I'm clearly in a minority of 1. Queen with Adam L content

EricTheWeary

George was a very obvious choice at the time - he had the status ( including being known in the US), he was known as a big Queen fan, he did the best performance at the Mercury tribute and he had that mix of camp and seriousness. Queen balanced a lot of elements and Rogers and Lambert only really play to some of those.
In interview when May names his favourite guitarists they are fairly straight blues rock - Hendrix, Gallagher, Angus Young - so a straight forward blues rock project with Rogers could have been great and it had started at the Strat Pack which was basically that.

boogieman

Seeing as how 50% of the Queen sound is Brian May, I don't have a problem with him carrying on doing the same material and playing out as Queen. I wonder if we'd be having the same conversation if Freddie was alive and they'd replaced the guitarist?

I watched it and thought it was pretty good. Lambert isn't Freddie, but then nobody else is either. He made a good job of the songs, he's got a good voice, he put enough variety into it so it didn't sound like karaoke and the fans obviously enjoyed it. Fair play to him.

Jalapeno

boogieman said:

Seeing as how 50% of the Queen sound is Brian May, I don't have a problem with him carrying on doing the same material and playing out as Queen. I wonder if we'd be having the same conversation if Freddie was alive and they'd replaced the guitarist?

I watched it and thought it was pretty good. Lambert isn't Freddie, but then nobody else is either. He made a good job of the songs, he's got a good voice, he put enough variety into it so it didn't sound like karaoke and the fans obviously enjoyed it. Fair play to him.

This, spot on !

bingefeller

chillidoggy said:

Van Halen carried on quite nicely without David Lee Roth. Mind you, Sammy Hagar never wore those leather chaps with the cut-out arsecheeks, I just don't think he had the same tight buns as Dave.

I know!  Sammy is a bit older than DLR and DLR is quite fit so he can get away with them.

Adam Lambert does has a nice Rob Halford thing going on with the leather and studs....

EricTheWeary

I think Queen overlooked the obvious choice

Majorscale

Perhaps a better choice would be Mika - don't laugh, he has the vocal range, is classically trained on piano, is a queen fan and just camp enough!

monquixote

People grumbling about Adam Lambert should think themselves lucky the plan for Queen to tour with Robbie Williams didn't come off. Now that would have been a travesty.

dafuzz

This is Marc Martel bloke I was talking about earlier:



Tbh all I want is a passable Freddie impression, not some parading peacock trying to bring his own stamp to the classic songs, hence he gets my vote over Adam anyday

Thought George Michael was good also though, but only for that one song - not sure he could've handled the rockier songs. Guess we'll never know

ICBM

Majorscale said:

Perhaps a better choice would be Mika - don't laugh, he has the vocal range, is classically trained on piano, is a queen fan and just camp enough!

Agreed.

monquixote said:

People grumbling about Adam Lambert should think themselves lucky the plan for Queen to tour with Robbie Williams didn't come off. Now that would have been a travesty.

Disagreed.

Bogwhoppit

Dr Feelgood is another good example.

Philly_Q

Majorscale said:

Perhaps a better choice would be Mika - don't laugh, he has the vocal range, is classically trained on piano, is a queen fan and just camp enough!

Only just camp enough?  I think he's overqualified, in that department at least.

RocknRollDave

Paul Rodgers was too butch, Lambert is possibly too camp...truth is Freddie was actually sat more centrally between the two than I previously thought. This is the problem with trying to fill his boots.

ICBM

The problem for me is not the campness, it's that Adam Lambert was just too X-Factor. He didn't bring anything extra to it - any replacement for Freddie needs to be a powerful, charismatic personality in their own right, otherwise it just ends up like karaoke.

I didn't like Queen With Paul Rodgers just because I didn't think his voice and persona suited the music. (I love Free though.)

I liked George Michael.

I would probably have liked Robbie Williams - really. I like Robbie anyway, and I would have loved to hear May and Taylor playing some of *his* songs too - there are plenty that would fit. I'm not sure he has the vocal range for some of the songs - but perhaps that doesn't matter that much.

To me Queen with any new singer is not Queen. So the only way forward is to make it "Queen Plus …" which means picking someone who isn't a Freddie substitute, but an equal (or at least near) who fits with the band - almost certain someone who is already a major established star.

In my opinion!

Jalapeno

ICBM said:

To me Queen with any new singer is not Queen. So the only way forward is to make it "Queen Plus …" which means picking someone who isn't a Freddie substitute, but an equal (or at least near) who fits with the band - almost certain someone who is already a major established star.

In my opinion!

Which is precisely how they are being billed "Queen + Adam Lambert" ...

ICBM

Jalapeno said:

Which is precisely how they are being billed "Queen + Adam Lambert" …

But Adam Lambert is not a major established star, and not remotely equal to Queen.

I tried watching it again, just to see if I could see any redeeming qualities. No, sorry… it's just karaoke.

monquixote

ICBM said:

Jalapeno said:

Which is precisely how they are being billed "Queen + Adam Lambert" …

But Adam Lambert is not a major established star, and not remotely equal to Queen.

I tried watching it again, just to see if I could see any redeeming qualities. No, sorry… it's just karaoke.

While not anything close to equal in fame to Queen I think he is an established star at least in the US. Wikipedia suggests he's had a number one album and sold 2 million records. 

ICBM

monquixote said:

While not anything close to equal in fame to Queen I think he is an established star at least in the US. Wikipedia suggests he's had a number one album and sold 2 million records. 

Isn't he kind of like the American Darius? Didn't actually win X-Factor/American Idol/whatever show it was/had a hit single/sold some albums…

Maybe Darius should front Queen next.

holnrew

I wonder if his nationality is the issue? All the suggested alternatives are British...

Another thing to consider is how he gets on with the rest of the band, and how much they enjoy playing with him. It's not an obvious factor for the rest of us, but it's probably pretty important. They seem very comfortable together. Also it's going to introduce the music of Queen to a new generation, and I think that's great.

FelineGuitars

Marc Martell was impressive enough to land the Queen Extravaganza gig

I still feel that Adam Lambert let the show down by not giving 100% from the opening note - seemed to warm up as he went along.

Jalapeno

FelineGuitars said:

I still feel that Adam Lambert let the show down by not giving 100% from the opening note - seemed to warm up as he went along.

Spot. On.