Pink: "Bohemian Rhapsody"

If you're going to attempt Freddie Mercury, you'd better be ready to pull off Freddie Mercury. The man had a four-octave range, an unimpeachable fashion sense, and what is known as "stage presence." He is an icon, a performer whose personality and flamboyance guaranteed a fascinating live show, beyond the music itself. My generation missed something by not being alive to see him.

And "Bohemian Rhapsody" was not only a huge song when it came out in 1975 -- it has remained one of the most well-known songs in English, appearing in Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. More importantly, "Bohemian Rhapsody" is an anthem celebrated at the climactic moment of every drunken dance party -- because, you know, who doesn't love a chorus of inebriated voices struggling to create harmony before giving up and head-banging themselves into oblivion.

My god, I love this song.

Despite the usual chorus of liquored voices, this is actually an incredibly difficult song to perform. It vacillates between a ballad, an opera, and hard rock. There's a crazy guitar solo. The six-minute epic causes blood pressure to spike at various points, particularly at 4 minutes in, when the song explodes from a chorale into a cymbal-crashing head-banger. And Pink is right there, drumstick in hand, rocking out.

We've come to expect a performer like Pink, whose 2009 Funhouse tour spanned three continents and 151 shows, to hold her own on the singing. After all, she rose from small town Pennsylvanian obscurity to become one of the richest and most popular pop singers of the millennium. She's had eleven Top 10 hits, and her mantle is weighed down by three Grammys, 5 MTV music video awards and two Brit awards -- so far. That mantle is likely in a kickass mansion, too, because in 2010 Forbes named Pink the 27th most powerful celebrity. That kind of meteoric rise requires more than musical talent -- it takes tenacity, risk, and a somewhat oversized personality.

The execution starts with the fashion, in which Pink pays direct homage to Freddie, with the patterned pants and replica yellow jacket. Freddie may not have worn pink pasties on his chest, but I'd venture he would approve of the overall effect:

 

One of Pink's many looks on the Funhouse tour. Left boob = pastie.

 Freddie Mercury

But it's more than the look and the voice. Freddie was all about performance, and Pink seems to be a disciple of the same philosophy. She jumps all over the stage, jamming with the keyboardist and the lead guitarist, smacking the cymbals with borrowed drumsticks, conducting the band. The crazy funhouse set doesn't hurt the mood:

We may have lost Freddie Mercury much too soon, but Pink's performance accomplishes the task of honoring his memory, his role in music history, while also allowing her to show off her own stage chops. It's well-planned and well-performed from start to finish, a mix of old and new, classic and contemporary. In Pink's hands, a legendary song is both safe in its tradition and malleable in its execution.

In other words, I dig it.

What, you thought I was going to spend half the post talking about Freddie Mercury and then NOT give you a video? You're in good hands here, dear reader. Enjoy some classic Freddie (this video is part 1 of 5, from the 1985 Live Aid Festival):