When I heard Queen + Adam Lambert were releasing alive album, I was quite excited. I had seen them live together and thought it was a wonderful show. They were here in Charlotte back on August 23, 2019 and you can read about it HERE. Sadly, this show wasn’t part of this release. But there were many others as the band chose from over 200 shows to come up with the 22 song set. The release came in both the CD and a Blu-Ray with the actual clips from the shows they used including the Fire Fight Australia appearance where they performed the full Queen set from 1985’s Live Aid and yes, that included the famous “Ay-Oh” actually done by Freddie.
The CD is missing two tracks that you only get on the Blu-Ray and those are the “Drum Battle” and the Brian May Guitar Solo / “Last Horizon”. The “Drum Battle” was really awesome because Roger was dueling with his son, Rufus Tiger Taylor. And Tiger is a pretty great drummer in his own right. What a proud moment that must be for Roger. The Brian May guitar solo was similar to what I saw at my show, but the difference was instead of riding an asteroid into the rafters, Brian was being lifted in the palm of the hand of the robot from ‘News of the World’.
I listened to the CD a few times and I watched the Blu-Ray and I have to say I really enjoy the video the best because the show is very visual and a much more enjoyable listen. It could also be because on “Fat Bottom Girls” the Dallas Cowboy’s Cheerleaders came out for the song…I’m just sayin’.
There were also a lot of great vocal moments as well for Adam Lambert. He really does an amazing job with the song “Love Kills – The Ballad”. Almost perfection. I do love his duet with Roger when they do “Under Pressure” with Roger taking David Bowie’s part and Adam doing Freddie of course. And Adam shines on “Who Wants to Live Forever” where he dedicated the song to the people that lost their lives the night before the Orlando Club shooting from a few years back. There are not too many people that have the range of Freddie, but Adam can hold his own vocally.
Brian May even shines outside of his guitar solo as every song solo he does sounds just as good as when he recorded it for the song. The man can still play. One of the special moments for him in the set is when he sits down with his 12 string acoustic and sings “Love of My Life”. Well singing isn’t the right word as the crowd does so much of the singing but when he does sing it is great. They end that song with Freddie on the screen singing with him. And this is why the Blu-Ray is better than the CD as you get to see these golden nuggets.
Speaking of the crowd. They sing along to every song and every word and seem to be enjoying themselves immensely. And what is cool is to see the age range of the people in the audience. There are so many young people singing every word. It is really cool and shows how timeless the Queen catalog really is.
If you were on the fence about getting this, get off that fence and pick up a copy. Queen and Adam Lambert go together great. Adam isn’t being Freddie, he is honoring him and this music. Queen is keeping alive the music the fans want to hear and there is nothing wrong with that. Even though it isn’t the show I saw, it is a representation of that show and brings back a lot of great memories from it so I thoroughly enjoyed this set. Personally, I’m just glad to get something with Adam in it as he deserves to have a Queen album. I will give this a 4.5 out of 5.0 Stars. It isn’t perfect because I think they should have made the set a 2 CD set and put everything on it, but that is still a minor point.
2 Loud 2 Old Music 
I listened to it today on Spotify and Lambert is f…. good. Seen a lot of songs are from their Aussie gig. The Show Must Go On gave me goosebumps
LikeLiked by 1 person
When I saw them 2 years ago, goosebumps happened throughout the show.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Adam Lambert is a gift from the music heavens and one of my favorite ‘American Idol’ contestants ever! He fits in perfectly with Roger and Brian. The setlist looks great; I wish they had “I’m in Love With My Car” as well, but it is what it is. You put “Live Kills – The Ballad” instead of “Love Kills – The Ballad.” You also spelled Freddie’s name wrong here, “included the famous “Ay-Oh” actually done by Freddy.” Sorry, errors like that are my pet peeve, don’t hate me! Other than that, great review John!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks. I will go update.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have not spent the time with this one as much as I should have yet John. From the few times I did listen to it,(I bought it on iTunes ) it sounded awesome as Lambert does his own deal with Fred’s vocals which was smart and not just try to be Mercury 2.0 which you could never do anyways…
Great read and fair score.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re so lucky to have gotten to see that show! Man I didslike when they leave tracks off – I know it’s to get you to buy both the album and the video, but still. Especially worse is when they re-release it with those tracks intact… gah. Just release the whole thing!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Luckily this CD and DVD were a set, but yes, release the whole dang thing. Don’t try and milk me for more money later.
LikeLike
I had a friend to go see this show…he said it was great and he is critical and a big Mercury fan. I’ll go if I ever get the chance again.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I hope you get the opportunity, so worth it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Love they are keeping the mus8c alive. Have not seen them but hopefully they’ll keep it going and come my way. Nice job!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I hope we will get to see them again. I would go one more time.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I wonder if the Japanese CD has the two bonus tracks. I’ll check and report back.
LikeLiked by 1 person
No bonus tracks on the Japanese, drat. They do have one that comes with a poster.
Sounds like I need this one! Unfortunately, thanks to Deke, I also need the Montreal one which I thought I had!
LikeLiked by 1 person
That was out goal. To make you want both 😂
LikeLiked by 1 person
See I knew it was a setup.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Great review! I was lucky to have seen them live some years back too and they were phenomenal. No one can replace Freddie, but Adam Lambert really does hold his own. I’m obsessed with this album, especially his rendition of I Was Born to Love You!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hmmm… I don’t know, I kind of like the idea of leaving the drum and guitar solos off of the CD. I find those to be a better visual show than an audio one. Sounds like an awesome set. I have yet to hear this version of Queen. Good place to start?
LikeLiked by 2 people
I see what you mean, but at the same time I like the whole show. However, this one is really good on Blu-Ray as it is a very visual show. Worth checking out.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Will do!
LikeLiked by 1 person