It has been nearly 35 years since Freddie Mercury passed away, and Saturday night felt like the Queen singer was alive again – maybe even reincarnated. Gary Mullen embodied the stage presence that Mercury had and even had the crowd go “Ay-Oh!” 

The show was full of classic Queen songs that have become so loved by many, like “Under Pressure,” “Another One Bites The Dust,” “We Will Rock You,” “Radio Ga Ga” and many more. 

Gary Mullen and The Works have been performing their Queen concert for over 20 years. They have performed in various countries and are known as one of the best tribute bands of Queen.

I was highly impressed with The Works. The drummer, Jon Halliwell, brought the thunder to the set. The deep percussion had me feeling the beat in my toes, especially during “We Will Rock You,” which was sped up slightly. Halliwell was on a raised stage that had steps so that Mullen could venture, and it even had lights underneath of it.

During “Bohemian Rhapsody,” the original soundtrack was played during the opera portion of the song, as that part is extremely hard to recreate live. The most recent success of this recreation I can think of is Benson Boone performing “Bohemian Rhapsody” with Brian May on the guitar at Coachella with a live band and operatic singers.

Mullen interacted with the crowd and had them laughing throughout. He came out into the crowd standing on a few seats, grabbing people’s hands, high fiving them, putting his arm around an usher and danced the entire time. Mullen encouraged the crowd to get up out of their seats.

“We will rest when we are dead,” Mullen said. 

I have been to many Luhrs shows, and I have to say out of all of them, this was the most lively I’ve seen the crowd. Everyone standing, clapping their hands, laughing and hollering – they were right, the show did go on.

Share