[QUOTE] [b]YAFF wrote:[/b]
Oh he comes VERY close especially on "STL"... If Roger wanted a Freddie sound-a-like why didn't they use Gary Mullen or many others over the years...
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Are you referring to the STL audition video? He stuck close to the album version in the audition but in concert STL is probably the song that he sang the LEAST like Freddie. Here's the LA performance from June:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRR00rOJp6E
About the only similarities between that and Freddie is (1) Marc's voice still has a natural resemblance to Freddie's even when he's not deliberately trying to imitate -- but I don't think even a casual Queen fan would mistake his singing in that video for Freddie, and (2) no drastic changes were made to the song's melody.
Here's a performance with his own band from two weeks ago, where he's doing his own take on STL even more:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxzySKCGXlk
Soundwise, I think that's the major difference between Marc and Gary Mullen (and other Freddie impersonators). You can tell Marc not to imitate Freddie, to do his own thing with the song, and still get a great performance. If Gary Mullen were told the same thing -- to perform without imitating Freddie's singing style and stage moves -- would he be able do the song justice?
[QUOTE] [b]YAFF wrote:[/b]
when they saw that MM audition tape why not scoop him up for an audition for the real band right away instead of Lambert?
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That would have been way too soon. Even if they found out he could sing the Queen catalogue just fine, they'd have no idea how he'd do in front of an audience. (Even if they checked out Downhere concert vids, they'd have no idea how he'd do in front of a secular audience.) And they'd have no idea how he'd do as a frontman all by himself (in Downhere, he shares frontman duties with the other lead singer). With Adam Lambert, they had several American Idol performances (one where they played with him) and the AI and Glam Nation tours to evaluate him for Queen.
I actually don't have strong feelings about Marc singing with Queen+ vs QE. With QE there's potentially a greater possibility of doing more gigs over a longer period and more of Queen's deeper catalogue. With Queen+ there would be fewer gigs possibily over a shorter term and, unless they would do a very different set with Marc vs Adam Lambert, the songs will be greatest hits. So there are drawbacks to Queen+ vs QE.
But I would like to see Marc, Brian & Roger do a small set (3-5 songs) at least once to see what awesomeness could ensue. :-) Brian & Roger have said that they're open to occasionally dropping in to a QE gig, so maybe it can be done that way.
I can understand if Brian & Roger wouldn't want to play with Marc for a whole concert or tour because they genuinely feel that Adam Lambert (or someone else) is a better fit for Queen (even if I don't agree!). And I can understand if it's because it would be emotionally difficult because Marc is too similar to Freddie. But I really hope it's not because they're worried about becoming like Journey, or because Marc isn't famous enough like Lady Ga Ga or even Adam Lambert.
With all the money they have and respect they've earned (for their past achievements if not present ones), they don't need to do live gigs. That they still want to do live gigs is because they love to perform. And if they're doing it primarily for love, then I hope that their primary consideration for a singer is who would serve the music best and not such high-school things as what are people going to think? Will it make us look uncool? But he's not one of the popular kids! Maybe that's too much to ask! haha
AdamMethos