Such was Queen’s studio brilliance that a succession of stopgap live albums, including the distinctly unmagical Live Magic, were always black-and-white representations of a vividly colourful band.
Today things are different. The unhappy spell with Paul Rodgers and their The Cosmos Rocks album seem to have finished them as a recording entity, but Rodgers’s hard-rocking, high-camp successor Adam Lambert is the perfect man to fill Freddie Mercury’s Adidas trainers.
Taken from shows in five countries between 2014 and 2020, but mostly Sydney this February, Live Around The World is 17 conservatively selected hits, Mercury’s Love Kills and I Was Born To Love You, plus the unnecessary audience chant Ay Oh.
Nothing is radically overhauled, but everything sounds fresh and they ooze joy for the first time since Mercury’s death. This is the sound of a couple of venerable old hounds being reinvigorated by a frisky young pup.
