10-14-1993 – Milwaukee Journal – Milwaukee, WI
Guitarist May tries a bit too hard
Skeptics routinely branded Queen with adjectives like “overblown,” “bombastic” and “excessive” during the English rock band’s reign from the mid- ’70s to the mid-’80s.
To which Queen fans would invariably respond “Yeah . . . So what?”
They had a point. As bloated as the band’s music could be, there was something perversely likable about symphonic tunes like “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “We Will Rock You,” and “We Are the Champions.”
Ex-Queen guitarist Brian May tried to reclaim that grandiose magic in a two-hour concert Wednesday night at the Modjeska Theater. The task proved easier said than done.
Accustomed to playing huge arenas with Queen (and with Guns N’ Roses, with whom he toured with as an opening act earlier this year), May brought along enough lights and sound to fill the Houston Astrodome. But trying to squeeze it all into the smallish Modjeska simply didn’t work: The dazzling lighting quickly turned into sensory overload, and the muddy acoustics of his six-piece band buried May’s fragile voice and his majestic guitar.
As a result, the show worked best whenever May toned things down, such as the piano-driven intro of “Too Much Love Will Kill You” (from his new debut solo album), or his bluesy ode to John Lennon, or the folky crowd sing-along to Queen’s “Love of My Life,” which he dedicated to Queen vocalist Freddie Mercury, who died of AIDS in 1991.
But subtle moments were at a premium. May tried too hard to blow the roof off the theater during Queen classics like “Tie Your Mother Down,” “Now I’m Here” and the finale to “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Cozy Powell subjected fans to a long and histrionic drum solo. And scantily- clad background singer/dancers Cathy Porter and Shelley Preston gave the show the sleazy air of a strip club.
Would-be guitar hero Gary Hoey opened the show a half- hour late and on a strange note: In place of a band, he performed to a pre-taped rhythm section.
Although technically impressive, Hoey had nothing original to say in his windy solos. His by-the-book remake of the 1973 Focus hit “Hocus Pocus” was especially pointless.
