Queen and Adam Lambert bring the band's Rhapsody Tour to Nashville

Members of the band Queen brought their Rhapsody Tour to the Bridgestone Arena stage Wednesday night armed with sequins, confetti cannons, digital robots, pyrotechnics, disco balls and a deep catalog of massive hits spanning 40-plus years.

It's hard to believe generation-spanning anthems like "We Are the Champions" and "We Will Rock You" were released in 1977.

But original Queen members, guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor, joined by adopted frontman Adam Lambert, showed the packed house at Bridgestone they've still got it.

Touring with no opening act on this tour, Queen set the stage and became their own warm-up act with pulsing music and an occasional guitar strum or drum beat to get the crowd ready. At about 8:15, the programmed music gradually got a little louder as house lights got a little dimmer.

At 8:17 Bridgestone Arena went dark. The crowd went nuts. The animated robots crawled across the screen in a graphic presentation that would have made Tool proud. Then in an explosive moment, Lambert steps on stage in sparkly silver platform boots topped with platinum blonde hair as the band rips into "Radio Ga Ga."

The band effortlessly rolls through mega hit after mega hit from "Another One Bites the Dust" to "Killer Queen"

Lambert, who has been touring with Queen for a decade, is every bit the flamboyant frontman with the unparalleled vocals that Queen's original frontman Freddie Mercury was only with a little more makeup and a few more sequins.

While he danced around amid multiple wardrobe changes throughout the show, Lambert managed to stand in the spotlight without stealing it.

"I've been touring with these guys for over 10 years now and every time I put on a big 'ole heel and a little glitter on my cheek, I have Freddie Mercury in my heart," Lambert told the crowd. "Let's keep this party going for him."

The two-hour-plus show was equal parts rock show and Broadway production — with Lambert's animated antics and big-production vocals — with a splash of Vegas thrown in to give it a little extra sparkle.

But despite the glitter and glam, the heart of the show was May's stellar guitar playing, Taylor's skill behind the drum kit and the palpable respect for the fifty years the two have been making music and performing together.

There were moments in the show where the each member came to the end of a long catwalk and performed more stripped-down songs. One highlight was May solo on a stool for a touching performance of "Love of My Life." May noticed a few cell phone flashlights scattered across the arena and asked the crowd to light the place up, which they did.

The song ended with a video of Mercury singing the end of the song before he turned and walked into the darkness in a very poignant moment.

But the crescendo came at about two hours in when Lambert sang the all-too-familiar "Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?" intro to "Bohemian Rhapsody." As the song kicked in, May, who had ditched his demure black jeans and Adidas sneakers, ascended from beneath the stage wearing a disco-ball outfit that rivaled Lambert's. The band complimented the live performance with sections of the song's original music video showing just the bandmember's faces.

The band would leave the stage, but it only took a few minutes for the crowd to start stomping out that famous "We Will Rock You" beat. It wasn't long before, as if on cue, Mercury appears on screen in the banana yellow jacket and white pants, leading the crowd in his legendary call-out "Ay-Oh."

The show wrapped with blistering renditions of "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions," in which May possibly foreshadowed some hockey success in Nashville's future donning a Predators jersey as he sang "We are the champions, my friend."

The Set List

"Radio Ga Ga"

"Hammer to Fall"

"Another One Bites the Dust"

"I'm in Love with My Car"

"Bicycle Race"

"Fat Bottomed Girls"

"I Want It All"

"A Kind of Magic"

"Killer Queen"

"Don't Stop Me Now"

"Somebody To Love"

"Love of My Life"

"'39"

"Under Pressure"

"Tie Your Mother Down"

"Crazy Little Thing Called Love"

"I Want To Break Free"

"Who Wants to Live Forever"

"Is This the World We Created"

"The Show Must Go On"

"Bohemian Rhapsody"

"We Will Rock You"

"We Are the Champions"

Melonee Hurt covers music and music business at The Tennessean, part of the USA TODAY NETWORK — Tennessee. Reach Melonee at mhurt@tennessean.com or on X @HurtMelonee.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Queen and Adam Lambert bring decades of classic music and a little sparkle to Nashville