Location: Cvetličarna / Ljubljana
Concert date: 15.04.2011
Attendance: 700
Ticket price: 20 €
Usually I’m not into checking out tribute bands. At least not when it comes to bands that are still “alive”. With Queen, sadly, we can’t see them live anymore. And the combo with Paul Rodgers is one of the most ill-judged things in the band’s history. Queen are Queen. Freddie and John Deacon are both irreplaceable parts of the Queen whole, and that’s how it should have stayed.
When the news came that one of the best impersonators out there, The Bohemians, were coming to Cvetličarna for the 40th anniversary of Queen’s founding, my ears pricked up. After what I heard (and of course saw) on their website, going to a show by a band praised even by Brian May and Roger Taylor was a no-brainer. The fact that in July 1986, because of certain obstacles (going off to the JLA, the Yugoslav army), I missed the planned Queen concert in Budapest is something I just have to live with. So here was a chance to experience at least a sliver of Queen magic.
The guys kick off the show straight away, no messing around, with a fast version of We Will Rock You. The song selection as such is killer, too. The singer is vocally right up there with the late Freddie. The guy doesn’t spare himself at all, he sings from the throat and gives it everything. When I went through their tour schedule after the show, I honestly couldn’t figure out how a throat can survive that many gigs. In the first half of the show the drummer covered for him nicely. He also handles the higher vocal parts in the original Queen, which are of course technically doubled as well. “John” and “Brian” are vocally decent too. Not like the originals, but still. The guitarist of course couldn’t do without the legendary “Red Special”, which those of you who are interested can buy on Brian May’s website. Of course there’s no point “looking” for the real Brian in his playing, but the guy did a more than excellent job. Don’t expect Brian’s softness, though in certain bits of songs he could have been a little less sloppy. Unlike the guitarist, the bassist played his part more than superbly. At moments he was almost more “Deaconesque” than John Deacon himself. From his body language to the playing itself. Excellent. The drummer did a superb job too. The playing, as well as the drum sound, was very close to what we’re used to with Roger Taylor. In the first half you could nicely hear the drummer’s singing, which is irreplaceable in the sound of the original Queen. A lot of people don’t know that the highest vocal parts (the falsettos) in Bohemian Rhapsody are sung by none other than Roger Taylor. Sadly, in the second half the sound engineer cranked the volume too high, which beefed up the bass guitar as a result. The drummer’s vocal parts took the hit, and couldn’t be heard as strongly as in the first half. A few minor slip-ups caused by the pre-recorded keyboards we’ll of course forgive the band and the sound guys. They probably can’t afford to bring Spike Edney along on keys. The Bohemians really did conjure up at least a sliver of Queen magic. Maybe someone in the crowd even saw the original Queen back in March 1979 at Hala Tivoli, but the vast majority of us had to settle for The Bohemians, and did so happily. Applause also goes to the promoter, who went to the trouble of bringing The Bohemians to Cvetličarna.
The crowd chanting for more says a lot about their “knowledge” of the Queen concert rhythm. Anyone who knows Queen even a little should know that We Will Rock You / We Are The Champions means the irrevocable end of the show. To these clueless fanatics I’d advise buying at least the DVD of Live at Wembley from 1986, if not more.
Setlist
01.We Will Rock You (fast version)
02.Tie Your Mother Down
03.Flash
04.Play the Game
05.Death On Two Legs
06.Killer Queen
07.Good Old Fashioned Loverboy
08.Bicycle Race
09.I’m In Love With My Car
10.Another One Bites The Dust
11.Don’t Stop Me Now
12.You’re My Best Friend
13.Somebody to Love
14.Save Me
15.Spread Your Wings
16.Keep Yourself Alive
17.Fat Bottomed Girls
18.Dreamers Ball
19.Crazy Little Thing Called Love
20.One Vision
21.Seven Seas Of Rhye
22.A Kind Of Magic
23.Under Pressure
24.Breakthru
25.I Want To Break Free
26.Now I’m Here
27.Brighton Rock
28.It’s A Hard Life
29.Bohemian Rhapsody
30.Hammer To Fall
31.I Want It All
32.Radio Ga Ga
33.We Will Rock You / We Are The Champions
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