“Queen + Adam Lambert”.

Something that is bound to elicit a strong response from diehard Queen fans – most common one being that it is not Queen without the late Freddie Mercury.

Must admit that we felt the same way as well when approaching this headlining concert on Day 2 of the Singapore Grand Prix 2016.

Did American Idol Adam Lambert deserve to be on the same stage as Brian May and Roger Taylor? Would the whole show be one big karaoke session? Could this aggregation do justice to the memory of Freddie Mercury?

Well, at the end of a breath-taking two-hour concert, the answer to all these questions is YES!

Sure, inevitably it became one big singalong but one suspects that that would what it would have been, if Freddie was still alive so, in any case, so no issue there?

To be fair, Lambert was in excellent voice throughout and his campy appearance was an obvious tribute to Freddie, whilst it was clear that May and Taylor just wanted to rock out and do what they love.

But the star of the show was not Lambert or the remaining members but truly it was the MUSIC! The timeless Queen songs that were lovingly delivered by all concerned.

In this respect, the highlights were: “Stone Cold Crazy” (an album cut from Sheer Heart Attack), early singles “Seven Seas of Rhye” and “Killer Queen” and of course, the classic hits, “Fat Bottomed Girls”, “Under Pressure”, “Radio Gaga”, “Bohemian Rhapsody” and the one-two knockout punches of “We Will Rock You” and “We Are the Champions”.

Now, KC and the Sunshine Band, had no similar controversial issues regarding band identity that Queen had – it was much more straightforward in this regard.

Sure, KC (Harry Wayne Casey) looks very different now with receding hairline and noticeable paunch – the man is 65 years old! – but that didn’t stop KC and the Sunshine Band with a full complement of 6 band members, a 4-man horn section, 2 backing singers and 2 dancers, from putting up one solid hour of top notch dance music.

The crowd sure enjoyed themselves, dancing and singing along to classic hits like “Give It Up”, “That’s the Way (I Like You”), “Please Don’t Go”. “(Shake Shake Shake) Shake Your Booty” and “Boogie Shoes”.

The arrangements were sophisticated, with a textural density that belied the seeming straightforward nature of the songs. KC himself, moved and boogied like there was no tomorrow and a splendid time was had by all.

Pictures by Patrick Chng. Thanks to Singapore Grand Prix for making this review possible.

… still there’s more …