Queen of hearts
If you saw Freddie Mercury strutting around on stage, don't rub your eyes in disbelief. Entertaining Indian crowds to hits such as We Will Rock You and Bohemian Rhapsody, UK’s premier Queen tribute band, Rhapsody, were on a four-city Indian tour.
‘Rhapsody Is This The Real Queen’, is a spitting image of the 70s band, Queen. In all their flaring finery the band members, David, Alex, Jason, Paul the drummer and Paul the guitarist, first came together in 2005 out of a mutual admiration for all things Queen.
The name for the band was chosen after much deliberation, informs David, the bass guitarist. “The name Rhapsody is immediately synonymous with Queen’s greatest and best known song, Bohemian Rhapsody. And,‘Is This The Real Queen’ identifies our homage to one of the greatest rock bands in the world. The words ‘Is This The Real,’ are also the first four words in the lyrics of Bohemian Rhapsody”. The band that does not perform to backing tapes, enjoys playing live, to guarantee audience participation and maximise the Queen experience. Rhapsody’s performance is as much a visual delight as it is a listening one.
Lead singer Alex, who has Freddie Mercury’s big shoes to fill says, “It’s an honour and pleasure to play Freddie Mercury. But, it’s always a relief when the show gets over,” he laughs. Alex talks about his choice to emulate Freddie Mercury. “Ever since I was a little boy, I would sing along to each of their songs. I am a trained classical singer, but Queen taught me to sing. You can never tire of them, since they cover every genre of music from pop to rock and opera to funk. They are a combination of everything and that is why they’re such a challenge.”
Guitarist Paul feels that the point of a tribute band is to make everything accurate, right down to the last detail. “Everything from the way we look, to the way we play and sing has to sound exactly like them.” Drummer Paul adds, “But we try to be different too. We change our act from gig to gig, the way Queen did.” When asked about who has the best costumes in the band, the group is quick to gesture towards Alex. “Yes, I wear tight glittering trousers,” Alex smiles. There is also a change of costumes through out the act.
The band, that has found a huge following in UK, and are widely received in Switzerland, talk about their reception in India. “It has been fantastic,” says pianist Jason. “A reason why it becomes so important for tribute bands like ours to perform, is what people here kept saying — there is not enough rock in the country.” Guitarist Paul finds Indian audiences very open and curious, “After each show, we would have audiences rush to ask us questions. From 18-year-olds to elderly folks, everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.” But something that the entire band agrees on is, We Will Rock You and I Want To Break Free, seem to be India’s favourite Queen songs.” We did three encore performances of I Want To Break Free in Delhi. They really love that song here,” laughs Paul the drummer.
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