Live Review: Queen + Adam Lambert

Ok - let's get the pink elephant out of the room. Queen will never be the same without Freddie Mercury. And no one, let alone an ex-American Idol runner-up will be able to replace him. That said, can Queen (well, half of Queen) and hired gun Adam Lambert deliver a wildly entertaining show?

You better believe it. Instead of diving into the obvious hits, Queen and Lambert kicked off with a brace of deep catalogue classics including Hammer To Fall, Tie Your Mother Down and the Metallica-approved Stone Cold Crazy. From the get-go, Lambert walked a fine line very well. He didn't try to be Mercury (he even took time out to state that no one should even bother trying), but his every posture and flamboyant costume change was a deliberate homage to the great fallen frontman. Lambert shone through a parade of hits - he brought the whimsy to Bicycle Race, was Elvis reborn in Crazy Little Thing Called Love, hit all the right bombastic notes on I Want It All and soared during the superb Who Wants To Live Forever.

But despite Lambert's commanding performance, the most poignant moments of the show were arguably those that didn't even include him. Roger Taylor singing A Kind Of Magic was great fun and Brian May's touching acoustic tribute to Mercury with Love Of My Life (which he also sang) was a stunning moment. And talking of May, he didn't miss a beat. While he was great on the pop-driven numbers he also delivered powerful riffs that made us remember this is a guy whose best mate is Tony Iommi (fun fact: May played on Black Sabbath's underrated Headless Cross LP!). The evening ended with the predictably awesome Bohemian Rhapsody chased by a We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions extravaganza.

From the inventive set through to the stunning laser light show and the band that flowed like a well-oiled machine, this was nothing less than a licence to entertain. Sure, the drum and guitar solos could have been dropped, and it's unclear why they need to include a Pink cover, but these are very minor faults. No doubt Mercury is looking down with pride at what his old bandmates are up to.