A spring tour of Canada sees “Queen: It’s A Kinda Magic” heading west for several B.C. concerts including a return to Surrey Arts Centre on Tuesday, June 6.
The Queen tribute show wowed a Main Stage audience last June with its royal recreation of the British band’s mid-1980s concert tour, with all the lights, volume, pomp and circumstance.
This year the production features the same four-piece band, led by Dominic Warren and his very Mercury-ish vocals and mannerisms, along with drummer Michael Dickens, bassist Andre Van Der Merwe and guitarist Rusty Red.
The show features Queen hits played by a band of South African musicians in a Showtime Australia production, which recreates the landmark 1986 Wembley Stadium concert, but not the exact set of songs.
If you never got a chance to see Queen in concert, this is the next best thing.
For the Surrey date, only a few seats remain for sale on tickets.surrey.ca for $72 each ($43 for kids 13 and under), or call 604-501-5566.
Tribute fit for a Queen tonight at @SurreyArtsCtre! Amazing. https://t.co/rPWXBnV5Ey pic.twitter.com/FtKKPq6WoI
— Tom Zillich (@TomZillich) June 17, 2022
• RELATED, from 2022: Queen show coming to Surrey with ‘spectacle’ and ‘energy’ of band’s landmark 1986 London concert.
The band plays Queen songs in their original keys – no easy task for singer Warren. But it sounds like he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Funny enough,” he told the Now-Leader last spring, “it’s what makes the show satisfying and worthwhile for me, because there are a lot of (tribute) shows out there doing Queen songs and they’re dropping the keys by a minor-third or whatever, and I feel that takes the punch away from the music. Freddie used to struggle singing his own songs, and that’s where the energy comes from, you know – working extra hard to get to those notes.”
Born a year after Mercury died in 1991, Warren said he’s a longtime Queen fan who once studied baroque music. He’d hoped to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston, but a diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes stalled that pursuit. Instead, he focused more on rock music and later signed on for the starring role in “Queen: It’s a Kinda Magic.”
In B.C., the production will play venues in Kelowna, Chilliwack, Surrey, Vancouver (Vogue Theatre, June 7) and some on Vancouver Island before a tour of Australia in July. Check queenitsakindamagic.com for the dates and ticket details.
tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com
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