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QUEEN are touring and have enlisted a new vocalist to help them

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Nemesis_

Member
After hints that Queen would be again linking up with Adam Lambert, Lambert, Brian May and Roger Taylor announced at a press conference today (March 6) that they’ll be heading on their first North American tour this summer. Lambert will be filling in for the late Freddie Mercury on the 19-date trek, which starts June 19 in Chicago and hits New York, L.A., Philly and a bunch of other cities in the US and Canada, finishing up July 20 at Maryland’s Merriweather Post Pavilion.

Lambert first performed with the legendary British band on American Idol in 2009, then again in 2011 for the MTV EMAs, which was followed by a string of overseas dates in 2012. The only time the Lambert-fronted Queen has played a US concert was at last year’s iHeartRadio Festival in Las Vegas.

“I’m completely in awe of the Queen phenomenon,” said Lambert today. “The thought of sharing the stage for a full set in North America is so beautifully surreal. I’m honored to be able to pay my respects to Freddie’s memory; he’s a personal hero of mine, and I am deeply grateful for the chance to sing such powerful music for fans of this legendary band. I know this tour will be a huge milestone for me, and with the support of Brian, Roger and the rest of the band, I feel like magic will be on display.”

Tickets go on sale March 14 through Live Nation. Head below to see the full list of dates.

Queen + Adam Lambert tour dates:
June 19 — Chicago, IL @ United Center
June 21 — Winnipeg, MB @ MTS Centre
June 23 — Saskatoon, SK @ Credit Union Centre
June 24 — Edmonton, AB @ Rexall Place
June 26 — Calgary, AB @ Scotiabank Saddledome
June 28 — Vancouver, BC @ Pepsi Live at Rogers Arena
July 1 — San Jose, CA @ SAP Center
July 3 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Forum
July 5 — Las Vegas, NV @ The Joint
July 6 — Las Vegas, NV @ The Joint
July 9 — Houston, TX @ Toyota Center
July 10 — Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center
July 12 — Detroit, MI @ The Palace of Auburn Hills
July 13 — Toronto, ON @ Air Canada Centre
July 14 — Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre
July 16 — Philadelphia, PA @ Wells Fargo Center
July 17 — New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
July 19 — Uncasville, CT @ Mohegan Sun Arena
July 20 — Columbia, MD @ Merriweather Post Pavilion

http://www.idolator.com/7508625/ada...ce=sc-fb&utm_medium=ref&utm_campaign=alambert

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What say you, QUEEN fans?
 

MormaPope

Banned
thumbs_down_gladiator.gif


Just ain't the same, you can't replace Freddie with anyone. Don't really mind either way though, Queen retouring isn't appealing to me.
 

Ein Bear

Member
Queen really should have been retired when Freddie died. If Brian May and Roger Taylor want to tour and make some money, then fair enough, but at the very least they shouldn't be using the name.
 
On the one hand, they are part of Queen. On the other hand, they are only a part of Queen.

If they were coming to Boston, I'd be all out of sorts figuring out what to do.
 

offtopic

He measures in centimeters
I'm in...they did a great job at the iheartradio festival in Vegas a couple months back (my brother-in-law went and said they were fantastic). Vocally and theatrically Lambert blows Martel away...not sure what people are smoking. Yes, Martel's tone sounds more Freddy-ish but I'm not huge on copycats or impersonators.
 

FelixOrion

Poet Centuriate
Seriously should've been Marc Martell. Closest thing you'll ever get to a proper Queen show in the present day, looks and all.
 

andycapps

Member
Not a huge fan of Lambert by himself, but he has an incredible voice and if anybody can come close to filling Freddie's shoes, it's him. Would actually be interested in this if it were coming close to me.
 
Never heard of this guy, but looking at his pics I assumed he'd be a proper rocker. I was disappointed when I watched his vids just now, his voice isn't a good fit for Queen IMO.
 

offtopic

He measures in centimeters
Interesting article on Rolling Stone:

http://music.yahoo.com/news/q-queen...ur-pressure-john-183544107-rolling-stone.html

Just five years ago, Adam Lambert auditioned for American Idol by singing Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "We Will Rock You." In his wildest dreams, he couldn't have imagined he was kickstarting a series of events that would make him the newest Queen frontman. The trio played together on the show and teamed up again for a small series of overseas gigs last year. Now, they're launching a full American tour this summer. Rolling Stone sat down with Brian May, Roger Taylor and Lambert to talk about the the tour, future plans and their relationship with former Queen bassist John Deacon.

Brian May Talks New Queen Recordings, Freddie Mercury Biopic

Adam, how did Freddie Mercury inspire you as a young singer?
Adam Lambert: Freddie had so much power and intensity to his voice. I was always a loud singer, so I identified with the way he attacked things. He had such an amazing attack. On the flip side, he could give you something so lyrical and smooth. He had so many different colors, and I'm very inspired by that.

Tell me about seeing Adam sing for the first time. What struck you about him as a singer and performer?
Brian May: It was both at the same time. I always think that singing is a very physical thing. I'm now famous for attacking The Voice in Britain. I think it's a stupid idea to put someone behind a screen or turn your back to them. A singer is full-on in every respect. It's a physical thing. It's the sound, the look, the animal magnetism. You don't question it. When you see Adam, you see a performer. He's performing from his heart. He's interpreting the song. I never had any question that he's the real thing. It's a rare thing to find someone with that much talent and the instrument to put it forward.

Roger, how did you first see Adam? Was it on Youtube?
Roger Taylor: Yeah. A musician friend of mine in America was like, "You've gotta check out this guy on Idol." So we Googled you. His voice was phenomenal. I was just like, "Wow."

