Why Queen are boring live (in 2017)

I could understand them dropping SYW and It's Late if Adam had trouble singing them or if the band just felt it wasn't working either within the set list as a whole or they just weren't "feeling it" but that clearly is not the case based upon hearing the songs on YouTube. They worked spectacularly well in fact. So the question is why drop two songs from the tour that 1) was supposed to be part of celebrating the anniversary of the album they featured on and 2) were both released as singles? Why also did they decide to keep GDML? A song never released as a single anywhere in the world. Makes very little sense.

Crowd reaction seemed just fine for the songs. Online reaction from fans was very positive. So what prompted the change.

To me it seems obvious. Brian and Roger are too scared of their own deep body of work and cannot escape their safe zone of just playing hits and MOST recognizable songs. Hell they don't even play a wider selection of their other hits, just the same stuff that gets overplayed everywhere.

Brian and Roger have grown stale in their later years. They take no chances despite Brian's oft repeated claims of being "dangerous" live. It's a highwire act 2 feet from the ground with the biggest and softest cushion to protect them. Queen are, without question, predictable and boring. They offer nothing new live. Insisting on keeping Lambert's latest single in the set is at best baffling. The one time they did before with one of Adam's songs, Ghost Town, went down a storm with even Rolling Stone magazine singing it's praises and yet it was only played in South America and immediately forgotten when the tour left that continent.

For European fans hoping for the band to reinsert SYW and It's Late......do not hold your breath. You will get exactly the same stuff.

NOTW has plenty to offer in the live setting. SYW and It's Late are proven commodities. GDML seems to be right in Adam's wheelhouse especially in terms of sexuality. The fast version of WWRY seems like THE MOST OBVIOUS start to the show rather than the traditional slow version (which they play again in full at the end) and the oddly fitted in HTF. Sheer Heart Attack used to be a real mainstay in the set when Freddie was alive. SOTS could be worked in before or after the ridiculous and self masturbatory guitar solo. Etc etc.

Queen, unlike virtually any other band of their ilk, stick with the misguided idea that people (certainly not fans) cannot handle anything not on a greatest hits album. The Stones, Springsteen, and so on play virtually everything from their catalog. Deep album cuts, b sides, covers, you name it. Queen are either scared of, embarrassed of, or not confident enough in their own tried and true catalog.

Queen gave up on trying to please their own fanbase and clearly think little of the mindset of the mainstream audience.

"You'll get Bohemian Rhapsody for the millionth time and like it, suckers."

I understand your anger.

But I witnessed SYW and ITS LATE and roared like an idiot the whole show.

I had to enjoy it.

And for once (*after seeing them in person performing on Kimmel) I knew they'd "BROUGHT IT" ....maybe they're tired and afraid of messing them up?

I can't imagine why.

But yes. ..i understand your anger. It makes no sense at all.

Wish we knew

Great post Michael - can't argue with any of that.

Queen just have this carved in stone mentality. Some songs they will never NOT play.

Does LOML have to be performed? IWBTLY only gets played in Japan? Nonsense.

The Miracle, Made in Heaven (The latter being one of their biggest selling albums ever) get no love at all. Not long ago Brian spoke very highly of The Miracle (The song) and Adam would crush that one while giving the fans a great sing a long moment. TMLWKY was a big hit in Europe for both Brian AND Queen. Why not include that? YDFM would seemingly be something Adam would love to sing.

Point is Queen aren't getting any younger and there are STILL songs NEVER performed live by Queen. How many more opportunities do you realistically think they will have?

The problem is (from their point of view) 2/3s of the audience have never seen them before or maybe only once years ago, and only maybe 20% of the crowd and long term fans
Imagine turning up at a Beatles Concert and not hearing Sgt Pepper, or Hey Jude etc.... by the time the band are in the 60's - 70's you would want to be hearing what they were famous for no?

I do think they will bring back the NOTW tracks for the UK leg, as they do know we are a different crowd, and Adams track will have come and gone by then, so we shall see, but simply put the audience is mostly first timers or maybe once before.... very few in percentage terms have seen them dozens of times, the fan club is only about 20k people so do the math......

