QUEEN EXTRAVAGANZA SNEAKS INTO CHICAGO AND BLOWS AWAY THE CROWD - REVIEW

Written 2 June 2012 / posted on brianmay.com

The Queen Extravaganza packed the Chicago's House of Blues last night, June 1st – despite there appearing to be no notice in the local papers either before or after the performance. Clearly this was a “word of mouth” and “Queen News” crowd – with but a few young folks in sight.

After a half-hour of warm-up vibrations stirred the mood of 1,350 stand-up fans, the band burst into full volume – but the special QE curtain wouldn't move! – and finally, after 45-seconds, the QE manager, who seemed to be having more and more fun as the evening progressed, yanked it down.

The interaction level among the 9 stage performers – all professionals – was quite high – whether it was dueling guitarists or 2/ 3/ 4 lead vocalists sharing a song. Audience participation, too, was real if slightly subdued by this somewhat older/ sophisticated crowd.

“The Show Must Go On” carried more energy than usual, as if to outweigh fans' memories of Freddie Mercury's defiance of fate. “Fat Bottomed Girls” caused an amazing degree of excitement to flow between audience and stage.

The individual stars uniformly shone, and each probably deserved a bit more musical space for appreciation of his or her unique vocal or instrumental contribution. The only criticism one might have of the show was that the 4 lead vocalists, more often than not, were overshadowed by the band. “Lead vocalists” indeed would be the right term here, as in this show just about everyone on stage joined in most, if not all, of the time on the songs.

In some ways, the evening seemed like one big party, with those on stage having at least as much fun as the crowd but doing their best to draw fans even deeper into the world of Queen. Is it OK to say that they seemed like very polite people? QE needs to return to Chicago – to a slightly larger venue.

Let me add a few more explicit words .... My sense is that the "classic" Queen concerts moved just slightly slower -- allowing fans to savor a voice, savor a guitar rift, savor a drum piece. With QE the instrumental line slightly overwhelmed the vocal line, and individual instrumentalists were slightly overwhelmed by those nearby. Some Queen songs call for a density of sound -- but many call for an appreciation of every single word or note.
A Chicago-area fan,
Robert Charles Powell