Live Review: One Night of Queen - Halle (Westf) 2012

Written by Daniela Vorndran Tuesday, 24 January 2012 19:56

Gerry Weber Event Centre, Halle (Westf.), Germany
22nd January 2012
One Night Of Queen

Obviously you can't go back in time to witness an original QUEEN show with Freddy Mercury at the front. Well, not quite actually. It is possible, though without all the physic mumbo jumbo and worrying about tachyons. Simply attend one of the "One Night Of Queen" homage with Freddy Mercury look-a-like Gary Mullen and his band The Works as we did on Sunday. What you will come to see there is an evening's worth of all the classic QUEEN hits you've come to enjoy and love, such as 'Bohemian Rhapsody' or 'We Are The Champions' to name but a few. Mullen and his band strive to deliver the "closest-to-real" experience there is. He sings like Mercury, dances like Mercury and looks very much like him. So if you're a QUEEN fan and you want to revive good old times, then you shouldn't miss out one of the shows.

Music & Performance
It was three years ago, when GARY MULLEN & THE WORKS, alias Gary Mullen (as Freddie Mercury), Davie Brockett (guitar), Billy Moffat (bass), Jonathan Evans (drums) and Malcolm Gentles (keyboard), rocked the event center. This time, they celebrated their last German show of the tour with about 1,1000 people in the sold-out hall before some show in UK will follow and then the band, that was founded ten years ago, will start a nine weeks lasting US tour. QUEEN and especially Freddie Mercury is a mythos. Not anyone had the chance to see Freddie on stage before he died in November 2011. Gary Mullen now raises the dead with his incarnation of one of the most important rock singers in the world. On stage, after his metamorphosis, he looks like Freddie in his designer jogging suit, dances like Freddie and (almost) sings like Freddie whose voice was climbing three octaves reaching falsetto even. Presenting two hours of the greatest QUEEN hits with the show “One Night Of Queen” you almost had the feeling the original was standing on stage. You really felt that Gary is QUEEN fan since he was a young child presenting a very close copy of the Rock idol when moving in his incomparable manner, using his micro stand as a phallus symbol preferably.



With the Line “We will Rock you”, the band entered the stage on this Sunday evening. And they rocked right from the start with ‘Tie your Mother down’ and ‘A Kind of Magic’, when Gary already pulled of his jacket. Soon, he screamed “we’ll get you up dancing” and latest for ‘Under Pressure’ anyone in the hall was standing up from the seats. ‘Another one bites the Dust’, “a song a little bit funky”, as Gary said, there was also time for a little bass solo, showing the abilities of Billy on his instrument. Gary returned to stage with bare torso, rocking the hall with ‘I want to break free’, welcomed with storming applause. With ‘Killer Queen’, the band offered “a song for all the ladies”. With a lucky face, Gary grabbed a red collar from a lady, wearing it for a while before he gave it back. When Davie played his guitar solo, you felt a bit like seeing Brian May on stage. With ‘Don’t stop me now’, the band left the stage for a little break. The five musicians returned with a ‘Hammer to fall’. Now, no one was sitting when they returned, anyone was dancing to ‘Keep yourself alive’ with a drum solo and ‘Fat bottomed Girls’. It got a bit calmer with ‘Love of my Life’, only supported by acoustic guitar, and ‘Who wants to live forever’ from the Highlander epos. And now you latest could hear that there was NOT Freddie standing on stage, Gary was vocally limited.



Wake up call afterwards with the Elvis Presley song ‘Jailhouse Rock’. With ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and ‘Radio GaGa’, two of QUEEN’s greatest hits followed, loudly sung by the audience. For another Elvis song, ‘Don’t be cruel’, Gary himself grabbed a guitar. Some crew members entered the stage to dance along, guess this was a joke for the last touring day. Gary thanked anyone for their “time and more important for their money” and bet farewell. But yes, you guess right, some big hits were still missing. With the QUEEN hymn ‘We Will Rock You’, the five guys returned, Gary being wrapped in a German flag. With ‘We are the Champions’ and ‘I want it all’, the evening, when QUEEN was coming back to live, found its end. After the show, you had the chance to meet and talk to the band. Very nice!

Setlist (unconfirmed)
01. Intro (We will Rock you)
02. Tie your Mother down
03. A Kind of Magic
04. Seven Seas of Rhye
05. Under Pressure
06. Somebody to love
07. You’re my best friend
08. Another one bites the Dust
09. I want to break free
10. Killer Queen
11. Don’t stop me now
---Break---
12. Hammer to fall
13. Keep yourself alive
14. Fat bottomed Girls
15. Love of my Life
16. Who wants to live forever
17. Jailhouse Rock (Elvis Presley Cover)
18. Bohemian Rhapsody
19. Radio GaGa
20. Don’t be cruel (Elvis Presley Cover)
---
21. We will rock you
22. We are the Champions
23. I want it all

Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Sound: 9
Light: 9
Total: 8.5 / 10



All pictures by Daniela Vorndran (http://www.vorndranphotography.com / http://www.black-cat-net.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/vorndranphotography / http://www.facebook.com/blackcatnet)