Queen + Adam Lambert

Queen + Adam Lambert

Queen + Adam Lambert in concert at San Jose in 2014, L-R: Roger Taylor, Adam Lambert, Brian May
Background information
Origin England
Genres Rock
Years active 2011–present
Associated acts Queen
Members Brian May
Roger Taylor
Adam Lambert

Queen + Adam Lambert (sometimes referred to as Q+AL or QAL) is a collaboration between the active members of the British band Queen (Brian May and Roger Taylor) and American vocalist Adam Lambert. As with all other Queen performances since 1997, longstanding bassist John Deacon has declined to participate in the project due to his retirement. This is the first long-term collaboration of Queen since the Queen + Paul Rodgers project ended in 2009. The collaboration originated when May and Taylor appeared on American Idol in 2009 when Lambert was a contestant. They began performing occasionally in 2011, conducted a short European tour in 2012, and in 2014 announced a world tour, the Queen + Adam Lambert Tour 2014–2015 with dates in North America, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, Europe and South America. In 2016, the group will perform several dates as part of a festival tour in Europe.

Joining May, Taylor and Lambert are long-time Queen touring keyboardist Spike Edney, bassist Neil Fairclough and percussionist Rufus Tiger Taylor (Roger Taylor's son). Although there are currently no plans to release a studio album with this lineup, May and Taylor have stated that there is a possibility of the group recording new material.[1]

Origin

Queen and Adam Lambert first performed together in 2009 when Queen members Brian May and Roger Taylor appeared as guests on the eighth season of American Idol on which Adam Lambert was a contestant. On the show Lambert and the eventual winner Kris Allen performed "We Are the Champions" together with the band.[2] Soon after the finale, Brian May indicated to Rolling Stone that he was considering Lambert as a front-man for Queen.[3] May later revealed that he became interested in Lambert as a replacement for Paul Rodgers after watching a video of Lambert's audition for American Idol where he performed "Bohemian Rhapsody".[4]

In November 2011, Adam Lambert joined Queen for a special performance at the MTV Europe Awards in Belfast where Queen received a Global Icon Award.[5] It was then reported in December 2011 that Taylor and May had begun discussions with Lambert for him to front Queen in concert.[6] On June 30, 2012, Queen + Adam Lambert played their first full concert at Kiev's Independence Square for a joint show with Elton John in aid of the Elena Pinchuk ANTIAIDS Foundation.[7]

Tours

After their first performance in Kiev in 2012, a Queen + Adam Lambert mini-tour followed with dates in Moscow, Wrocław, and London.[8] In September 2013, they appeared as a headliner at the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas.[9] In March 2014, they announced a 19-date Queen + Adam Lambert North American tour in the summer of 2014,[10] which was then extended to 24 dates.[11] In May 2014, tour dates in Australia were also announced,[12] followed by New Zealand.[13] The band also performed in South Korea and Japan. The tour was then extended to 2015 with dates in Europe and the UK as well as South America.[14]

A festival tour of Europe is scheduled for summer 2016.

Appearances

Queen + Adam Lambert have appeared on a number of television shows. On the 30th of November 2014 they performed "Somebody to Love" with the X Factor contestants joining in the final chorus.[15] The band performed two songs on the Christmas special of the Helene Fischer Show on German television. One of them was "I Want It All" and the other was "Who Wants to Live Forever" which was a duet between Lambert and Helene Fischer.[16]

The band performed a special concert, Queen & Adam Lambert Rock Big Ben Live, which was broadcast live on BBC One on New Year's Eve 2014 and New Years Day 2015.[17][18] The concert was performed in the shadow of Big Ben in Central Hall Westminster, and the show paused for the chimes of the Big Ben in the New Year countdown and the firework display in London.[19]

Band members

Touring Musicians

References

  1. ↑ "Queen Hint at Recording New Material with Adam Lambert". Ultimate Classic Rock.
  2. ↑ "Kris Allen, Adam Lambert Tear Up Queen’s ‘We Are The Champions’". MTV News.
  3. ↑ Brian Hiatt (May 22, 2009). "Exclusive: Queen's Brian May Addresses Adam Lambert Rumors". Rolling Stone.
  4. ↑ Jon Wiederhorn (March 6, 2014). "Adam Lambert Reveals He Discovered Queen Through ‘Wayne’s World’". Yahoo Music.
  5. ↑ Shirley Halperin (November 6, 2011). "MTV EMAs: Adam Lambert Performs With Queen". The Hollywood Reporter.
  6. ↑ "Queen + Adam Lambert? Roger Taylor Talks Possible Live Dates". December 6, 2011.
  7. ↑ "Adam Lambert Performs 'Bohemian Rhapsody' with Queen in Kiev", Rolling Stone, July 1, 2012
  8. ↑ Lyndsey Parker (July 12, 2012). "Queen + Adam Lambert Rock London With "Queenbert" Concert". Yahoo! Music.
  9. ↑ Lyndsey Parker (June 14, 2014). "They Are the Champions: A Queen + Adam Lambert Timeline". Yahoo! Music Reality Rocks.
  10. ↑ Jason Newman (March 6, 2014). "Queen and Adam Lambert to Reunite for Summer Tour". Rolling Stone.
  11. ↑ Dan Hyman (June 20, 2014). "Queen and Adam Lambert's Tour Opener: 5 Things We Learned". Rolling Stone.
  12. ↑ "Queen and Adam Lambert Announce 2014 Australian Tour". ARIA charts.
  13. ↑ "Queen with Lambert announce NZ show". stuff.co.nz. July 17, 2014.
  14. ↑ David Renshaw (September 29, 2014). "Queen and Adam Lambert announce 2015 UK arena tour dates". NME.
  15. ↑ Jeff Benjamin (December 1, 2014). "Watch Adam Lambert & Queen Slay "Somebody to Love" Live on 'X Factor'". Fuse.
  16. ↑ Michel Imhof (25 December 2014). "Das erwartet dich in der "Helene Fischer Show"". Blick am Abend.
  17. ↑ "Queen and Adam Lambert performed a New Year's Eve concert broadcast on BBC One called Queen + Adam Lambert Rock Big Ben Live". BBC. 1 December 2014.
  18. ↑ Kate Mossman (26 December 2014). "Queen’s Christmas message: "We need a change of government"". The Guardian.
  19. ↑ Liam Martin (1 January 2015). "New Year's Eve Fireworks watched by 12 million on BBC One". Digital Spy.

External links

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