Queen Extravaganza, the only official Queen tribute band, with musicians hand-picked by Roger Taylor and a show produced by the original Queen stars, visted Hull’s Connexin Live on Friday 7th February, as part of a tour across the UK and Ireland celebrating the 50th anniversary of hit song, Bohemian Rhapsody. Lewis Paul Marrow went along to review the event for Yorkshire Coast Gigs.
The woman next to me launches from her seat and screams ‘We are keeping his music alive!’. A young man in front of me announces that this song will be his wrestling entrance music, and I clutch tight to a giant pint of beer as my seat shakes; not only is the audience here to ‘keep the music alive’ but they collectively clap their hands and stomp their feet, as if in ritual, to summon the presence of a joyous ghost.
It’s the broadest demographic of people I’ve ever seen at a gig, not only in age range but, as far as I could gather, musical taste. From ‘I’ve been a fan for 50 years’ to ‘I loved that Center Parcs advert,’ Queen really do have a foothold in British popular culture, rivalled only by the Beatles. If there ever was a gig for everybody, this Extravaganza certainly could be a contender. This is very much what I call a ‘Soft gig’ – one where the audience tend to know exactly what they are getting and can be comfortable at all times. Which is clearly not a bad thing by any means; only that if, like me, you are not used to sitting down at gigs, or leaving a venue without being slightly deaf for a bit after, this one will be a step-change.
I’m usually far too hipster for air guitar and a dramatic fist raised triumphantly in the air as a minute-long solo sparks from the fingers of guitarist in a power stance, his fingers like a spider dancing on a tight rope. So admittedly as I made my way to my seat with my long suffering and ever positive wife, assuring myself that this review is for Queen fans who may be wondering if this show is worth the price of admission – I can assure you it is.
The concept of an ‘Extravaganza’ is an interesting one. It’s not a tribute act, no one wore a wig or a costume; it is a band performing covers of Queens greatest hits. It’s not strictly a stage show either, though it uses three large video screens to show vintage footage of Freddie and the gang, and the band chuckle knowingly through rehearsed jokes and skits. A big draw, particularly for a punk hipster like myself, is the musicianship. The drummer began hammering the kick pedal in the opening motif of ‘We Will Rock You’ and fired himself onto lead vocals for the Roger Taylor-penned album tracks, especially the hilarious ‘I’m in Love with my Car’.
‘When I’m holding your wheel
All I hear is your gear
When my hand’s on your grease gun
Oh, it’s like a disease, son’
It was with this performance that the show absolutely clicked for me – Brian May’s signature guitar wails, the lighting rig throws around more colors and combinations than the northern lights and, if a shared love of classic rock anthems is your bag, you won’t go far wrong. Everyone, audience, and myself included collectively agreed to just having a good old-fashioned sing along laugh riot. It was really lovely to see the future wrestling champion in the seat in front of me drag his mam and dad up to sing their hearts out to ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’, ‘I Want to Break Free’ and ‘Another One Bites the Dust’.
I was initially unaware the show has been in production since 2013, and in that time several accomplished musicians have joined the band at one stage or another. The continuous mainstays are the bass player Francois-Olivier Doyon (as a Bowie fan myself he did a fine job on ‘Under Pressure’) and the band Keyboardist and Music Director, Darren Reeves. The show is fronted by two vocalists both competing with each other for who can wear the most sequins on a jacket, and complimenting each other to emulate every voice inflection and every extended note and fist pump that Freddie expressed in his most famous performances.
The vocal performances are everything a Queen fan would want them to be. Every note in the 90 minutes sounds like the records, down to the minute detail. These are well rehearsed and pitch perfect versions of classic Queen songs, and of course, Bohemian Rhapsody was the closing number. A lot of the marketing mentions that the aim of the show is keeping the music alive in the hearts of fans, and, as the operatic ‘talking head’ bit in Bohemian Rhapsody is projected on the stage screens, and the living leave the stage, a couple of thousand people scream, sing, shout, dance and fall over each other in nostalgic joy
For more information on Queen Extravaganza and future tour dates, click here.
