"Bohemian Rhapsody" has always been Queen's supreme show-stopper, and it was again Friday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. The slight difference was that the man singing the song has been dead for nearly 15 years, and thus could collaborate with the musicians onstage only via a vintage video clip.
Strange but true, a makeshift band calling itself Queen (technically Queen + Paul Rodgers) is touring America, sans Freddie Mercury. Original bassist John Deacon also steered clear, so it's guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor calling themselves Queen, which is akin to Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr reuniting as the Beatles. Actually it's worse, since that pair could stick to McCartney's material and come across as a reasonable facsimile.
Mercury was, arguably, the most irreplaceable frontman in rock history, a singular talent whose magnetism was as essential to Queen's appeal as the band's music. Rodgers, of Bad Company, Free and the Firm fame, is a capable vocalist, but having him step into Mercury's shoes is like asking Kid Rock to front the Jimi Hendrix Experience.
Rodgers made the best of an awful situation, wisely making no effort to match Mercury's flamboyance or piercing vocals. He stuck to what he knows: tossing and catching his microphone stand, pointing out pretty blondes in the crowd of 7,800 and singing in a gritty voice better suited for blues-rock than Queen's blend of testosterone anthems ("We Will Rock You"), synthed-up pop-rock ditties ("Radio Ga Ga") and geeky D&D epics ("Dragon Attack").
The group smartly opted not to include several signature Mercury tunes—"Killer Queen," "Bicycle Race" and "Somebody to Love"—instead filling out the set list with a few Bad Company songs (who would have expected "Can't Get Enough" to be the highlight of a Queen show?). But Rodgers did try his hand, disastrously, at "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and "Fat Bottomed Girls," stripping the former of its snappy pep and the latter of the delicious irony of a gay man singing about overweight female groupies.
Oddest of all on an odd night, virtually no mention of Mercury was made until he appeared onscreen for "Bohemian Rhapsody." Perhaps his ex-mates believed it better to pretend he never existed than to constantly remind fans of his absence. As if they could possibly forget.