AEDO

CompE Lockwood

Friday afternoon, the crowd goes wild— and rightly so. For how can you not be thrilled experiencing Queen in concert, virtually, from the comfort of your own home?

Except this is not Queen— though he’s pretty darn close. The showman performing as the rock legend is Aedo Destiny, and he is nailing it. Close your eyes, and you’re listening to Freddie Mercury.

“Aedo is always high energy,” notes his manager, Medea Difference, with a smile. “The show is like actually listening to Queen,” she adds as Aedo croons “Can anybody find me somebody to love.” Aedo has found love. It lives in his music and through his fans.

“I love Queen and appreciate how Aedo does Queen’s music,” says this evening’s front row follower Rachel. Another advocate of the Queen facsimile is Artu, who adds, “I follow his shows because I’m a Queen fan and an Aedo fan.”

Tributes go on and on, and so does Aedo. A standard show is an hour, with 15 Queen tunes. Double that for a two-hour gig as the hits just keep on coming. Aedo notes he has loved singing since childhood days in Rome. “I’ve performed professionally for about 20 years,” the Italian songster explains, interviewed from his office before tonight’s show. “I’m now 38, so I guess I’ve sang almost my entire adult life.”

His RL venues include Italy, Spain, and New York City. So how did this talented European make the switch from Roma to SL? We owe it to COVID-19. “I wasn’t getting much work in RL because of the coronavirus,” Aedo recalls, “so I decided to try Second Life during the quarantine lockdown. At first, I did not believe this would work, but after some gigs, I had a great answer from the audience.” Short version: The crowd went wild— and still does.

Aedo currently performs in dozens of clubs throughout SL. His music is all Queen and all good. He has been part of “The Queen History” and in theaters throughout Italy. He has also performed at Second Life’s 17 Birthday Party— an official event hosted by Linden Lab.

His Second Life music career began when he met Medea, who became his manager. “After seeing his first show, I knew he had talent,” Medea says about the first time she heard Second Life’s’ Freddie Mercury sound-alike. She helped the new performer find gigs and club dates, and the rest is history.

“In RL, I sing my original songs which include Queen,” Aedo notes. “But in Second Life, my niche is Queen.” Medea adds, “Aedo is a great composer and producer in RL, too.” He brings his talent to SL.

He notes that his voice is his best skill. “My similarity with Freddie Mercury’s voice helped me a lot in this,” he says about mirroring Queen. “People tell me, my voice is very similar to Mercury’s.” Medea adds “I totally agree! I have had friends listen to Aedo’s voice and they believed it was Freddie’s!

Aedo is a special person and a great artist, that I can say with no doubts.” His song list is the quintessential all things Queen, including: “Keep Yourself Alive,” “Tie Your Mother Down,” “Now I’m Here,” “Love of My Life,” “Somebody To love,” “Fat Bottomed Girl,” “Killer Queen,” “ Bohemian Rhapsody,” “ Don’t Stop Me Now,” “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” “One Vision, In My Defense,” “I Want It All,” “The Show Must Go On,” “We Will Rock You,” and of course, “We Are The Champions.”

The beauty of Second Life is that those fortunate enough to experience a Queen concert, can probably just sit and listen with little interaction in the real world. But that is not so in the second one. Aedo works the crowd, calls people by name, interacts with the audience on a personal level.

His audience (like Queen’s) is from all over the world, but during the concert, we are all one, enjoying the music and performer. “I love to sing, in RL and in SL,” says Aedo. “The difference in my RL shows is that I write / compose much of my own music. In SL, I perform Queen.

The showman who just belted out “We Are the Champions” as dancing laser lights illuminates the stage, notes, “I love being here.” His audience agrees and can sum up tonight’s event in the words of Queen: We Will Rock You. Aedo most certainly does. For more information on Aedo, including his show schedules, contact: KING AEDO LIVE SHOWS Calander