Last night, I took my son to see Queen, the 70’s glam rock band once fronted by the iconic Freddie Mercury. Because my son is headed to Vermont next week to be a camp counselor and won’t be in Detroit for their local show in July, we traveled to Chicago to see them open their North American tour.

The trip to Chicago isn’t easy as I have lots of memories of Kevin in the city—from the times he visited me at Northwestern, and from the many trips we made while he was sick and receiving treatments in Evanston. I love the city. If it were more affordable, I would consider living there, despite the fact that the drive west on I94 is sometimes emotional.

Yesterday’s trip was laden with its own emotion, the result of being in this city and taking in this particular band’s concert. Most who know me know of my undying love for this rock group. It’s not always rational or understandable, and certainly wasn’t always easily understood by Kevin, who came to abide my love of Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor, and John Deacon. 

This was my seventh Queen concert (in one form or another), and the second one that I’ve shared with my son. I saw them first when I was only fourteen—too many years ago to count. Just barely a high school freshman, I attended with my two best friends, Sharon and Susan, who were twins. We told our parents we were spending the night at each other’s house and convinced my sister to drive us to the show and drop us off at Cobo Hall in downtown Detroit. I saw them four more times, and met them twice. Shortly after Freddie Mercury's death, Kevin and I saw guitarist Brian May while on a solo tour.

How do I explain my enduring love and fascination with this musical group except to say that they are a part of me, a part of my adolescence, my teen years, and my adulthood, woven into my life like threads of actual DNA. 

Together, Sharon, Susan, and I did all of the typical teen girl activities—we joined the fan club, collected magazines and pictures, hung posters on our bedroom walls and bought all their records. Memories of the band are connected to so many facets of my life. They were smart (four degrees and one PhD between them), good looking, and formidable musicians. And they were more. They quoted Tolkien and Shakespeare in their lengthy songs; they wrote about time travel, fairies, and other mythical creatures. It was rock music for geeky bookworms like me. It felt like home. The music, especially that sung by Freddie Mercury, was sexual in an androgynous way that I didn’t quite understand, but knew I liked. It was dangerous in a way that made us brave enough to lie to our parents about where we were. It was bigger than the four walls of our small houses and even smaller-minded schools. It was black nail polish (but only on one hand), costumes, song lyrics in Japanese. It was sensitive and rebellious. It was campy spectacle with a metal edge. It was loud and romantic and rhythmic and beautiful and rock and roll.

By the time I finished high school, my tastes had changed and I had moved on to punk music and its slightly safer cousin, new wave. My clothing, haircuts, and multiple ear piercings reflected this change. As Kevin and I began dating, my Queen records were dusty, but still maintained an important place in my collection. But they had been set aside for newer albums by The Clash, Patti Smith, the Talking Heads and Elvis Costello. I often had to defend my love of the band as they fell out of favor. I continued to collect their records—some rare bootleg albums, both of Mercury’s solo efforts, Roger Taylor’s solo album, and even a signed copy of a very rare 45 cut by Freddie Mercury on the day he met the other members of the band and they became Queen. I didn't listen to the music nearly as much. I also lost touch with Sharon and Susan as our lives took different paths.

It wasn’t until ten years later, as news of Freddie Mercury’s imminent death became public, that I revisited my enduring affection for him and his music. By that time, I was married and eight months pregnant with the son I would later take to concerts. The memories, mixed with the hormones racing through my bulging body, put me into a deep funk. I cried for days at Freddie’s passing. I sat in front of MTV for hours, watching as fans lay flowers at Garden Lodge—Freddie’s home in London. I mourned for the time of my life when my friends and I were happy and mostly carefree, and for the fact that I wanted nothing more than to find them to share these moments.

I believe it was the first time I took stock of what it meant to have a full life and to lose that life  senselessly and painfully. I mourned the too-early passing of this man and was utterly devastated by the way in which he died—the way in which AIDS took from him his voice, his sight, the very essence of his creativity. How awful I thought, to struggle so much at the end. I realized that he had filled his life so whole-heartedly while living, that he had lived many lifetimes in the span of his forty-five years. But of course, that’s no trade-off. He still left us too soon and was far too young. I thought a lot, in the months after his death, about what it means to leave a legacy, especially one of creativity; of dedication to craft, of choices we make. Conversely, I thought of regret, and how one’s life impacts those left behind.

On a family vacation to Switzerland in 2002, I made Kevin take a detour on our way from Zurich to Paris in order to stop at the bronze statue of Freddie in Montreux. I left roses at the statue and had a few photos taken. I thought about him again, about the significant impact he had on my life, and about this separate love I had that was somehow woven into my family life but was also a part of the me that existed separately from my husband and children. As we drove away and I looked back through the window of our rented car, I thought about trajectories. How lucky I felt that my path crossed his, if even for a few moments. But also regret that my life had not been a part of his to the extent that my teenage self had wished so hard it would be.

In the years since Kevin’s passing, I’ve become fascinated with the stories of other widows, especially those in music. Contrary to belief, Freddie Mercury wasn’t gay, but was bi-sexual. He had a relationship with a woman named Mary Austin that lasted for many, many years, starting when the two were in their early twenties. She was his soul mate who stood beside him despite his many transgressions. She is the executor of his estate, maintains Garden Lodge today, and is the only person who knows the whereabouts of Freddie’s remains (which he did not want to ever be made public). She has taken abuse over the years because she maintains her position to the chagrin of many who have tried to lay claim to some part of Freddie’s legacy. I admire her strength and the love the two shared. She is, absolutely, his widow.

It was with a certain amount of ambivalence though, that I purchased tickets to last night’s show. They are touring with American Idol Adam Lambert, who sounds like Freddie, but who seems to me to be lacking in style. John Deacon has retired from music and refuses to even be seen with Brian May and Roger Taylor. So it was just those two—a bit wider in girth and grayer of hair—that performed last night, along with anonymous back-up musicians. 

Despite the second thoughts, it only took the first beats of the bass to put me right back at the very first concert. I stomped my feet, I screamed, I danced, I shouted their names. There is something about feeling the beat of that very loud music tingle the bottoms of my feet, pierce the tip of my spine, and travel upward and outward through my body that makes me feel alive in a way that nothing else can. The campy spectacle and over-indulgent light show was back! The show included a few nods to Freddie, including film of him from old concerts. I couldn’t watch without tearing up—for the all the loves in my life, including childhood best friends, Freddie, Kevin; and for the never-slowing passage of time.

It was a joy to be there with my son, to see him enjoying the music too and to see him mouthing the words to the songs. I’m not certain what my legacy will be, but if just a tiny part of it is that I passed along the love of this music, then I think I’m ok with that.