Seraphiel´s blog: Queen in Prague

Queen in Prague at last. How many years has it been since I saw Roger and Brian? It makes me wonder, for it has been 21 years since I saw Roger walking down the pathwalk when collecting his award and 17 years since I shook hands with Brian. It has been an unbelievable passage of time during which so many things have happened – meeting Barbara, Phoebe, Jim and Kashmira – but only last night completed the circle when Queen performed in front of my eyes, twenty years later, united and although prevalently old and grey, still giving it their best. I used to be a great fan of Adam Lambert when he sang on American Idol several years ago. I watched the show just because of him and I admired the way he could mesmerize the audience with his high pitched, shrieking and rock voice that could break the glass in the windows. At that time, when he chose a duet with Queen, I suddenly knew he should have sung with the band, for he gave such a brilliant performance. It didn´t take long before I saw Queen announce the next tour would include Adam. For as a matter of fact, I´m good at predicting these things.

The opening of the gig started off little bit on a heavy side, with One Vision where the drums and voice and guitars were overwhelmingly loud. Two songs in, the music seemed to relax a bit more.
I knew what to expect from Adam, for I have seen him many times. He is young, shocking, unique and quite theatrical, so singing Killer Queen on a purple sofa wasn´t a big deal for him, while acting like one. Voice wise, he did sing great, though a little higher than what we are used to from Freddie, but then again, we are used to loads of different things from Freddie.
It was then, that my heart started pounding a lot faster, when Brian took to his stool in the centre of the protruding stage, grabbed a guitar and sang us one of the ballads. He took time to thank us all for being there, and also added we could sing this song together for Freddie. The big screen behind him showed him in several videos. There were moments when I just barely breathed, this one probably one of them. At the end of the song, Brian looked extremely touched by all the emotion that swept through the air, and wiped his tears.

It was also a huge surprise to see Roger Taylor singing two songs, one of which was Freddie´s „swan song“ These are the Days. I have always heard him as a backing voice, and although I knew he could sing, I barely ever heard him singing any of the songs to which Freddie gave a stamp. The old greying, bearded man, stood there, singing amazingly clearly and beautifully. For the first time I realized – how many great talents individual members of Queen actually had. They did sometimes stay in the shadow of the giant, to be fair. Saying that, I suddenly noticed the change in the structure of the show, so much different from what Freddie would have done. Of course they didn´t forget to have a separate 15 minute one man show – with Brian throwing in his guitar solo – and Roger drumming side by side with his son Rufus Tiger. Roger and Brian just needed this space, which they couldn´t generally use as much while performing with Freddie, where all his ideas of singing usually beat the rest. No doubt Freddie and his voice were the most important to the overall image of Queen – carrying the tune in every song – with instruments only underlining the Queen uniqueness. However, seeing Roger killing the drums like a God of revenge, it was quite an exciting sight to be presented with.
The band used many amazing technical effects, different coloured laser beams, light torches, smoke machines, firework style gold sparkling guns and colossal screens with very ambitious art designs accompanying each live sequence. There was also this enormous construction styled into a ship, with nose and stern on each side of the stage, from which Adam sang and tried to pump up the public.
The amazing effect gadget was a huge red circle hanging above the stage, which kept lifting up and down several times during the concert and from which shone thousands of red and green laser beams that pointed in hundreds of directions throughout the whole arena. For a while it looked almost like in a dark fosforescent jungle, with the beams resembling the sunlight breaking through the heavy darkness, giving it a magical feel.
The other member of the band was also Neil Fairclough, a friend of Suzanne and Andy, two of my good friends, who joined the band after Brian heard him playing his bass guitar so well. John Deacon has never participated on anything that Brian and Roger produced or tried to bring forth, and nobody has ever heard about him since. It is a pity...eventhough...one can quite understand his choice. Without Freddie there can´t be any Queen. It is quite true. But one question is –if Freddie is replaceable – and another question is, what would Freddie want? I´m sure he would definitely want them to go on and keep their music alive in every sense. I think he knew he could trust each one of them, and be sure they would never abuse their status in the band for the sole purpose of money gain. He knew he surrounded himself with peers who loved their music as much as he did and that all they´ll ever do will be done in regard to the fans. It is quite difficult matter to decide if Queen should have ceased doing what they are doing just because the King has left the throne. Sure, they never fully replaced him by another one, due to impossibility of the task itself. They only borrowed a new singer to fill up the gap, to show that Queen hasn´t died just yet, to spice it up, make it approachable to the young audience and prove it doesn´t have to end. The show must go on, as a genius once said.

That brings me back to the moment when Bohemian Rhapsody burst through the loud speakers and Adam´s face kept switching back to the big screen where Freddie sang away as if nothing has really changed. He sat behind his piano, next to the stage with real life Brian and Roger – and despite of the fact he was the one who didn´t exist in our reality – it was him– having the most powerful presence of all, allowing us to enter into his innermost world. The atmosphere at moments like these grew heavy and sad, as it reminded me (and I dare to say – to all of us) that this particular wound of missing Freddie, will never be healed, no matter how many years have passed, no matter how many people will try to bring back the good old times, no matter how many new faces will stand on the stage next to Roger and Brian. Some people simply remain irrepleacable after all, but it´s a good thing. It would be lot sadder if they were so easily substituted.
The eyes of thousands watched his every move as if for the last time....then, he disappeared into the darkness to the sound of thunderous applause. The applause he must have heard in heaven, I´m sure.

17.2.2015