Adam Lambert And Queen Rock Wembley As Tour Nears Final Shows
News on Queen and Adam Lambert has been sparse over the past few weeks as they have rocked their way across Europe. The U.K. media went into a feeding frenzy after Adam Lambert and Queen starred on live television on the Big Ben Live show that saw in the New Year. Until that point, the American Idol runner-up was largely unknown by U.K. audiences, but that all changed on New Years Day when Adam Lambert became the most searched phrase on Google U.K.
In mid-January, Queen and Adam Lambert kicked off the European leg of their world tour in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the first of 28 sold out shows across Europe. Even at this point, some still doubted that Lambert could fill the shoes vacated by the inimitable and irreplaceable Freddie Mercury.
The doubters were won over immediately, as the Guardian proclaimed that Queen had found a “flamboyant front-man with the Freddie factor.” Glasgow’s Evening Times said that “Queen still know how to put on a show and Adam Lambert is a revelation, dancing, strutting and grinding his way through a note perfect performance that Freddie would have approved of.”
As the tour moved around the U.K., the plaudits continued and Lambert was hailed as a revelation by all who saw him perform. The only blip in the constant flow of praise came when Adam contracted a serious bronchial infection and the show in Brussels on February 8 had to be cancelled at short notice. It is a measure of Lambert’s professionalism that he managed to perform in Milan just two days later.
It seems barely believable that the tour is now almost over, but Queen and Adam Lambert arrived back in the U.K. last night for a sold out performance at Wembley Arena. The Express reports that once again Lambert won over the doubters as he “responds to the challenge of filling Mercury’s massive shoes with some towering footwear of his own and a virtuosso vocal performance.”
Everyone who has seen Lambert perform with Queen is in agreement that he has the vocal ability and flamboyant stage presence for the job, and, as the tour nears its close, he is supremely confident. That confidence is rooted in the fact that Lambert has never tried to imitate Freddie Mercury. He is most assuredly his own man as he brings his boundless energy to Queen’s shows. Of course, Lambert shares Freddie’s camp flamboyance, but his energy and enthusiasm have given a new lease of life to Roger Taylor and Brian May, who said that Lambert was “a gift from God.”
Lambert tells the audience that he is as big a fan of Freddie as they are, and admits that at times he can’t believe his luck, but it’s not luck that got him to where he is. Put simply, it is talent, humility, and a natural instinct to entertain. There are just two shows remaining on this tour. Thursday, the show rolls into Liverpool and the final show is in Sheffield Friday. Adam has an album of his own due out in April, but as yet, there are no shows announced in support of it.
Hopes remain high that there will be some major U.K. festival appearances for Adam Lambert and Queen this summer.
[Photo by Jim Dyson/Getty Images]
