Lambert ensures Queen see off pretenders to their throne
contemporaries Texas made it all look so easy, although the partisan home crowd undoubtedly helped. At this stage in their career, there are no excuses not to deliver a consistent hits bonanza and everything in their set, from the dustbowl twang of I Don’t Want a Lover via the ecstatic disco pop of Work it Out and Summer Son to a testifying Say What You Want and singalong Suspicious Minds, was slickly tooled for maximum festival impact and then delivered with gallus character by Sharleen Spiteri, who worked that catwalk with a consummate balance of star quality and down-to-earth relatability.
Spiteri was only bettered by Lambert for irreverent cheerleading charisma. He has been Queen’s post-freddie Mercury vocalist of choice for the past six years and he has succeeded where previous incumbents have failed in putting his own twist on their formidable catalogue with his remarkable vocal chops, capable of handling anything from a rock bawl to a tender croon.
Lambert has the camp extroversion of Mercury but is more overtly sexual, taking a devilish relish in his rendition of Killer Queen. He milked his musical theatre background for Bicycle Race and a towering Who Wants to Live Forever, while guitarist Brian May was perhaps mercifully drowned out by the crowd on his solo rendition of Loch Lomond.
This latter interlude was the only departure from the setlist of their current touring extravaganza, so the tedious drum battle and endless guitar solo remained.
As Lambert emerged in his Queenly finery for an encore of We Will Rock You and a cathartic We are the Champions, it was clear that this particular edition of TRNSMT was always going to be the Queen show.
FIONA SHEPHERD