Adam: Thanks guys!

Taylor: I said you had this sort of slight Elvis look going on. I just thought, "Wow, what a voice! Those octaves!" That was my first impression. It was just like anybody else hearing about someone with an extraordinary talent.

At the press conference you said he was a "diva in the best possible way." Can you elaborate on that?
Taylor: To me, diva means an extraordinary, outrageously theatrical, brilliant performer.

May: [Sarcastically] But he is really difficult.

Lambert: You ain't seen nothing yet! You should see my rider.

Adam, have you taken a crash course in the Queen catalog. Do you know every song by this point?
Lambert: When we did our run overseas in Europe, we had about ten days to rehearse. I'm very familiar with a big handful of the hits. That's what I grew up hearing. There were definitely some songs I wasn't familiar with. It was a bit of pressure to know I knew them and to learn them. That pressure and that intensity of the process gives it a lot of power. I like pressure.

There's a lot of younger fans that never got the chance to see Queen live. This won't be nostalgia for them, but a new experience.
May: We were very conscious of that in making this decision. This is the closest that you'll ever get to see Queen as it was in our golden days, but it's not a reproduction. It's not an imitation. We're here live and real and we have a great singer. They'll be a lot of newness about this. I think that's very exciting. It'll be loud and dangerous and all the things that people used to look for in us.

Lambert: I think the thing that's really special is that this is the real deal. This is live. In today's music world, you go to a concert and you're getting a lot of playbacks. There's click tracks. It is what it is. I'm not hating on it. But this is the real deal. This is pure. We're not playing to a click. We're not playing to tracks. This is all live instruments. I'm singing all the vocals with these guys on vocals. It's purely organic. I think in today's day and age, it's very exciting for an audience to see something that has that much heart.

I know you've played a bunch of gigs with them overseas, but it still must be surreal to be standing onstage with these guys.
Lambert: It's beautiful. It is surreal. I feel honored. I feel inspired by it. It's also one of those things where you're going to sink or swim, especially when we were onstage for for the first time in the Ukraine in front of 300,000 people. I was like, "Well, it's now or never. You gotta run with it." It's similar to be in camera with Idol. You go for it.

Are you thinking much about plans behind this tour? Maybe doing more overseas gigs?
May: Not specifically, no. There is a possible… We might take this a little bit further. There's some good proposals coming our way, but for now we're just concentrating on this.

Are you open to the idea of cutting new material with Adam?
May: I'm open to anything.

Taylor: It would be nice. We'll see what happens on tour. I think we're going to make sure we enjoy it first.

Lambert: I think the thing that's special about this is that it is a limited thing. It's this special engagement. It's not like, "Now we're to the grind." It's a once-in-a-lifetime tour.

Do you still keep in touch with John Deacon?
May: We don't, really. He doesn't want to. He wants to be private and in his own universe.

Taylor: He's completely retired from any kind of social contact.

Do you ever see or talk to him?
Taylor: No, no. I think he's a little fragile and he just didn't want to know anything about talking to people in the music business or whatever. That's fair enough. We respect that.

May: He still keeps an eye on the finances, though. John Deacon is still John Deacon. We don't undertake anything financial without talking to him.

Adam, you're still going to focus on your solo career, right? This is just a side project for now?
Lambert: This is a side-by-side project. As a creative artist, I do a lot of different things. If I'm not busy, I get bored and restless. Earlier this year, I did a stint on Glee. I was in Sweden this last month working on solo material. I'm actually going back to Sweden on Saturday to continue working on that. I like doing a lot of different things. The beauty of that is that something like this is completely inspiring. I'm learning a lot from these two gentlemen. I'm learning from the audience. I think that will help inform and make my material stronger.
 
Lambert is probably one of the few male vocalists who could somewhat hold a candle to Freddie

Yup. I saw them in the Hammersmith Apollo a few years ago and had literally never heard of it (so I didn't come at it with the general hatred of reality tv stars that many have) and man, I came away with 2 thoughts - firstly, the guy can really, really fucking sign and secondly that he was a great showman but also knew just when to recede into the background and let the others do their thing. It never felt like he was the brash kid taking over the show.

I really enjoyed it. I wish people would reserve judgement, a little.
 

trh

Nifty AND saffron-colored!
I guess I might have an easier time seeing this work because I've accepted that Queen nowadays will never be the same Queen as it was with Freddie. It's like they're two different bands in my head. So I see Lambert as an alternative, and not necessarily an attempt to replicate Freddie - since no one can do that, not even remotely (despite being excellent that guy in the tribute band is not nearly good enough) - which is something I can appreciate. It's different, but Lambert brings a voice almost as powerful as Freddie's, so the oomph is still there.

Edit:
May: We were very conscious of that in making this decision. This is the closest that you'll ever get to see Queen as it was in our golden days, but it's not a reproduction. It's not an imitation. We're here live and real and we have a great singer. They'll be a lot of newness about this. I think that's very exciting. It'll be loud and dangerous and all the things that people used to look for in us. - just what I was talking about
 

Mumei

Member
Brian May has been a huge fan of Adam Lambert since Idol, so this isn't a surprise. I don't really think he's a good fit vocally, though.
 

Jezbollah

Member
I guess I might have an easier time seeing this work because I've accepted that Queen nowadays will never be the same Queen as it was with Freddie. It's like they're two different bands in my head. So I see Lambert as an alternative, and not necessarily an attempt to replicate Freddie - since no one can do that, not even remotely (despite being excellent that guy in the tribute band is not nearly good enough) - which is something I can appreciate. It's different, but Lambert brings a voice almost as powerful as Freddie's, so the oomph is still there.

They had a bass player too ;)
 
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