I agree with every sentence you wrote. What is the purpose of playing LOML in US where people don't get it and don't feel it and talk during the song? Somehow they were able to skip it in 1982. What is the purpose of playing IWTBF, the song that literally broke their career there. Couldn't they play something different in that situation? I understand they have to play hits in order to fill the venue. I would do the same. But is that really THAT hard to play TWO different songs which are less known? Actually when I'm looking at the setlist it's not that bad: Stone Cold Crazy, Bicycle Race, IILWMC, GDML, YTMBA (yeah, sort of). But as you said they play not a single song from the last 2 albums. Why Brian can't play Bijou like he did in 2008 instead of playing everytime almost exactly the same guitar solo? Bijou+Last Horizon+ 2,3 minutes of guitar impromptu. What was wrong with SYW and IL? There is sooo many great tracks on the last 3 albums which never got their chance. OK I can stand if they are ommiting songs from the 70s because they played those songs back then, but they never played most songs from The Miracle - MiH era.

I thought I would miss IL and SYW from NOTW but I didn't because the rest of the show is so beautiful! They performed those two songs very successfully in the first 9 shows and have never explained dropping them. I liked IL better than GDML but they have a special set for the latter. It will be interesting if they keep TF in the set list for Europe/UK. Michael is right on about everything except LOML because that is the official Freddie tribute!

Oops, Michael didn't say anything about dropping LOML. Sorry! Whatever they decide to do, it will be beautiful!

Keeping SYW should have been a no-brainer as to audience participation.

An odd idea perhaps, but fitting with the NOTW theme: have Adam sit on the piano while singing 'My Melancholy Blues'.

Playing it safe since hitting the stage in '06. As a fan, I'd have loved to hear Brian's guitar on 'Man on Fire', they could have thrown in snippets of 'Driven By You', and as for realistic Queen tracks, 'Innuendo', 'Let Me Live', 'Princes of the Universe', 'Ride The Wild Wind'.

We said our goodbyes on the tour three years ago, not expecting a return across the pond. Yes, we 'missed' not attending to a degree this time, but really don't feel like we 'missed' anything....if that makes sense.

I do like the opening with Frank breaking through the wall and looking around. Very cool opening.

Yes, it is an EPIC opening and guess I am one of the few who believes that the regular version of WWRY fits the robot looking around slowly than the fast version.

BTW the Queen show 2017 is anything but BORING. You have to experience it in person to appreciate it. You tubes and periscopes don't do it justice.

Michael, re:

>Brian and Roger have grown stale in their later years. They take no chances despite Brian's oft repeated claims of being "dangerous" live. It's a highwire act 2 feet from the ground with the biggest and softest cushion to protect them.

All that Brian and Roger are doing is simply pruning the hedges and maintaining the boarders. The easy option for them is to go out churning out the contents of the biggest selling albums of their careers - GH1, 2 & 3.

Why would they bother pushing themselves and setting up for a potential fall when the known quantity is so easy?

There's absolutely no need for *THEM* to do anything other than soak up the easy adulation that they are given just by simply announcing a show and people turning up who then say that they have ".....seen Queen live."

Whilst people still buy tickets to karaoke tribute acts that have a couple of original members and still imagine that they just might get to hear something that is particularly unrealistic given the band's history, those same band members will happily put that cash towards their house contents insurance policies and child maintenance / spousal / legal bill payments.

Queen were never dangerous. They WERE exciting, dramatic and highly dynamic.

I totally agree with you- in every way - but no one should be surprised by any of it.

I went to the Cleveland show and loved every minute of it, including Adam's delightful Killer Queen atop the robot, TWO FUX and Bicycle Race. I'll never know how much better it was with the FOUR original guys, but am more than satisfied that it is so spectacular right now!

SweetCaroline,

Are you:

1 - Adam's Mary?
2 - a 'fluffer' for Brian and / or Roger?
3 - someone without access to historic recordings of Queen (1972-1991)?

Freddie was non-stop action and was the whole show! I recently watched the Hungarian Rhapsody concert. I think it is more like the Brian May show now! Adam honors him and gives the spotlight to him more than Freddie did.