Philharmonic queen

Last night Jane and I finally made it to the Embassy to see the Fort Wayne Philharmonic do the music of Queen. It was a great time. (article here)

I say "finally" because Jane was supposed to work until 7 pm, then I was to pick her up and we should have had plenty of time to toodle downtown on Jefferson for the 8 pm start. But... she had computer problems at work and we didn't leave until about 2 minutes to 8. Fortunately traffic was minimal, we found a good parking spot in the deck, and we were in our seats by 8:10.

We had excellent seats too: in the balcony, center stage (I mean *dead* center). I don't know about downstairs, but the place looked pretty much full to me. And it was *happenin'.* I don't know if the usual philharmonic crowd is used to the dancing, shouting, screaming, and singing along. It was good fun.

The band(s) sounded good too. There was a four piece band (guitar, bass, drums, keys) along with the philharmonic. The guitar wasn't quite loud enough for the first set, but they seemed to fix that. And I could always stand a little more bass sound - you know, if you can't feel it in your chest then you might as well be sittin home - but I had to remember where I was. As far as I could tell the philharmonic sounded good too, but what do I know. The highlight of this show was definitely the guy playing Freddie Mercury. Brody Dolyniuk can not only sing, but he is a true showman. He did well to not try to impersonate Freddie, but just belted out his tunes, did a few of his struts, and then went to work winning over the audience through humor, interaction, and several jaunts into the seats. He was superb. Kudos to arranger/composer Brent Havens for putting this show together. Having seen the music of Queen and Led Zeppelin in this format, I hope they someday bring back the Pink Floyd show. THAT would be special.

I suppose these shows are somewhat of a clash of cultures at the Embassy. Philharmonic regulars and rock n' rollers all rolled into one. But everyone seemed nice enough to those of us not quite so suave and sophisticated. I felt bad for a couple couples of "older" folks (like 70's or 80's) who sat two rows in front of us. They were obviously regulars (suits and dresses and old-money bling), and you could tell they didn't quite know what to think of some of the music and antics. But they were nice enough not to show any hints of disapproval other than covering their ears on occasion. I didn't think it was very polite of some of the other people around them to point and make fun of them though. I hope I can be as open-minded when I am that age.

We actually saw several people we knew there. I think we even saw Heather Herrin, of tv15, as we were making our way to the stairs. She is quite a looker in person. And it's funny, because just the night before we saw one of the reporters for channel 15 in Walmart. Oh, and the guy behind me said he stood at the urinal next the the mayor.

Even though it started off a little tense, it was a pretty darn good night.

Peace out; and in.