Music review: Queen tribute act Magic Queen live at The Mill Arts Centre

A packed-out Mill Theatre welcomed premier tribute band Magic Queen to the stage on Saturday and what a night it turned out to be.

Two hundred-plus faithfuls of all ages (some in optional reverential T-shirts) were anticipating an evening of reminiscence and entertaining homage to a British music institution.

They got it times one hundred.

The multimedia backdrop cued the band on stage to the powerful orchestral rock of ‘One Vision’.

Set underway, and the rockier ‘Tie Your Mother Down’ and Seven Seas of Rye’ transporting us back to the 70s edgier beginnings .

A tribute band seldom focus enough on small details; it's easy to slip into cartoon versions of the artistes.

It's the nuances and specific characteristics that sell you to an audience.

To use a metaphor, ‘you eat with your eyes' with this genre of entertainment.

Some acts would say it’s just the music that matters; that’s obviously crucial, but a very close second is the visual.

You are taking the audience down memory lane, and that needs to be a bright, colourful similitude.

Set one carried on incorporating key costume changes relevant to the song and era, another important detail.

The bass-heavy ‘Another One Bites the Dust’ paves the way for the dance-inspired side of the multi-generic songbook, showcasing the versatility of the material available.

A greatest hits show was expected, and duly delivered with appropriate energy and drive.

Too many classic songs to name throughout the set ,but a real crowd pleaser ‘I Want to break Free‘ (complete with Freddie’s cleaning lady routine coupled with strolls into a cheering, hospitable audience leading us into the break.

The second half of the show opened with the powerhouse ‘Now I’m Here’, a clever use of stereo sound by the excellent engineer (rarely credited when they should be).

A real highlight was the operatic ‘Somebody to Love’, beautifully interpreted and performed by the band.

The cheeky (every pun intended) ‘Fat Bottom Girls’ was well received, followed by a brief venture into Freddie’s solo career and the disco-themed ‘Living on My Own’.

The two most requested Queen songs ever were next up back to back with ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ and ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, the inventive use of multimedia playing a big part of the latter masterpiece.

‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ had everyone on their feet, seeing the band leave the stage, waiting a good five minutes and securing a rapturous encore.

‘Radio Ga Ga’, ‘We Will Rock You’ and the stirring ‘We Are the Champions’ prompting the famous overhead clapping .

So that was it for our incredible show tonight; four passionate performers waved off to thunderous cheers, a lead singer sporting Crown and Cape, their Brian May, John Deacon, and Roger Taylor as musically superb as was the classily played Freddie (complete with the perfect amount of camp and vocal dexterity required)

A wonderful time was had by reviewer and crowd, but importantly and noticeably, the band themselves.

The best entertaining tribute act I’ve seen in decades here at The Mill in Banbury .

That’s a big statement, but absolutely justified; ask anyone who was there.

A kind of Magic it surely was.