As a music lover, born in the ’80s, my first real, gut-level introduction to “We Are the Champions” wasn’t a stadium circa 1969- 71 – it was a footy broadcast, blasting out of a TV speaker to kick off another State of Origin season. That’s the version of Queen I grew up on: beer-adjacent, slightly bogan, entirely glorious in its own way.
So when I tell you that Candlelight Concerts by Fever’s Tribute to Queen and The Beatles gave me all of that same chest-thump without a single VB in sight, I mean it as the highest compliment. This is the grown-up, string-quartet, top-shelf-gin version of the songs I already loved. And it turns out they didn’t need the crowd chant to work. They just needed a room that took them seriously.
And what a room. Western Sydney’s first-ever Candlelight Concert landed at The William Inglis Hotel’s Sales Arena, inside the Riverside Stables at Warwick Farm – a space that, until fairly recently, was where Australia’s finest thoroughbred yearlings went under the hammer. It’s a properly striking venue: soaring, heritage-heavy and built for spectacle. On the night of Saturday 29 August, hundreds of flickering candles filled the space instead of nervous bloodstock agents. Equal parts intimate and cinematic, and genuinely unlike anywhere else you’ll catch a gig in Sydney’s west.
The 8:30pm slot (Vivaldi’s Four Seasons got the earlier 6:30pm timeslot for the purists) brought a Queen-versus-Beatles set list that plays out like a very tasteful mixtape war: Beatles staples like “Here Comes the Sun,” “Yesterday,” “Blackbird” and “Come Together” going toe-to-toe with Queen’s biggest guns – “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “We Will Rock You,” “Another One Bites the Dust” and yes, my old Origin anthem “We Are the Champions.” All of it reworked for string quartet. And even if you’re style is more Tina Turner than Motzart, there’s something about hearing “Bohemian Rhapsody” stripped back to strings and candlelight that makes you actually listen to it again, rather than just mumbling along on autopilot.
It’s worth being upfront, as the organisers are: this is a tribute experience, not affiliated with or endorsed by either band, their estates, or anyone official. Nobody’s pretending otherwise, and it doesn’t need to – the arrangements (and the very funny host) are good enough to stand on their own.
Sixty minutes, no interval, doors closing once it kicks off – it’s a tight, well-run show that respects your evening rather than sprawling into one. Seating’s first-come-first-served within your ticketed zone, so turning up on the earlier side pays off if you want a proper view of the stage rather than the back of someone’s fascinator.
Is it “less bogan” than the version of Queen I met at the footy? Sure. But it’s not lesser – it’s just wearing a nicer jacket. Same songs, same goosebumps, different room. And if you ask me, that’s a pretty good trick for a night out in Western Sydney.
Worth knowing. This was Candlelight’s first outing at The William Inglis Hotel, but it won’t be the last. The venue is planning to bring the series back in November, with hopes of hosting it every two to three months going forward. There’s also a broader calendar of events lined up at the Sales Arena beyond Candlelight, so if that’s of interest, just say the word and I can pull together a list.
