I'd prefer to be kind, but...last night...

I'd prefer to be kind, but... given the topic, I'd have precious little to say at all. I regret to report that last night in Chicago, July 13, 2017, held a lot of disappointments for me, as never before.

First, some kudos: Video/graphics & stage presentation: Briliant. Bass & Bass drum sounds, Big, low & punchy. Good stuff.. Roger even broke a smile once or twice.

But then...

The songs all had "Dragon's Disease" (which I'm so naming in honor of one of the first tracks which succumbed to it on the last US tour): Almost every song sounded well below its "normal" tempo, presumably an effort to play with precision, but it robbed all the performances of live energy and came off metronomic and plodding. My piano teacher used to tell me similarly when my notes were learned, he'd push me to "now, push the tempo a little and have fun with it." When I think back to the "old days" of Queen when a lot of the songs were pushed faster, and I can't help but think that was the right choice for a live setting.

Two Fux Sux. Dull as dishwater, vapid, a letdown after a LONG awkward leadup "there's only one Freddie" (which has now become cringeworthy) and an eraser of any momentum built by the preceding selections.

Spread Your Wings and It's Late have seemingly been axed permanently. Color me bummed out. No, that's a lie. I was angry. I feel betrayed. Maybe I've got no leg to stand on here, but wasn't that part of the theme this time around? Maybe once they were placed in the set (at the launch of the tour), couldn't they just sort of "stick it out" and "go with 'em" for this leg of the tour?

Everything felt over-rehearsed, didn't flow very well, never really "looked like fun" on stage, "They got through it" - hurrah.

Brian's guitar seemed unusually LOW in the mix, and strangely, I seemed to hear his lower strings sustaining chords often more than the upper ones. Even the solos didn't have the usual "cut". (Were all the treble boosters working?) Now, this may have been a nuance of my seat about 2/3 the way back on the main floor, but 3 years ago I had no issue with the sound only a few rows away.... DID ANYONE ELSE in the audience experience this lack of treble/clarity from Brian's guitar last night? Please let me know...

I'll be eager to read others' comments on the shows they see on this tour... but I'm thinking that no matter what happens in the future, this will probably be the last time I buy a ticket to see them. :-(

I took 2 videos... a little shaky... but there are others on youtube.

I Want To Break Free (FIRST TIME PLAYED EVER IN CHICAGO)
https://youtu.be/K8_OmPRhGeQ

Get Down Make Love (IS IT ME OR DOES THIS NEED A FRIGGING ENDING???)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpIDQ2bkIMk

So back to (boring) setlist - almost same like in 2015 & 16
Was looking forward to IL & SYW
DISAPPOINTING

how can they not be bored of playing the same songs over and over again?

I was not impressed after watching a couple of the shows on video, I know nothing about music so this is just my opinion, they sounded more like a west end musical outfit with such an empty sound, like others have said the set list is boring as hell same o,l hat nothing new or exciting, Queen was such a tight unit playing live a real rock and roll band but Q+AL are not tight whatsoever Brian and Roger are more like backing musicians for a drag queen in a west end musical.

Freddie and Queen were outrageous and on the edge of your seat exciting back in the day, but would Brian allow Freddie to sing half those songs like a drag queen like AL does? I highly doubt it because each tour is getting worse, I cringed so much for how tacky they looked and sounded with that terrible song two fux it's all turning into the Adam Lambert band.

I hate being negative about Queen, I actually thought they were far more suited with Paul Rogers. Sorry if I've annoyed any Adam fans

[QUOTE] [b]Richard Orchard wrote:[/b]

how can they not be bored of playing the same songs over and over again?[/QUOTE]

It would of been great if they did something fresh maybe A Miracle melody or Innuendo melody of none hits etc something a bit unusual.

i would love to see later period hits.

playing fucking Headlong, I Can't Live With You, Berakthru and maybe Tie Your Mother Down in favor of I want To Break Free. That would be nice. That is..... if they aren't playing other NOTW numbers.

How quickly the talk of "new, exciting, live and dangerous..." dissipated into predictable and boring!. Why not drop the drum battle? Perhaps Adam is troubled trying to nail all the top notes in SYW and It's Late. Whilst Freddie frequently bypassed these, Adam really hasn't got that alternative as if he did, he probably would be pilloried. Notice too that their current renditions of I Want to Break Free (yawn) are down a tone from the original. Either way, this is so automated and lame.

Reviewing the set lists at setlist.fm tells me that these last two gigs were pretty short. Maybe it has to do with the venues and catwalk (used heavily for SYW) but then again...I'd have to sit down and check up on each venue: whether indoor or outdoor.

Hopefully the songs will come back with a brief period of rest

Very disappointing to see they've dropped IL and SYW especially in favour of IWTBF (if I never heard it again it wouldn't bother me). GDML and BR if anything could be cut in my opinion and they could surely add Sleeping on the Sidewalk when on the small stage. Easy to do and in keeping with the 40th anniversary. I get the feeling Brian and Roger are probably playing songs they can play in their sleep aka the safe option. Going to see them in Dublin so hope they reintroduce what the fans want to hear.

Oh god how I wish that I had not spent an hour on the phone getting tickets for Birmingham in December.I cant even get rid of them as I am in Disabled section.Its over for fucks sake they are old stale and boring.Queen was always Freddie they should have left it alone after the tribute concert.They can't even write some new songs for an album to tour with.Its not like I play much Queen these days ,I am far more into Muse,Wolf Alice,Placebo,etc.Old men lay down.

"Scripted" was the word I was searching for... it felt utterly scripted to the last detail. I never thought I'd ever feel that way about a Queen show (even with stand-in vocalists).

To be fair. ..SCRIPTED was a criticism heaved upon them in thEir successful years. They've never been a band for much improvisation. .....


Unfree furthest they'd gone was Freddie's vocal tete a tetes



They've always been a strictly rehearsed live band

Sorry to go on about this, but I would add 'Safe, boring and uninspired'. I recall the efforts (by Paul Rodgers perhaps?) to inject some life into the show with War Boys and Time to Shine. All that is needed in this case is playing the songs regularly to get them right, not cower away from them liked scared amateurs.

It might.be cause of time restrictions. Someone may need to use the arena the next day and they need to finish by a certain time to get ready to take down the stage and put up the next one. I know in Toronto nobody else is using the ACC till july 25th so hopefully they don't cut songs