My “big plan” for the Friday of the long weekend was to watch the webcast of the opening show of Queen + Adam Lambert’s tour, performed as part of the Rock in “Rio” festival in Lisbon. So it was a bit dismaying when, on Wednesday or so, the webcast company announced that, “at the band’s request”, they would no longer be showing it.

Someone contacted Brian May about it on Twitter. And he actually answered.

@anaRloked @quenotedariayo Actually I thought we HAD authorised transmission. I’ll check. Bri

— Dr. Brian May (@DrBrianMay) May 20, 2016

Only to come back with:

Streaming tonite #RockinRioLisboa disallowed by managemt in defrnce to our other European promoters. Sorry ! But IS live Portugal TV/R ! Bri

— Dr. Brian May (@DrBrianMay) May 20, 2016

So then the Glambert hunt was on to find some way to watch Portuguese broadcast TV from the Internet.

The “best” source finally found was a bit of Trojan horse one that kept trying to lure you in with “free” logins and “mandatory” Flash upgrades that actually installed malware on your computer. But with the installation of a browser ad blocker + being very careful not to click anything other than maximize video button, we were in!

Of course, it wasn’t the full-fidelity video or sound we would have had with the official webcast, but it was still a professional recording of the whole show, not just some fan’s Periscope.

So it’s really too bad the concert itself sucked.

I kid! The show was terrific, as though they’d hadn’t taken nearly a year-long break from performing together. They added a bunch of new songs (truly new to many of the Glamberts): The Hero. Hammer to Fall, Stone Cold Crazy, The Game. They had some new props. And Adam had six costume changes, all of which featured very tight pants.

I do wonder at the promoter’s logic here as well. Surely the number of people who’d decide that, having seen the webcast, they don’t need to an actual show would be outweighed by the number who do see it and decide it’s awesome enough that they want to be there themselves? Certainly that’s been the history of this band (all of which I was there for—watching from my living room):

• Their Live Aid performance, broadcast on TVs worldwide at the time, reminded everyone how amazing Queen was live. Increased album sales and sold-out tours followed.
• The very positive reaction to Queen + Adam Lambert’s webcast iHeart Radio Music Festival is what convinced them to head out for what proved to be a very successful world tour.
• Rocking Big Ben Live in London on New Year’s Eve 2014 proved an excellent way to introduce London to Adam Lambert, with no demonstrable effect on tickets sales for future shows.
• Similarly with the webcast of their performance at the Rock in actual Rio Festival in 2015, kicking off their South American tour.

A great webcast might be the closest to live you can get—but it ain’t live. It’s just not the same as being there.

Ah well. At least I got to see it, since I’m not flying off to Europe for this set of shows. And there is hope that a better-quality version will see the light of day eventually (as the promoter has also been diligent about getting any YouTubes of the Portuguese broadcast taken down). Queen Official did release this one high-quality track from the show today. Enjoy.

Queen + Adam Lambert: I Want to Break Free, Rock in Rio Lisbao