I’ve seen my fair share of Queen tribute bands, but nothing like the Queen Extravaganza which visited The Royal Concert Hall on Sunday.
I mean that in a good way. Not a dodgy wig, or white jeans and yellow jacket in sight as this ultimate tribute took to the stage. You could say that they are the official ‘bands band’ as the group were originally produced by none other than Queen drummer Roger Taylor and fellow band member Brian May.
The idea was specially designed to enable new fans, together with fans of old, to celebrate the music of Queen. As they don’t dress like Queen it seems to take the audience around three songs to get what they are and get warmed up.
Once they get past the fact there’s two lead singers and not anybody trying to be any of the band that they seem to realise how like Queen they sound they really start to get into it
The show features more than 20 Queen classics drawn from the band’s biggest hits: “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Another One Bites the Dust,” “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” “Under Pressure,” “We Will Rock You” “We Are the Champions,” “A Kind of Magic,” “Radio Ga Ga,” “Somebody to Love,” and “Killer Queen” as well as other fan favourites.
The line up has changed since the first incarnation, with bass player François-Olivier Doyon being the only remaining original member. The band is made up of talented musicians from all over the globe. Sharing lead vocals for this tour are Brazilian Alirio Netto and the UK’s own Gareth Taylor from Gareth Taylor and The Queenies. Freddie Mercury had such an instantly recognisable voice, but these two almost compete against each other in a game of vocal gymnastics to deliver the songs as they were meant to be heard.
One minute you think “Oh he’s the better singer”, then you’re “no, he’s the better singer”. Of course it’s not a competition, and they both deliver a fantastic performance. From another non lookalike Queen Tribute band, Gareth does sound the most like Freddie, and has in the past sang for the Freddie Mercury official birthday party gig in Montreal.
Of the Queen Extravaganza, Roger Taylor has said
“These guys are incredible gifted musicians in their own right and certainly aren’t just dressing up in costumes and pretending to be Queen. They actually play the music better than we ever did. Or, maybe ‘better’ isn’t the right word. But they play a more perfect version, with a more polished sound, whereas we always used to go off and play around with the music when we were in concert.”
Capturing the fabled design and excitement of Queen’s legendary live performances, the late, great Mark Fisher created the staging and production elements for The Queen Extravaganza, but rather than be a reproduction of a live concert, the group try to recreate the iconic sound of the best selling albums, and succeed.
I can’t think of a negative thing to say about them. The bloke next to me picked up on the fact that one guitar player was wearing walking boots and the rest had black boots. If that’s the worst thing someone can say, you know it’s damn good.
For further tour dates and more details visit: https://www.queenonline.com/quex
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