News: Queen Returns To Tour Australia With Adam Lambert
4 min read
(AUS) Legendary superstar band QUEEN + Adam Lambert have just announced they will visit Australia. “Let’s ROCK those beautiful arenas JUST ONE MORE TIME!” said Brian May.
This is the first Queen tour of Australia since 1985.
Queen + Adam Lambert received glowing reviews for their performance together at the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas last September, triggering a conversation between Adam, Roger and Brian to take the show on the road.
The threesome first shared the stage during American Idol in May 2009 for a performance of “We Are The Champions”. They teamed up again in 2011 at the MTV European Music Awards in Belfast, Ireland for an electrifying eight-minute finale of “The Show Must Go On”, “We Will Rock You” and “We Are The Champions” and in the summer of 2012, Lambert performed a series of shows with Queen across Europe as well as dates in Russia, Ukraine and Poland. They also performed three sold-out gigs at London’s Hammersmith Apollo.
Promoter Paul Dainty said of this momentous tour “Since I have started promoting and producing concert tours, one of my biggest dreams has been to bring Queen back to Australia and now this dream is a reality. This may be the last chance Australian fans have to see one of the greatest rock bands in history and, as Rolling Stone recently said ‘’Adam Lambert fronting Queen will astound audiences.”
“I’m completely in awe of the Queen phenomenon,” added Lambert. “The thought of sharing the stage for a full set in Australia is so beautifully surreal. I’m honoured 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.”
In a career spanning over 40 years Queen has amassed a staggering list of sales, awards, and hall of fame inductions that is second to none. Record sales in the hundreds of millions of units, including an unprecedented string of number one albums and top-charting singles that continue to put Queen in the top ten of all-time iTunes sales, seven Ivor Novello Awards, an MTV Global Icon Award, two songs enshrined in the Grammy Hall of Fame – “We Will Rock You” and “We Are the Champions” – which also remain the most played songs at sports events and arenas around the world. The statistics show Queen has the highest selling back catalogue in Australia, outselling even the Beatles. Even with the tragic loss of their uniquely talented singer Freddie Mercury, Queen remain one of the most revered bands in rock and pop history, able to claim one of the most enduring song catalogues of all time. Just think: “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “Another One Bites the Dust”, “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”, “Radio Ga Ga”, “Killer Queen”, “Fat Bottomed Girls”, “Bicycle Race”, songs that form the backdrop to the lives of generations of fans across all ages. With their sterling song craft, virtuoso musicality, and colossal spectacle of their live performances, Queen – Brian May, Freddie Mercury, Roger Taylor and John Deacon – captured hearts and conquered charts like no other band in history, a legacy that continues to live through the ongoing work and concert performances by May and Taylor. Their musical We Will Rock You, co-created with writer Ben Elton, is approaching its 12th year on stage in London’s West End and is currently touring North America.
Adam Lambert’s stunning performances on the eighth season of American Idol are still widely regarded as some of the most riveting moments in the show’s history. His debut album For Your Entertainment earned him a Grammy Award nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. His second album, Trespassing, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard charts. The subsequent tour took Lambert from Australia to South Africa, throughout Asia and Eastern Europe and culminated in a sold-out arena show in Helsinki, Finland. In 2013, Lambert appeared as a guest star on the hit TV series, GLEE. He is currently writing and recording for his third album, which will be released this year
Tickets to the general public will go on sale at 10am on Wednesday 28 May.
Queen + Adam Lambert Tour Dates:
PERTH – Friday 22 August – Perth Arena
SYDNEY – Tuesday 26 August – Allphones Arena
MELBOURNE – Friday 29 August – Rod Laver Arena
BRISBANE – Monday 1 September – Brisbane Entertainment Centre
Australian audiences will be in for a treat with Lambert as frontman for Queen. I’ve seen them in concert and they’re terrific.
Australia, you’re in for a real treat. I saw 2 performances at London’s Hammersmith-Apollo theater. Adam won over a very skeptical London audience. By the midway thru ea performance, they were cheering as crazily as a bunch of Glamberts for him. The London newspaper reviews were glowing. Adam was born for this type of show. He loves Austrailia, and audiences there will love him with the venerable Brian May and Roger Taylor! Get your tickets fast, and have a ball!