The power of “American Idol” as a maker of stars has long dimmed but many its alums continue to shine.
This past Saturday, two “American Idol” winners performed on the same night in Atlanta: season 4 winner Carrie Underwood at ATLive at Mercedes-Benz Stadium and season 11 winner and Georgia native Phillip Phillips at Center Stage three miles away.
Two days later, Queen+Adam Lambert graced a packed State Farm Arena for a trip through time and space that honored the incomparable late Queen singer Freddie Mercury while also showcasing Lambert’s own charismatic stage presence.
Lambert joined Queen more than a decade ago after meeting original guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor in 2009 on “American Idol.” It was a feel-good story that became a true friendship, reviving the group which has been selling out arenas and stadiums worldwide.
Robb Cohen for the Atlanta Journ
Robb Cohen for the Atlanta Journ
“I still feel so lucky and so honored to take the stage and sing this iconic music,” said Lambert partway through the concert between classic hits “Killer Queen” and “Don’t Stop Me Now.” “Just like all of you out there, I still have Freddie Mercury in my heart. We love Freddie, right? Let’s have this party for him!”
As the band did in 2019 the first time they performed at State Farm Arena, Queen resurrected Mercury on a video screen to sing a part of the achingly sad “Love Of My Life,” bringing a collective lump in the throat of the crowd. On a lighter note, right before encore, the audience ate up a classic video of 1980s era Mercury doing vocal improv that ended with an amusing epithet.
Over two plus hours, Queen and Lambert offered up almost every major song in the band’s catalog save for “You’re My Best Friend.” There was the thumping dance beat of “Another One Bites the Dust,” the 1950s-style chug of “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” the theatrical grandiosity of “The Show Must Go On,” and the pure goofiness of “Fat Bottomed Girls.”
Then there was “A Kind of Magic,” which highlighted both Lambert’s vocal dexterity and May’s still incredible guitar work.
Robb Cohen for the Atlanta Journ
Robb Cohen for the Atlanta Journ
Lambert wore six different outfits over the course of the evening, the first one perhaps the grandest: a silver costume that combined elements of a military uniform, a Bowie-style astronaut and a superhero. He traversed the stage, which included a long runway and an in-the-round center location, in six-inch heels with his signature glam strut. And his vocal riffs during “Tie Your Mother Down” were remarkably effortless.
But Lambert, 41, was happy to cede the stage at times to his elders who formed the band 53 years ago. Taylor, now at age 74, brought out an old-school drum solo after airing video of himself from the 1970s and slyly noting, “Who the hell was that young man?”
May, 76, roamed the stage with an air of supreme confidence and an occasional look of pure joy. At one point, he rose 50 feet in the air on top of a video screen of a planet, acting like the rock god (and PhD.-holding astrophysicist) that he is with an extended semi-improvised guitar solo. Throughout the concert, he played guitar riffs that the crowd has heard hundreds of time on the radio over the decades with impressively youthful vigor.
And for the pulsating encore of “We Will Rock You,” a reprise of “Radio Ga Ga” and “We are the Champions,” May amusingly donned an Atlanta t-shirt that appeared to have been purchased for $19.99 at a hotel gift shop.
RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com
RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com
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