In my general absence here as of late, I thought I'd offer a little something to the ongoing discussion about the current tour.
The negativity on this forum is not unexpected, but still incredibly disappointing to witness. A decade ago Queen fans were aching for any kind of collaboration between Brian and Roger, never mind full-scale tours where they are playing songs they haven't played in 30 years (or ever).
They aren't spring chickens anymore. Brian May is 68 next week. How many 68 year old musicians who understand the health issues and touring schedules of 68 year old musicians have the balls to cut other 68 year old musicians to shreds over their choices to play their music live as they want to? That's right - none. The self-appointed experts are exclusively those who haven't got a clue about the strain on one's health it is to do one nighters (travel, hotels, soundchecks, tech meetings, physio, etc.) at any age, never mind age 68. I do. I've done it. It's grueling. Most people are completely ignorant of the challenges and hardships one has to put themselves through for months at a time so that you can be entertained for those two hours ONCE.
A few years back Brian May played on Lady Gaga's song You And I. He soon joined her on a big awards show to perform the song, and immediately tens of thousands of kids are asking, "Daddy, who's the old guitar player?" And suddenly they're on YouTube watching Bohemian Rhapsody, perhaps for the first time. Brian May knows exactly what he's doing. He knows his days are limited, and he wants the kids to know who Queen are. The kids know who Lady Gaga is, and they know who Adam Lambert is. They are vessels to the next generation.
Those who found Paul Rodgers unfit for Queen's throne said he was too masculine, too bluesy, too different from what Queen once were. Now they have a flamboyant frontman who wears six outfits like Cher, has an incredible vocal range, and has his own approach to theatricality that smoothly blends into what Queen were all about. Comparing Adam Lambert (or anyone) to the timeless, unadulterated, irreplaceable genius of Freddie Mercury is pointless - but there is no rationale in arguing that he doesn't fit the profile. He does, perfectly. Equally pointless is turning it into an either/or boolean type equation where nobody else is deemed fit to sing Queen songs, full stop. This mentality is why people of one religion are able to smite those of another. At the risk of sounding pathetically mundane, can't we all just get along?
Sure, Lambert has messed up lyrics on a couple songs he has only sung a few times. So did Freddie Mercury, on songs he had sung dozens or hundreds of times. These guys are human, not machines. This really need not be explained to anyone who isn't fueled by confirmation bias in a time warp.
Osaka '76 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAlNy3t5eiQ#t=25
Stockholm '78 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNS35apx8xk#t=28
Buenos Aires '81 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZoHrbZNRIg#t=15
Birmingham '84 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JR5ng7ZmG5I#t=30
Bottom line? Shit happens. Move on.
Music is an experience of emotion. It is the soundtrack of our lives. Songs bring people back to their youth. Changing any one variable can translate to being an attack on one's memory or not being faithful to their past. Just take a deep breath and know that nobody's trying to trivialize that. But let's call a spade a spade. These feelings of having realized that 30 years have passed and that your dreams didn't come true and that you're 50-something and missed the boat are then externalized onto the music of your youth, that time of hopes and dreams - when we were kids when we were young and things seemed so perfect, you know - and the creators of said music are typecast into the listener's past and are almost not allowed to live in the present. Ask Journey fans who can't hear Steve Perry sing Don't Stop Believin' with his old mates anymore, or Yes fans who can't hear Jon Anderson do And You And I or Roundabout. Some people would prefer to see Brian and Roger call it a day because Freddie Mercury died. Fortunately they don't care about your opinion. Even if they did, they wouldn't have time for it. They have packed arenas to play to.
When one has run out of arguments (such as "all they play is the hits - boring!" now that they're doing a few obscure tunes), the last resort is to complain that the tempos of the tunes are too slow. These guys are in their 60s. Do you not realize that a 60-something year old body doesn't work like a 20-something year old body works? Some people can just never be pleased. I have news for you - the tempos of many of the tunes were once getting much too fast. Let Me Entertain You started to sound like a bear trapped in a cave high on angel dust. Oh, the silliness of youth. They've grown up now. Perspective sucks, doesn't it?
It's easy to throw stones from your glass house, and so much harder to cast your ego or preconceptions aside and simply be happy that these guys who formed a band you supposedly love are touring again. Do you think they're playing Now I'm Here, Stone Cold Crazy and Love Kills for the man on the street? No, you numbskulls. They're playing it for YOU - you know, the thousands of people who read forums like this and have been waiting 30 years for Queen to tour the US and play the old songs again. They're saying thanks for waiting for the circumstances to present themselves and for the right moment to arrive. And that moment is now. And you're all too stuck in the past and your own anger to notice. Instead of trying on a different coloured shirt, you're on setlist.fm changing every song of every show to "Queen cover," as if to imply that your definition of Queen is more valid than the people who formed the band. To quote the great Roger Taylor - I pity you. You suck.
So I echo the sentiments of those who say the naysayers tend to be unhappy people who want to drag happy and successful people down to the basement of life where they currently reside rather than seek their own happiness. I fear that many people will be kicking themselves one day for choosing to miss out on what may be the final tour of the remaining members of Queen. I don't expect to change anyone's mind, but stranger things have happened.
Contrary to what's happening in the real world where there are a ton of positive reviews of the tour (including from Rolling Stone, a magazine that has notoriously panned Queen as if it were a sport), there seems to be a need to provide something to complement the overwhelming "waaahhh, waaaahhhh, I'm a binary thinking closed minded idiot and can't perform a resurrection, therefore Lambert sucks and Bri and Rog should retire and/or die" attitude that tends to pervade places like this in times like this. So let the mudslinging, reflection, glee, and/or despair begin.
The Real Wizard