‘Freddie Mercury’ in Manila rocks classic hits amid ‘bloody traffic’

If rock legend Freddie Mercury were still alive and had flown to the Philippines for a concert, he would have cursed Manila traffic.

At least that’s what his impersonator did.

In between pumped performances of Queen’s classic hits, Gary Mullen and his tribute band The Works complained of bumper-to-bumper traffic in the Philippine capital on Saturday evening.

“What is wrong with the bloody traffic here?” Mullen told a laughing crowd, which quickly forgave him for his delayed arrival at Solaire’s The Theater.

“On the way here I thought I was gonna die,” he said, explaining that there was a “bloody wedding car” going the wrong direction along the highway.

Mullen, who–with his voice and make-up–is a dead-ringer for the late rocker, immediately had the VIP crowd on their feet.

He was sweating after the first song (“One Vision”) and by the second (“A Kind of Magic”), he had taken off his jacket (he took off his undershirt later in the show to reveal a half-naked resemblance to Mercury).

“If you’ve come tonight to sit on your ass in these chairs, go home,” he said.

Mullen has been impersonating the charismatic Freddie Mercury, who served as the voice and the face of the rock band Queen, for around 15 years after winning the British talent show Stars in their Eyes. Since then, he has been performing as Mercury. Because of his success, he decided to form the band The Works and create the theatrical concert show “One Night of Queen.” –Kristine Angeli Sabillo