Gary Mullen & the Works presents One Night of Queen in a sold-out show at the Vilar Performing Arts Center in Beaver Creek on Thursday night.

Mullen has been performing as Freddie Mercury for over 20 years, but he didn’t intend on being part of one of the best Queen tribute bands in the world. He didn’t even mean to compete on the Granada television program “Stars in Their Eyes,” where his 2000 performance of Queen’s “A Kind of Magic” and “Somebody to Love” garnered a record-setting 864,838 votes and crashed servers.

When the television show called him, asking him to come for an audition, he didn’t know what they were talking about. Turns out his wife and mom sent in an application for him.

“I didn’t know anything about it. I’m just going to work and doing my usual thing,” he said of his job as a computer salesman. “I went along to the audition, really not thinking anything of it. I just felt, ‘Well, you know what? I ain’t going to be on that, so I’ll just go along, sing for a bit and leave and that’ll be the end of that.’”

For over 20 years Gary Mullen and The Works have been performing their world-renowned ‘One Night of Queen’ live concert.Claude Dubois/Courtesy photo

But they called him back for a final audition, which led him to compete on the show. He didn’t even choose the songs — his mom and wife had sent a recording of him singing two songs at a friend’s karaoke party. One was “Somebody,” and the other was “A Kind of Magic,” both of which the television show selected for him to perform.


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“I was like, ‘Well, hang on, this is getting a bit scary.’ And that was it. That was the beginning of the whole crazy sort of experience, which then became this career,” he said.

He had played in amateur bands, including one he formed as a teenager with his best friend, which got a “wee bit of success, and then like every other band, never made it,” he said.

So they both got jobs, got married and he’d sing at karaoke bars or jam nights as a hobby. When the Queen gig took off, he had to learn the ropes quickly.

During the ‘One Night of Queen’ performance you’ll experience over the top theatrics, costume changes and more on stage. Claude Dubois/Courtesy photo

“Suddenly, when people are paying money … how do you keep them amused for that amount of time without them looking at their watches or walking out or throwing a beer bottle at you? I was literally learning how to do it as I went along,” he said.

He obviously learned well, having played over 2,500 live shows in more than 20 countries — and selling out many of the same venues Queen itself has. In fact, Queen guitarist Brian May invited Mullen to a Queen show, met him backstage and said, “You certainly share with Freddie (Mercury) more than a likeness.”

“It was surreal to meet him. It was a bit like ‘Wayne’s World’ when they meet Alice Cooper and said, ‘We’re not worthy.’ ‘Oh my god, it’s Brian May, oh, you’re tall, oh he’s real’ — all this was going through my head at the same time. I put my hand out to shake his hand, and he gave me a hug. That blew my mind. Then we sat down, and we just started chatting. He was the most un-rock rock star I’ve ever met. He was so modest, very polite,” Mullen said, adding that they began talking like equals about their tours. “It was like: We’re talking about the same things. That’s crazy. And then you realize that this guy’s doing exactly the same as us, only on a different level. Then he stood up, and he gave me a hug and he said, ‘You know, keep doing what you’re doing. Freddie would be proud.’”

Over the years, they’ve kept in touch.

‘One Night of Queen’ is sold out but you can sign up for ticket alerts in case any tickets become available. Claude Dubois/Courtesy photo

The band highlights all of the showmanship, theatrics and music of Queen.

“I love to personalize the show because you’re not getting that configuration of people ever again. You’ll probably get some people that’ll come back and see the show, but for that collection of people, that’s it. We chat to them … and once you start chatting to the crowd, they realize that it’s not just: sit-down, watch, clap and leave. It’s an immersive experience. It’s like: You guys sing along, dance, headbang if you want. Don’t worry about making a fool of yourself. We’re all friends in here,” Mullen said. “It’s a rock concert.”

While it takes some guts to sing and perform like Mercury, he jokes that tight underwear helps him hit the high notes. But all joking aside, he’s been a Queen fan all his life.

“The music’s so good and so eclectic. They’d write a big rock song and then something that’d be near ‘Bohemian Rhapsody,’ which is like pure opera, and then a funky (tune), like ‘Another One Bites the Dust.’ They just had a knack for writing great songs,” he said. “For me, this show is the band paying tribute to our heroes for other fans. We’re fans, and we get a kick out of it and we enjoy playing this music, which is sometimes challenging — the songs can be quite complex. But it’s fun.”

He also loves bringing audiences through the journey and experience of Queen, from hits to deep cuts, the latter of which introduces many people to other aspects of Queen.

“It’s kind of cool to reintroduce the music to audiences and say, ‘This is what this band could do when they flexed their muscles.’ The music was so diverse, and we try to cover every facet of that,” he said.

