3.20.14 New concert date? New song? Adam in Sweden, more!

If you haven’t guessed by now, the point of this is debating the addition of Adam Lambert to Queen.
Queen, fronted by the incomparable Freddie Mercury, were one of the biggest bands in the world during their glory years in the late 70s and 80s. When Freddie died of AIDS-related complications in 1991, most figured that, with him, the band Queen died as well.

Bassist John Deacon officially retired from music shortly after, leaving only two original members – guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor.

They’ve done a few one-off performances with high profile singers for benefit concerts and festivals (one of my very favorite performances was with British singer Tom Chaplin in 2010). They also took Paul Rodgers on a number of performances, but that played to mixed reviews at best.

After first playing with Brian May and Roger Taylor during the American Idol finale, it seemed like Adam Lambert had some chemistry with the surviving members of the band.

About a year ago, rumors started to swirl that Adam would be officially joining Brian and Roger for a full tour, but those rumors were quickly shot down by Adam himself.

Flash forward about a year, and the rumor became reality. Adam will officially be going on tour with Brian and Roger this summer. If you needed an indication of whether the public will buy into the “Queen + Adam Lambert” idea, the Madison Square Garden show sold out within minutes of going on sale.

Going back to the original question – can you still call the band “Queen” without, literally, the most vocal member of the band? I have to say yes, it’s fair game. Brian May and Roger Taylor have families to feed and they’re career musicians. Would you expect them to retire because two of their original bandmates are no longer a part of the group?

As far as “replacing Freddie” is concerned. Let’s be honest about one thing:

Nobody will ever replace Freddie Mercury.


Not vocally, not personality wise, and not his place in the band. But if a talented singer can bring Freddie, Brian, Roger, and John’s music to a new generation of fans, I say go for it.