Black Jacket Symphony, guest vocalist team to present Queen classic

The Black Jacket Symphony is returning to the Sand Mountain Park and Amphitheater in Albertville with a special treat for fans of the rock group Queen.

The Birmingham-based outfit, which specializes in recreating classic rock albums on stage, in note-perfect fashion, will present Queen's "A Night at the Opera" on Aug. 11, with Marc Martel handling the vocal duties — as he did throughout "Bohemian Rhapsody," the 2018 film biography of the group's legendary front man, Freddie Mercury.

Martel, a native of Montreal who now lives in Nashville, Tennessee, gained attention as the front man for the Christian band downhere, but has gained renown for his vocal similarity to Mercury, who died in 1991.

In 2011, he entered a competition to join the Queen Extravaganza, the group's official tribute band developed by drummer Roger Taylor, by submitting a cover of "Somebody to Love."

The video gained a million views on YouTube in a matter of days and earned Martel a slot on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" and a victory in the contest. He toured off and on with the Queen Extravaganza for four years. He also has fronted the Black Jacket Symphony in previous presentations of "A Night at the Opera," including a 2017 concert in Montgomery.

The "Bohemian Rhapsody" soundtrack included new recordings by Martel, combined with original Queen recordings and contributions from Rami Malek, who earned the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as Mercury.

The film's producer, Graham King, said of Martel to Rolling Stone, "Literally, you could close your eyes and it's Freddie."

Released in 1975, "A Night at the Opera" was Queen's fourth studio album and is considered by many observers to be the group's best. AllMusic, which gives it a 5-star rating, calls it "a self-consciously ridiculous and overblown hard rock masterpiece" that "broke down all the barricades."

It includes the group's signature song, the 6-minute opus "Bohemian Rhapsody," the Top 20 single "You’re My Best Friend" and the often-covered "Love of My Life."

The Black Jacket Symphony will follow the album's 12 tracks with a selection of Queen's greatest hits.

Reserved tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday and range in cost from $35 to $75. They will be available at https://bit.ly/3Cb6jcH. Gates will open at 6 p.m. on show night.

The group covered Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours" at the amphitheater last September.