10-14-1993 – Milwaukee Sentinel – Milwaukee, WI

Brian May’s guitar work, vocals are strong, clear
In their heyday, Queen was one of the largest arena rock bands ever. One facet of its trademark bombast was Brian May’s simply huge guitar sound.

With the death of vocalist Freddie Mercury, Queen is no more. May has since struck out with a new band of his own.

Fortunately, May’s style hasn’t much changed. Wednesday’s nearly SRO crowd at the Modjeska Theater was treated to an evening of new songs driven by May’s stellar guitar with a few old favorites thrown into the mix.

Opening the show with “Back to the Light,” May filled the theater with his powerful leads.

Superlative fret work is to be expected from a professional of May’s caliber.

However, his vocals rarely emphasized during his Queen years proved to be a pleasant surprise. May seemed to approach his singing in the same manner he plays the guitar strong and clear.

May also could tone the show down when he needed to. Sitting alone at center stage with an acoustic guitar, he sang the delicate vocals to the Queen classic “Love of My Life.”

Guitar hero wannabe Gary Hoey opened the show with a half hour of interesting solo guitar work played over a backing track. While Hoey was a superb technical musician, he seems to lack much in the way of feel. In short, he played the blues about as well as a white guy playing over a recorded tape can play.