Well over 100 people attended a Queen tribute concert at the Pearl Street Polish Hall on Saturday, April 20, 2024.
For Brantford’s Queens Court, the performance marked their second time playing in the city since their first concert in December 2023.
With Sean Hauk as Freddie Mercury, Randy Sokski as John Deacon, Marc Girard as Brian May and Colin Boughton as Roger Taylor, the four came ready to impress for the two-hour plus event.
Kicking off with the hit song, “Radio Ga Ga,” the tribute band instantly had guests tapping their toes and clapping along as they recreated the iconic music of the British band.
Intertwined with fun anecdotes, clever jokes, accents and vocal inflections, the four played roughly 20 songs note-for-note throughout the evening.
From “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” to “Fat Bottomed Girls,” “Another One Bites the Dust,” “We Will Rock You,” “Don’t Stop Me Now,” and “We Are the Champions,” the hits kept the audience happily singing along.
In addition to their attention to detail musically and in Hauk’s costumes, the tribute band also took the opportunity to embody Queen’s playful behaviour on stage. During songs such as “Bicycle Race,” Hauk brought out a child’s-size red bicycle, and during “I Want to Break Free,” the men came out dressed in drag to recreate the (at the time) controversial 1984 music video.
For “Under Pressure,” Hauk made his way into the audience to bring up one unsuspecting guest to play David Bowie, dressing him up in a Ziggy Stardust inspired outfit and bright red wig.
As the band wrapped up the evening, it was clear the audience wanted one more song, prompting the band to officially end with “Somebody to Love.”
Burlington resident, Barb Alexander, said that overall, the performance transported her back in time.
“It was a lot of fun, and it really reminded me of my youth,” she said. “I really liked ‘I want to Break Free,’ that was just so funny and hilarious, and I wasn’t expecting it all.”
For Brantford residents, Steve Sguigna, Roger Bond and his wife, Robin, the three had similar sentiments as Alexander.
“It was amazing, we had a great time,” said Robin. “Sean’s got a great voice and it really helps that he had the look for it too because it all just came together and it was fantastic.”
“We would definitely come and see it again,” added Sguigna.
