The Casino File
By Chuck Darrow
It would be a daunting, if not impossible, task to quantify every musical outfit out there whose act is limited to the performance of songs by a single, specific artist. It’s a lot easier to identify those who qualify as the best-of-the-best: They’re the groups who perform nationally (and internationally) and command performance fees large enough to provide full-time employment for their members.
By any measuring stick, that august list must include Almost Queen, which on March 1 checks into the Superstar Theater at Resorts Atlantic City.
Given that tribute bands weren’t the pop-culture phenomenon they are today when AQ was founded some 20 years ago, as well as the deceptive complexity of much of Queen’s material and, especially, the one-of-a-kind vocal artistry and electrifying showmanship of the British quartet’s beloved lead singer, the late Freddie Mercury, the level of success Almost Queen has achieved is impressive—even more so given that unlike other Queen-focused acts which employ auxiliary musicians, this group, like its subject, is a quartet.
Not that the New York City-based unit’s success was guaranteed at its inception.
“Pretty much everyone, I think,” laughed bassist-co-founder Randy Gregg during a recent phone call when asked how many people told him he was out of his mind to want to form a Queen tribute band. “It was like, ‘Oh, really? That’s what you’re doing? All right. Good luck with that!’”
By his own admission, Gregg and his fellow charter members–lead singer Joseph Russo and drummer John Cappadona (guitarist Steve Leonard joined a couple years later)—didn’t come out of the box fully formed. But repetition and perseverance took care of that end of things.
“When you’re playing for the first year or two, you’re looking at each other going, ‘Yeah, man, sounds cool,’ offered Gregg, who also handles much of the band’s behind-the-scenes business. “And then two, three years later, you look back and you’re like, ‘That was terrible; we’re so much better now.’
“And then two, three years later, you look back and you go, ‘That wasn’t really that good; we’re so much better now.’ And it just keeps snowballing and snowballing.”
Not surprisingly, according to Gregg, the highest hurdles were vocal in nature.
“There were times in the beginning we were unable to pull off some songs live—like how are we gonna do ‘Somebody to Love?’ There’s a choir going on there.
“Everyone thought ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ was gonna be the hardest song,” he continued, “but I think for us, it was ‘We Are the Champions.’ There’s like a barbershop quartet [vocal arrangement] on that.”
But the band members ultimately rose to the challenge.
“There was a point a few years in when [Leonard, Cappadona] and I locked ourselves in a room and didn’t come out until we had those songs. It took a little time, but 20 years in, we’re on autopilot.”
Although the members of Almost Queen have spent a huge chunk of their lives portraying Mercury, bassist John Deacon, drummer Roger Taylor and guitarist Brian May, they have been very careful to avoid being subsumed by their alter egos.
“That’s a strange, fine line,” said Gregg. “I recall years ago seeing a Doors tribute band. Even offstage, the guy just really acted like Jim Morrison.
“It’s cool when you walk on that stage to become that [person]. That’s what people are coming to see. They come to see this recreation of a band, they can’t see anymore. And that’s great.
“But when you’re offstage and you’re down the block at McDonald’s ordering a double cheeseburger, don’t act like Jim Morrison. There’s no need for it.”
While the guys in Almost Queen have never met their real-life counterparts, they have been on the latter’s radar for years, thanks, in part, to AQ’s affiliation with a Queen-created charity.
“They’re aware of us because of the Mercury Phoenix Trust,” offered Greg, referring to the global AIDS charity formed by the three remaining Queen members in honor of Mercury, who died of the disease in 1991.
“We have been donating money to them since day one,” explained Gregg. And I get letters from Emma Beach [daughter of Queen manager Jim Beach] thanking us. So, I know they’re very aware of us. And they’re happy with the tribute bands doing what they’re doing; we’re helping keep their music alive.
“Some of us have jobs because of this band,” he continued. “And to be able to give something back makes us feel fantastic.”
For tickets, go to ticketmaster.com.
Rod’s last AyCee dance?
It’s always special when rock megastar Rod Stewart plays Atlantic City, but Saturday’s scheduled performance at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City is shaping up as extra-special because it appears it could be his final visit to Our Town—at least his last time performing the material that made him one of the world’s biggest rock stars.
Rod the Mod, 80, whose “One Last Time” world tour launches at the Rock, has publicly floated that the road trip will likely be his last full-blown tour of large venues. Stewart, who claims to be in great physical condition, isn’t retiring; he just suggested that going forward, he’s more inclined to limit his gigs to smaller rooms. And, he suggested, he’s contemplating a return to performing pre-rock pop songs rather than his own hits like “Maggie May” and “Tonight’s the Night.”
For tickets, go to ticketmaster.com.
Chuck Darrow has spent more than 40 years writing about Atlantic City casinos.
