The first concert that I ever attended was Queen with opener Thin Lizzy at Madison Square Garden in February, 1977. This show in March, 2006 at the Nassau Coliseum was during a period when the remaining members of Queen were still trying to figure out a path to continue on as a band without the irreplaceable Freddie Mercury. Vocally Paul Rodgers and Freddie Mercury could not be further apart, but Rodgers is a great vocalist in his own right and on this night the collaboration with Queen worked, although not as Queen purists might have liked. I had taken my son, who was eleven at the time, with me to the Coliseum and I remember having had enjoyed the concert. The only thing that I specifically recall from that evening was that about midway during the performance, a black grand piano appeared from beneath the stage before Paul Rodgers played a Bad Company tune. In later years, Queen would move on from Paul Rodgers and Adam Lambert ultimately was seen to be the better fit as the Queen frontman. I have not seen Queen with Adam Lambert other than a random television appearance, but I know people who have seen them perform live and loved it. Having had seen the original band with Freddie Mercury several times before his untimely passing, I have never had the urge to see Queen again after the Paul Rodgers tour. Rodgers and Queen did put out at least one set of original music that somehow made it into my CD collection; if was interesting, not horrible, but a pale imitation of those early iconic Queen albums.

Tie Your Mother Down

Rock on!

GQ