One Night Of Queen
Gary Mullen & The Works
Liverpool Empire
Saturday August 30, 2008
As a warm up for the upcoming Queen & Paul Rodgers tour, The Liverpool Empire theatre was packed to the rafters and ready to welcome back 2000’s Stars In Their Eyes winner, Gary Mullen, and his happy band of musicians. Were they set to be disappointed? Not likely. Mullen has to be the quintessential Mercury and Dave Brockett’s fabulous guitar work does nothing to minimise the genius of Brian May.
Strutting and parading in true Diva style, Mullen grabbed the audience by the scruff of the neck the moment the strains of One Vision exploded through the superb sound system and the haze of lights simply added to the experience. Seven Seas Of Rhye, Tear It Up and Tie Your Mother Down all followed and each was delivered with the precision and style other tribute acts can only dream of, whilst the pomp and tongue-in-cheek excellence of Fat Bottomed Girls almost stole the show.
The
big thing about this act though is that Mullen and his band clearly
enjoy themselves immensely. With the lead man being the only one even
attempting to simulate the great man’s persona, Brockett, drummer
Jonathan Evans – who’s superb solo during Keep Yourself
Alive is simply electrifying – Billy Moffat on Bass and Malcolm
Gentle on Keyboards, studiously avoid mimicry and instead stick to playing
brilliant music brilliantly.
Closing on We Will Rock You and We are The Champions, complete with Mullen draped in the ubiquitously massive Union Jack before swapping for robe and crown as God Save The Queen rang forth, everybody in the theatre stood in enraptured appreciation, ready for the gig in October though ever mindful of the fact that, sadly, the main man will not be there.
A truly wonderful night out that should not be missed
on any account.
Tour dates 2008 (Opens in a new browser window)
Chris High's review of 'One Night Of Queen' - September 2007
break the rules as I see fit.” - Chris High 2003.