Still The Champions: Queen Rocks Xfinity Center

MANSFIELD, MA — The one thing that was made abundantly clear at the Xfinity Center Sunday night was Queen are still the champions. Yes, front man Freddie Mercury is long gone, but guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor, with a little help from Adam Lambert, did their best to honor Mercury's legacy and the band's dozens of classic rock hits, which span decades. And judging from the reactions of almost 20,000 people, "Queen + Adam Lambert" kept that legacy alive, blistering through 26 of the band's biggest hits.

The crowd wasn't your typical group of classic rock diehards, but a mix of generations, from people old enough to have seen "Queen" at the Boston Garden in the 1980s, to those so young that their first taste of "Queen" likely came from the Oscar winning biopic, "Bohemian Rhapsody."

"Queen" started the show with a few singles from its first three albums. Nearly the entire audience sang along, even the new fans. Singles from the mid-1970, like "Now I'm Here," "Seven Seas of Rhy," and "Keep Yourself Alive" earned huge cheers, despite all of the songs being written before Queen truly ascended to super stardom.

May in particular breathed new life into all these songs, extending them with massive guitar solos that at times felt as if they were made up on the spot. It helped make some of the band's most energetic songs like "Don't Stop Me Now" really stand out. Even some of the sillier songs, like "I'm in Love with My Car," packed more of a punch because of May's willingness to add some technicality.

It helps too when the singer replacing Mercury has the range to do those songs justice. This was particularly obvious with "Somebody to Love" and "Bohemian Rhapsody," two songs that showcased Mercury's incredible range. Because of that, some singers covering "Queen" try to do the impossible and impersonate Mercury, a plan that's almost certain to end in failure. Lambert didn't do that. Yes, he hit every note, but early in the show, he made a point to tell the crowd it wasn't about replacing Mercury, but doing his best to honor the man's legacy and perform the songs the best way he could.

"I'm a fan just like you," Lambert said, garnering some of the biggest cheers of the night.

Lambert made it a point to not upstage the band, and at times, left the stage as May and Rogers took over. The highlight was when the rest of the band left the stage and May walked up with nothing but an acoustic guitar to perform "Love of My Life."

May can sing in his own right, but this performance was about emotion and not technicality. At times, you could see May get visibly choked up on stage while singing the song. That moment hit its peak when a video of Mercury in hologram form singing the song showed up on stage. With their voices in unison, and an amphitheater filled with tens of thousands of lit up cell phones, it felt like the entire crowd was brought back in time, with the only obvious differences being May's gray mane and phones lighting the sky instead of lighters.

By this point, Queen had its fans in the palm of its hands until the band finished "Bohemian Rhapsody." After that, the band left the stage, but everyone knew it wasn't over. Decades ago, this might have been the time Mercury would get on stage and start his repeat after me "aye oh" chants before a big encore.

The band broke out the old footage, once again, and gave their legendary front man and friend one last chance to hype up the crowd. The noise inside the amphitheater hit eardrum-shattering levels.

Queen saved two of its biggest hits for last with "We Will Rock You" and "We Are The Champions." Both songs felt more like proclamations that the band has reached a new audience, put themselves back on top of the the rock and roll world, and have no intention of stopping this legacy any time soon. Don't stop them now.