One Night of Queen

Last night the boyfriend and I hopped on the 7:30 pm ferry and went across the river to see a show. At one point, before we moved, I spent some time researching places to go and things to do in New Orleans. That led me to the House of Blues, which led me to their concert calendar for the month of February. Something stood out, on Sunday the 21st, called "An Evening with One Night of Queen." I glanced over it, but decided to look it up anyway. And just as I thought, it was indeed a Queen cover band.

Now, normally I wouldn't even consider seeing a cover band over the real thing. But seeing as how that isn't exactly possible (R.I.P. Freddie Mercury)... I thought, "why not?"

His name is Gary Mullen, and he formed what is called a "Queen tribute band." He had great reviews and his YouTube videos were a lot of fun to watch so I had high expectations. And you know what? I was not disappointed. The man really engaged and entertained the crowd, he has a fantastic voice (with a remarkable resemblance to Freddie Mercury's), and he and his band really did the songs justice! I would highly recommend them to any Queen fan. I appreciated two things: one, that the songs were performed as they were originally. No surprise creative interpretations anywhere. And, they didn't pretend to be Queen, and Gary Mullen didn't pretend to be Freddie Mercury, or anything else equally blasphemous. They introduced themselves as who they are, and simply played Queen songs. Gary Mullen was dressed for the part, but I think everyone appreciated the effect.

My only complaint? They didn't play my favorite song (I Want to Break Free). BOO! Oh well. Here are some photos and videos from the show:




I apologize for the sound quality of these videos, but, what can I say? I don't own professional equipment, you know that. And it was loud as hell in there.

Clip from Bohemian Rhapsody.



Another clip from Bohemian Rhapsody.

After the show ended, the audience of
course demanded an encore.