One of the biggest rock tours in the music scene this year came in the form of Queen + Adam Lambert performing across North America on their Rhapsody Tour. Lambert has been touring with the band as the lead singer for 10 years now, substituting for late member Freddie Mercury (People). The combined act played two sold out night shows October 27th and 28th at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. I went to the show on October 28th, so I will be basing this review off of that performance.

First off, I want to start by saying that I am not a regular listener of Queen, but I do know and enjoy their more popular songs. Luckily for me, this performance included many of their more popular songs, such as “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “I Want It All,” “Under Pressure,” “Another One Bites the Dust,” and many more. This setlist was a positive highlight of the show as a casual listener, as I recognized the vast majority of the songs played and had fun singing along. They saved their most iconic songs, “We Will Rock You” and “We Are the Champions,” for the encore stage to finish out the concert on a high note. In addition to their popular songs, they also managed to work a few less popular songs into the setlist, specifically towards the middle of the concert when each of the three featured members, Brian May, Roger Taylor, and Lambert, had their solo stages. While this combination of songs was very enjoyable to a casual listener like me, I have also seen online commenters who are more avid Queen fans and wished they varied their setlist to include more fandom specific songs.

Another aspect of the performance that was enjoyable were the special effects and the props. The original setup of the main stage included a half-circle electronic screen that displayed cool robot animations on it to start the concert and then lifted up to reveal the main stage. The main stage also included many lights to highlight the different performers, which draws your focus in when there is a specific solo part for a performer, including some additional stage lights that occasionally beamed out into the audience, creating a cool view. In addition, machines were also set up to cover the main stage in fog, achieving a cool effect when combining with the colored lights during certain songs. If there was a prop of the show award, it would go to the sparkly, diamond-encrusted motorcycle that was raised onto the thrust stage during the performance of “Bicycle Race.” However, the real showstoppers of the night were the seven outfits that Lambert wore throughout the course of the 2.5 hour long concert, all of which were sparkly, statement pieces that perfectly matched his outgoing stage personality. Overall, the Queen + Adam Lambert concert was very enjoyable, and they put on an entertaining performance with a notable set and impressive special effects.