The band plays the songs as Queen would do them live.

Gary Mullen & The Works have performed for audiences around the world, playing more than 2,500 live shows to audiences in over 20 countries.Claude Dubois/Courtesy photo

“Queen as a studio band and Queen as a live band are two completely different entities. When they’re in the studio, there’s a lot of overdubbing of guitars — multi-guitar lines and multi-vocal lines and keyboards coming out of every speaker. You can’t do that with five guys. You can only do with five guys what you can do. You can’t play five keyboard parts with just one guy,” he said. “So you pick the parts of the harmony, and you perform it as Queen would do it (live). They were very exciting as a live band, and we try and convey that excitement of not just a group of guys standing on stage. Guys are moving around, taking solo spots that light them up and (include) smoke and costumes. It’s creating that razzmatazz of what a Queen show was. As Freddy said, ‘If it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing.’ I mean, we’re traveling around America on a bus that has a wrap of ‘Happy 250 America’ with the stars and stripes and a giant eagle on it. So the bus isn’t subtle, and the show isn’t subtle.”

He believes that the honesty Queen imparted continues to resonate with audiences, noting that Mercury was a great communicator.

“He always had this glint in his eye, like there was a joke, and you were part of it. He always said, ‘You know, I looked ridiculous, but it worked.’ You know, with the shiny leotards and the makeup and the exotic eyeliner and the painted fingernails back in the day. He never took himself seriously,” he said, adding that Mercury loved Liza Minnelli, Judy Garland — all the Hollywood stars. “He thought that’s how you should be on stage, but you should also have humanity with you. You have to be able to communicate and chat to the crowd on a one-to-one basis. So it’s not like listen to my art, and be quiet. It’s: ‘Join in, sing along, high-five your mate,’ and that’s what we hopefully bring when we bring our show to you.”

Though Mullen never saw Queen with Mercury live, he did try his best to get tickets when he was 13 and the original lineup played its Magic Tour in London. But by the time he and his buddy saved up the sum, tickets were sold out. Now, he’s performing that same show at the Vilar.

“We had to watch it on the TV in my room. I was kind of bummed out, but we took my ghetto blaster because it was (also) getting broadcast on the radio, and we put the ghetto blaster behind us, and we put the TV on so that we felt like we were at the concert,” he said. “So it’s kind of cool to do this particular show because this show has so many memories for me as a kid watching it on the TV and feeling that I was there and going, ‘My god, that looks amazing — Freddie having nearly 80,000 people in the palm of his hand for about two hours. It was the biggest show they’d ever done.”

Since it’s the 40-year anniversary of the Magic Tour, which never came to America, they figured they’d give the U.S. audience what they never saw live.

“The tour was huge. As Freddie said, ‘We’ll probably need a golf cart to get from one side of the stage to the other.’ The lighting rig was the biggest thing that anybody had seen at that moment. And obviously we don’t have that budget, but we’ve created a lighting rig based on that, which definitely has the wow factor — and the smoke and the walkways and the big drum riser and stuff that people expect to see.”

While some call them the best Queen tribute band in the world, they don’t fuss with such things. All they care about is giving their best every night so audiences feel like the ticket price was money well spent. To do that, Mullen has spent countless hours watching live Queen footage, but he realizes that you can overstudy someone.

“I don’t want it to become a caricature. I don’t want to become a parody. There’s also essences of me in the performance — my take on Freddie — and, if we wanted to go and see a Queen concert, what we’d want to see, what we’d want to hear, how we’d want it to look,” he said.

The band remains fresh by changing up the show every year, with different music, lighting and costumes, but, of course, they keep all of the hits in the show. Overall, they’ve mastered 18 albums worth of material.

The band hasn’t played the Vilar in a couple of years, but when they first did, they laughed at the production manager when he placed oxygen tanks in the wings.

“Then, four songs in, I was like: I can’t breathe. Like, I literally can’t breathe,” he said, talking about how he ended up sucking up the extra oxygen.

This year, they’re playing in Lake Tahoe, then spending a night performing in Denver, then hitting the gym before they come to Beaver Creek.

“It’s a beautiful town, and it’s a great venue and we had a lot of fun the last time we were there. We’re looking forward to coming back with this new show, and hopefully the audience will dig it as much as we dig playing it,” he said, jokingly adding, “and hopefully we’ll all be able to breathe long enough to finish the show.”

This show on Aug. 6 is currently sold out but you can sign up for a Ticket Alert and be the first to know if and when the Vilar Center box office releases more tickets for sale. Go to VilarPAC.org to learn more.