Gary Mullen & The Works proves Queen's show must go on

By Jim Dail The spectacle. The showmanship. The singing. The production. The music. The experience. That’s what a show by classic rock band Queen was all about.

It is also what One Night with Queen by Gary Mullen & The Works is about, paying tribute to one of the most famous bands in history. The tribute group is bringing the show to the Pechanga Showroom on Thursday, July 30.

Known for such hits as “We Will Rock You,” “We Are the Champions,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Fat Bottomed Girls” and “Another One Bites the Dust,” Queen was also legendary for powerhouse shows, led by frontman Freddie Mercury.

“Freddie was high energy, so you cannot have a dip in that,” said Gary Mullen, who plays Mercury. “He had the audience in his hands, leading them through the journey. You want to keep everyone on the journey. People tell us that they got exhausted watching us, and that’s what it is all about, having them lose themselves throughout the show.”

The band’s music ranged from high energy songs like “Hammer to Fall,” and “Sheer Heart Attack” to near ballads like “You’re My Best Friend” and “Play the Game.”

“The thing about Queen is that all four of them wrote songs, so everyone brought something to the table,” he said. “That’s why they did so many styles of music, and what also makes them a challenge.”

For Mullen, the admiration for Queen started very early in life.

“I saw them on the television doing ‘We Are the Champions’ and I was hooked,” he said. “I had an uncle who was the first person I knew with a guitar, and he was a great storyteller and with it he could entertain people. I thought that was cool.”

Then he thought not only about singing but about being the man himself.

“I discovered you could get money doing that,” he said. “My grandfather asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up and I said Freddie Mercury!”

By 2000, while a computer salesman, he went on the UK show Stars in Their Eyes and received the most votes ever for a winner of the show. By 2002, he had formed the tribute band, which consists of Mullen, guitarist David Brockett (Brian May), drummer Jon Halliwell (Roger Taylor), bassist Alan McGeoch (John Deacon) and Malcolm Gentles on keyboard.

“I do play a little guitar, but I am not at all a guitar player,” he said. “I can do a little piano, but I am not a musician in that sense. I like to be out front being Freddie, singling and doing all his moves.”

Granted, there is a great deal of difficulty in trying to copy Queen, considering they are known for not just the stage show but incredibly intricate songs. There are also some songs that American audiences have never seen live.

“It is an insane challenge,” he said. “I never saw ‘The Show Must Go On’ live,’ so we have to figure out how we play it for real, when the audience does not know what to expect.”

The band is taking the opportunity to recreate the famed Wembley show in 1986.

“That tour never got to the United States, so we wanted to bring that,” he said

Two songs illustrate the challenge.

“For ‘The Show Must Go On,’ that was an emotional song written by Brian after watching the film The Highlander, and we have to translate all the emotion in that song,” he said. We have to connect it to the audience and have it at the right temperature and sound because every song we do is someone’s favorite song, so we have to get it right.”

The other example is the classic, “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

“We have to keep the energy level building up throughout, but there’s no need to introduce the song to the audience,” he said. “That’s one of those songs that you know from the first couple of notes on the piano.”

But how do they do the famous “Galileo” part?

“We use Queen’s part,” he said. “I mean it would be a wild thing to try to get all of us singing that part and to get it right, so we do what they did!”

It is about paying tribute to the band, which includes getting it all as close as possible but also about creating a full experience.

“We are trying to do what they do whether it’s the music, the costumes, the light show,” but we do change things up,” he said. “We don’t have the same budget obviously. With Freddie, he often said ‘If it is worth doing, it’s worth overdoing it.’ We can’t do all the same things, but we can try to bring that same energy.”

And after performing for millions of people all over the world, has he ever heard from the band?

“I met Brian in 2008, and we hung out backstage,” he said. “He was very complimentary which means a lot.”