The Queen Extravaganza is an amazing touring show designed to take the glorious music and the live experience of rock legends Queen to old and new fans in cities across the US and Canada. Behind the show is Queen’s drummer Roger Taylor, a man whose talents as a writer and musician have inspired many musical legends of today. Taylor’s idea was to the create the ultimate Queen concert experience that particularly celebrates the band’s music and not so much be a band that ‘imitates’ Queen but performs the music of the band in the best way possible.
Appearing at Casino New Brunswick on Friday night, I had seen them the last time they rolled through town and wasn’t about to miss another opportunity to do it again. I had seen vocalist Marc Martel’s viral YouTube video that garnered him global attention for his uncanny ability to sound like the late and storied frontman of Queen, Freddie Mercury. At times he even resembles him with certain facial features and movements as well.
Marc Martel – Queen Extravaganza – 09/06/13
Now the sound in the Casino is usually top notch, but I did notice a difference with this show versus the last performance and although I preferred the first, this was still an amazing.
Belting out classics like “Killer Queen” and “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”, mixing in the more obscure “Lazy On A Sunday Afternoon”, the band had the crowd fully engrossed in the show from the beginning. Martel once again spoke to the crowd in both English and French, and chose to speak French to the crowd much more than last time. Audience participation was encouraged throughout the show, getting the crowd clapping during a fantastic rendition of Radio Ga-Ga, and having the crowd sing along in parts of songs. “Bohemian Rhapsody”, brought a roar from the small and mighty crowd, which was interspersed with video footage from the actual Queen days, leaving the harmonies up to them, and the piano playing and main vocals up to Marc Martel…with band coming to a climactic close.
Queen’s “The Show Must Go On”, having never performed it live themselves, was a resounding success filling the room with incredible vocals and musicianship. Drummer Tyler Warren performed an entertaining drum solos part way through the show, and Jennifer Espinoza shared vocals with Martel during a lively rendition of Under Pressure with Espinoza performing the Bowie portions of the song.
Marc Martel – Queen Extravaganza – 09/06/13
Once again it was fantastic to hear some of these songs performed so incredibly well, like “Another One Bites The Dust”, “Fat Bottom Girls”, and “I Want To Break Free”. Ending the night with one of the most recognizable songs from the band, and the song that got Martel so much recognition, “Somebody To Love” with an incredible vocal performance (Martel seemed to labour slightly through parts that were a breeze that last time, but was still outstanding). A three song encore of “Tie Your Mother Down”, “We Will Rock You”, and “We Are The Champions” brought the evening, another great rock and roll evening, to a close.
Once again I’d like to thank PPRL, Evenko, and Casino NB for a wonderful night of great rock & roll music!
It was a great show, I totally agree. I would have liked to see them have some new songs in the set list. I have to admit, that I was a bit disappointed in the sound, I had heard that the Casino was 2nd to none but I found it to be not so great. It didn’t ruin the show but I expected better audio quality.