They Are the Champions

KILLER QUEEN: Still playing catch up on our mid-September travelogue. One of the highlights of the trip was getting to see the Queen reisidency at the MGM Grand.

I was lucky enough to get to see Queen with the fabulous Freddie Mercury a couple of times. Freddie was gone way too soon, but I'm glad guitarist Dr. Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor are still making music. 

On the evening in question, CJ was representing, in an old Queen T and some ridiculous jeans we found at Value Village a month or so ago. 

We took an Uber from R&R's place to the Vegas Strip. It was a BUSY Saturday night there. At the T-Mobile arena was a huge, sold out boxing (re)match: Lineal Middleweight World Champion Canelo Alvarez and WBC/WBA/IBO Middleweight World Champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin. We made our way through that crowd to the MGM, where our show was.

I'll have the kids tell you a bit more about the evening.

CJ is up first. ... 

From 1 September to 22 September of 2018, Queen + Adam Lambert (an act combining the classic British rock act Queen with modern-day pop singer Adam Lambert) performed several times at the Park Theater, a 5,200-seat theater located in MGM Resorts in Las Vegas, NV. We attended on the fifteenth of that month, which was their seventh concert at that residency, according to the residency's page on the MGM Resorts website.

Queen was supposed to start at 8 P.M, but, if I recall correctly, they did not start until later. Unfortunately, Setlist.fm's page on Queen's concert on 15 September 2018 does not have an actual setlist, so I'll have to go from memory. This was not my first time seeing Queen + Adam Lambert — I previously saw them at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, BC in February 2017. Noticeably, the more recent concert was shorter than the previous one I went to, likely because they played at the Park Theater for several nights that month, and likely didn't change their setlist that much.

Nevertheless, the show was very entertaining, and quite fun. The set seemed to be near-exclusively made of the band's radio hits from 45-30 years ago (examples: Another One Bites the Dust, Bohemian Rhapsody, Radio Gaga, We Are The Champions, We Will Rock You, etc.)

Adam Lambert, while no Freddie, had a wide and strong vocal range, certainly impressing the audience members (including myself.)

All in all, Queen + Adam Lambert's concert was worth going to.

OK, so I'm just gonna say, after reading CJ's review, that kid is hard to impress. He's seen waaaaaaaaaaay too many epic concerts in his 15 years (his first was David Bowie, as a one-year-old). 

The concert was phenomenal, IMHO.

Above, Adam Lambert wants to ride his bicycle. 

Below, Queen's laser game was strong.

Here's Annabelle's take on the event. ...

At the MGM Park Theater on the Las Vegas strip, Queen + Adam Lambert performed for a crowd of thousands, playing numerous hits and popular songs. Adam Lambert, though straight up saying he’s “No Freddie Mercury,” was an amazing singer and performer. He absolutely killed it on songs like "We Will Rock You," "Killer Queen," "We Are the Champions." and many more. The stage, compared to when we saw them at Rogers Arena for the first time, was stunning. It was a full production due to their extended residency, and it showed in the sheer amount of lights and screens. There was even room below the stage for a large model of the head of the robot from “News of the World,” also known as “Frank”.

The crowd was very excited and willing to participate, allowing for a lot of call and response or sing-along bits during the songs. This was especially apparent during Bohemian Rhapsody, for obvious reasons. The residency, now over, was quite the experience and much flashier compared to our previous concerts. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I sincerely hope I get to see Queen + Adam Lambert again.