Another one rides the tribute band bus

Gary Mullen wants you to relive the thrill of a Queen concert, and he’s going to be on stage to see that happens.

In a voice uncannily similar to Freddie Mercury’s, Mullen sings the lead vocals and is backed by his band The Works in a concert titled “One Night With Queen.”

The tribute concert, now in its 10th anniversary season, will be on stage at Popejoy Hall on Thursday, March 1.

	If you go WHAT: “One Night With Queen” WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 1 WHERE: Popejoy Hall, Center for the Arts, UNM campus HOW MUCH: $29, $39 and $49 in advance at ticket offices in the UNM Bookstore and the Pit and at area Albertsons supermarkets, by calling 925-5858 or toll-free 877-664-8661, online at www.unmtickets.com or at the door

“We try to create the illusion of a Queen concert. … As a tribute we try to re-create that moment in time when Freddie was the frontman, and that energy and the feeling of a live concert,” Mullen said in a phone interview from his home in Scotland.

You’ll probably get to hear his band’s versions of such Queen hits as “We Are the Champions,” “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “We Will Rock You.”

But Mullen said many of the songs they’ll play in concert vary with the country they’re performing in.

“I have a book of every Queen show and every set list. So I look at what was popular. … We want to do songs that were popular on the American tour. We won’t do songs that didn’t get a response for Queen,” he said.

“For the American tour we’ll do all the big hits with a few surprises along the way.”

In all, the band will do 23 Queen songs.

“We want the audience members to play the air guitar and we want them to expect what a Queen show would be, and that is to have a good time,” Mullen said.

He said the feel of the concert changes for another reason: He doesn’t want a patron to see the exact same show each time.

That means the lighting, the staging, the costumes are changed out annually, if not more frequently.

Mullen and the band do anywhere from 150 to 175 concerts a year all over the world.

Besides an American tour, this season they’re also performing in Denmark, Holland, Great Britain and New Zealand.

“There are Queen fans all over the globe,” Mullen said. “We want to get to as many fans as we can.”

In 2000, he won the Live Grand Final on the British television show “Stars in Their Eyes.” His wife and mother had secretly had entered his name as an applicant.

From there, he became a solo artist and that led to his organizing the Queen tribute concerts.