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Watching American Idol Contestants Do Queen…


Raspbernie

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Got them on right now on the TV---we are three hours behind the east coast.....

"Somebody to Love" just finished up. Decent delivery, but a lot of bum notes---it's a hard song to do.

And you know what? You're absolutely right!! There's nobody like Freddie! I'm glad I was able to see Freddie sing live twice in concert...

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I, too, saw Freddie sing numerous times. Queen was one of my favorite bands for years and I saw them at least once every year starting with their U.S. debut opening for Mott the Hoople on Broadway.

Watching the Idol contestants attempt some of the songs was an eye-opener, for sure. By now, all of them have proven that they *can* sing. But I was surprised how often their pitch was suspect last night. I suppose it's due to the effortless vocal gymnastics that Freddie loved to dish out.

The amazing thing about Freddie is that he delivered every single vocal inflection live and then some, proving that he was definitely not relying on studio techniques to belt one out. More amazing is that he had an absolutely terrible overbite. You'd think that would negatively affect his singing. But it didn't.

One of the coolest things Freddie did was hook his vocal mike up to Brian May's echo machine and duet with himself in a vocal tour de force. If you saw him do that you know what I'm talking about.

Bernie

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Unfortunately, I never got to see Freddie perform with Queen. They only played Milwaukee twice "Back in the day" and as luck would have it I was out of town both times. crazy I still listen to Queen pretty often - If you haven't heard the entire CD, "Made In Heaven" which came out after Freddie died is excellent!

Last night was pretty painful to watch. I was actually surprised by how well Kelly did. I'm thinking that Ace is gone.

Tim

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I was also surprised that Simon was so out of touch with Queen (being from England and all)...he critized Inneuendo and said they never played it live because it wasn't a good song...they never played it live because Freddie died pretty close to the same year that album was released and they hadn't toured in years by then....that's why they never played it live!!!

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Ive seen Queen 4 times.My favorite tour was the News of the World Tour.

For The Idols to do Queen properly you really need a band with huge stacks and monstrous P.A.

Thats what made queen so awesome besides their great catalog of some of rocks greatest songs.

Bernie I have seen Freddie do his vocal with himself like Brian does on the guitar.Definetly amazing.My favorite front man of all time.

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I saw them twice, once in 1978 and again in 1980. Two great shows. I usually hate going to the big venues - the House of Blues is about as big as I want to go. But those shows were particularly good. I thought all of the idols were weak. Next week they get to butcher some Rod Stewart songs. Of course, in my opinion, Rod hasn't done a good song since 1973 (when he left Ronnie Wood, Kenny Jones, and Ronnie Lane). I hope one of the "idols" does "Stay With Me."

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Actually Early - I wish they were doing the songs of Rod Stewart, but I guess they are going to sing old "Standards" under the guidance of Rod. They will be choosing from the cover songs Rod has done on his last 4 CD's.

Last night wasn't a huge surprise - I thought Ace would be gone, but Bucky being eliminated wasn't a shock.

Tim

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My first year in college I was playing A Night at the Opera, Born to Run, and the debut albums of Eric Carmen, Boston, and Heart. I was all over the map. They tried to define my tastes and I simply replied, "good music", cool or not.

Seen Queen live, they're great. Whatever happened to bassist John Deacon? I've just read that he's retired from the music business and endorses the current touring line-up. He was a good bassist and besides writing Another one bites the dust, he also wrote You're My Best Friend". Those two sold a few.

Trivia: Queens logo comprises the bands birth signs, as designed by Freddie.

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Ah, Queen ... may be my all time favorite band.

Nobody sings those songs like Freddie but, overall I thought the Idols did a credible job unless they tried to mess with the original arrangement. The 2 gutsiest performances were Bohemian Rhapsody and Who Wants to Live Forever.

Referencing the above posts ...

Live, Freddie would use the echo when performing Now I'm Here. He also used it extensively when recording The Prophet Song.

John Deacon is probably the most unsung bass player in history. Take a listen to The Millionaire Waltz (which also contains one of my favorite Brian May orchestrations ... the other is the horn section in Good Company.

Finally, Brian May likely holds the record for the fastest guitar solo that contains melody for his work on Dead On Time.

Regards,

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Having the Idol contestants (and that's all they are or ever will be, 'cept for Kelly Clarkson) sing various Queen tunes is setting them all up for failure -- which, mind you, they all deserve (especially the one everyone assumes will win). The best part of AI is watching the initial cattle calls from the various markets. Now THAT'S entertainment.

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