Evoking Emotion Through Connections
Marquee with Queen logo on a red background with text: “Queen + Adam Lambert—The Rhapsody Tour, Little Caesars Arena, October 10.”
Last night we went to see Queen with Adam Lambert. Before I gush about the amazing show, I learned another lesson about storytelling at the concert—and that’s about making connections with your audience to evoke emotion.
If you’re not a Queen fan, listen to this NPR episode for some background and sound clips.
Brian May, the guitar genius, did an acoustic mini-set around mid-show. One of the songs he did was a “sing along”, and, friends, I’m not ashamed to say I cried.
When the opening chords of “Love of My Life” sounded through the arena, I got chills. In a good way. It felt reverent and like Brian was somehow manifesting Freddie Mercury, Queen’s lead vocalist and an iconic performer, with each note he played.
Brian started singing, but the entire crowd picked up right away and led many of the passages from the song.
On its own, this is an “awww” moment, and any Freddie superfan would be ecstatic. But they went a step further—their production crew created a projected version where Brian was live, sitting on a stool in the arena and Freddie Mercury stood next to him, singing.
Grab the tissues. At the end of the song, Projected Brian high-fived Freddie. Live Brian high-fived the space Freddie would have occupied. *cue the tears*
Back in the '80s, when Queen was larger than life and putting out powerful and complex music, I fell in love with them. Leading up to Freddie’s death, due to complications from HIV/AIDS, he was an advocate for AIDS research and was the inspiration for the Mercury Phoenix Trust—established in his honor in 1992 by Brian May, Roger Taylor, and Jim Beach.
Personal connections to the character—the Freddie we saw on stage, in the press, and in videos on MTV (back when MTV was about music videos…but I digress)—brought on the emotions I felt in that moment during the concert.
Evoking these types of emotions through the development of rich characters is something we need to do in our fiction writing—especially in romance subgenres.
This is one element I dig into during a developmental edit. Do we have enough backstory to make the character endearing? Are these connections relatable to your readers? Are we privy to their growth through the book? …And I make sure all of these things take place while meeting readers’ expectations for the romance genre.
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The concert was amazing. Our seats were pretty high up, so the pic isn’t the best, but this gives you a taste of the experience.
Queen + Adam Lambert Concert, Little Caesars Arena, October 10, 2023. Adam Lambert (vocals), Brian May (guitar), and Roger Taylor (drums).
Brian & Roger, the remaining original members of the band, played with so much energy and seemed as though they gave their all for every single moment of the show. And they were grateful for the fans.
Brian was amazing—he played during short interludes (while the rest of the group was on break/doing costume changes/etc.?) and his guitar skills remain top notch.
Brian May, guitarist, Little Caesars Arena, October 10, 2023.
And Roger was on fire! Drum solos displayed his technique as well as his energy.
L to R: Adam Lambert (vocals), Roger Taylor (drums), and Brian May (guitar).
This checked off a Bucket List Concert for both Spouse and me. We’ve both been Queen fans since the 80s and we regularly watch Bohemian Rhapsody (and love Rami Malek in the role of Freddie!) and anytime we see a documentary anywhere, from a reliable source, we make time to watch. Queen is a staple on our roadtrip playlists because there’s nothing better than belting out “Keep Yourself Alive” or “We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions” while cruising down back roads hoping AppleMaps isn’t giving us wrong directions to a remote waterfall or historical marker.