realm of personal taste and opinion, of which there is neither wrong or right. My disagreement was with the implication that wrong notes were being played. Again, trying to play a Brian May solo to the point where it would be completely unrecognizable from Brian himself is such a tall order as to be basically futile. So any differences are bound to be both appreciated by some and not by others.

As far as "sticking up for them because I've met them," you're right, that alone is no basis for a defense, which is why I explained further that I disagreed with you that there were wrong notes played. I included the personal connection to show why I maybe felt a personal obligation to reply to your post (and others that seemed to agree with you, although I perhaps unfairly, only quoted you), but also to show that I do have a little more insight into these guy's abilities beyond just what a YouTube clip shows. In the end, does that matter to anyone else? Maybe not, but that's what discussion's all about, innit? :-)

Again, I tried out for this gig, I definitely wanted it (especially after getting all the way to the finals & playing for Roger!), but when I saw who got picked, I couldn't argue with those choices. And I'm really happy seeing how great the band and the show turned out to be.