6.5.14 London Rehearsals wrap, win tixs to iHR QAL Preview

Adam Lambert Stuns In London
June 4, 2014 3:46 PM


(Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

Vocal powerhouse Adam Lambert is a busy man!!

Adam has been in London for the last week or so to begin rehearsals for his upcoming summer tour fronting for the legendary band, Queen! (And just how excited am I to see this show? I’ll quote the movie Mean Girls: “The limit does not exist!” LOL!)

Anyway. In between rehearsals, Adam squeezed in time for a plethora of other rock star activities like checking out closing night of We Will Rock You, seeing Disney’s Maleficent, (which Adam referred to as a “visual masterpiece,”), being gorgeous as a presenter at the Glamour Women of the Year Awards, pausing to meet fans who waited for hours, and catching Katy Perry on her PRISMATIC Tour (you can do that too when she’s in Connecticut next month)!

And because he’s Adam, he always take a second to make fans laugh with a silly Instagram video!

But most importantly, he’s been super busy working on new music!! This can’t be repeated enough — ADAM LAMBERT IS WORKING ON NEW MUSIC! And he talks about it HERE! Squeeeeeeee!!!

Seriously though! This boy is so busy, he’s definitely gonna need to kick back in that “grotto spa” at his new house in the Hollywood Hills… if he ever has time to relax!

–Lisa Gold, 96.5 TIC

Link: 965tic.cbslocal.com/2014/06/04/adam-lambert-stuns-in-london/



Source Lilybop


Nicolina Royale ‏@nicolinaroyale 40m
Hey @adamlambert rocked my cuff in the UK yesterday!!! #AdamLambert #love #studs #glamnation #queen pic.twitter.com/cr2g4APqm9





London Tour Rehearsals Done!
Source: Twitter 6.4.14.

Dr. Brian May ‏@drbrianmay
Last day of QUEEN & Adam rehearsals in London. Going GREAT. Building up fitness, hammering out arrangements. OK - I AM excited now !
Bri


iHeart Radio Queen + Adam Lambert Tour Concert Preview
Will be streamed online!!
6.5.14 by Q3

The Queen + Adam Lambert tour preview show will be held in Los Angeles on June 16, 2014 at 6:00PM Pacific Time. It will be in the iHeart Radio Theater in Burbank, California. The theater only holds 500 people. If you are an active member of the Adam Lambert Fan Club or Queen Fan Club (membership fee must be current), you can enter a raffle to win 2 tickets to this concert. The raffle is only for the tickets and you must provide your own transportation to Los Angeles. Tickets are not transferable. The drawing will be held on June 9th 2014.

This one off event will be hosted by Mötley Crüe's Nikki Sixx

A few Clear Channel Classic Rock Radio stations have said the concert will be broadcast on the web but no one has announced when. Most likely it will be streamed live like the past events from this showcase venue.

It still needs to be confirmed but I think it might be wise to mark your calendar for one hour on June 16, 2014, beginning at 9:00PM Eastern, 8:00PM Central, 7:00PM Mountain, 6:00PM Pacific.


Adam Lambert Fanclub Members entry info

Go to the Fanclub site adamlambertfans.com and login. YOU MUST HAVE A PAID MEMBERSHIP. YOU CAN ONLY SUBMIT ONE ENTRY.

Click on Events, then click on tickets for the first event – 06.16.14 iHeart Radio Theater.
There is no cost to enter this contest.


Queen Fanclub Members, Queen Online Database subscribers entry info

Many Queen Fans have been emailed this note and have to email their entry.




2014 Queen + Adam Lambert Tour Dates






2014 Queen + Adam Lambert Tour countdown….

#14 “Under Pressure” (1981)
Written by: Queen and David Bowie
Released as a single October 26, 1981 (UK), October 27, 1981 (US), and on Queen's album Hot Space May 21, 1982.

During the twenty years that Freddie Mercury fronted Queen, the band only collaborated with one other artist on a song - David Bowie, "Under Pressure." [They also collaborated with David Bowie on "Cool Cat" but the released version of this song did not include David Bowie's vocals.]

"Under Pressure" was a #1 song in the UK. In the US it peaked at #29. Even though the song was not a major hit in the US, it has become one of Queen most recognized songs. The song has grown in stature over the years, partly because it is a most awesome song. Partly because of the bassline. And, partly because in 1990 it was heavily sampled by another artist in a worldwide hits.

In a strange twist of fate, this song, and particularly the bassline played a major role in popularizing hip hop music.

1990: "Ice Ice Baby", a hip hop song written by American rapper Vanilla Ice and DJ Earthquake included samples the bassline of "Under Pressure". "Ice Ice Baby" was a worldwide hit and the first hip hop single to top the US Billboard charts. It was also #1 on the Australian, Dutch, Irish, Italian and UK charts. The song introduced hip hop it to a mainstream audience – it also introduced “Under Pressure” to an audience who was not familiar with Queen or David Bowie’s music.

November 2004: Stylus music critic Anthony Miccio commented that "Under Pressure" "is the best song of all time" and described it as Queen's "opus".

September 2005: Stylus online music magazine singled out the bassline as the best in popular music history.

In 2011, Rolling Stone's Readers' selected it #2 on the Best Collaborations of All Time and labeled the song a "massive hit". [It was beaten by a song that Mariah Carey fans pushed heavily and does not belong there, so it was probably really #1 -- we know about fan voting.)


In 2012, Slant Magazine listed "Under Pressure" as the 21st best single of the 1980s.

March 2012: VH1's selected “Under Pressure” as #31 of the 100 Greatest Songs of the '80s.


“….it was totally spontaneous”


Queen had been working on the song under the title "Feel Like" but were not yet satisfied with the result. The earlier, embryonic version of the song without Bowie, "Feel Like", is widely available in bootleg form, and was written by Queen drummer Roger Taylor. A lot of “Under Pressure” was here already but no killer bassline and none of the lyrics.

youtu.be/2kdxcxF5CmY




David Bowie had originally come to Mountain Studios in order to sing backing vocals on another Queen song, "Cool Cat". David was not satisfied with the song and/or his vocal on it and asked to have them removed from the song. The final version of "Cool Cat" did not include any David Bowie vocals.

Queen & David Bowie “Cool Cat” (1981, unreleased)

youtu.be/iUhVGYpO3Ow


Once David Bowie got there, they worked together for a while and wrote the song. The final version that became "Under Pressure" evolved from a jam session that Bowie had with the band at Queen's studio in Montreux, Switzerland; therefore it was credited as co-written by the five musicians. The scat singing that dominates much of the song is evidence of the jam-beginnings as improvisation.

According to Queen bassist John Deacon (as quoted in a French magazine in 1984), however, the song's primary or main musical songwriter was Freddie Mercury — though all contributed to the arrangement.


Brian May recalled to Mojo magazine in October 2008 that, "It was hard, because you had four very precocious boys and David, who was precocious enough for all of us. David took over the song lyrically. Looking back, it's a great song but it should have been mixed differently. Freddie and David had a fierce battle over that. It's a significant song because of David and its lyrical content."


There has been some confusion about who created the song's bassline. John Deacon said (in Japanese magazine Musiclife in 1982, and in the previously mentioned French magazine) that David Bowie had created it.


In more recent interviews, Brian May and Roger Taylor have credited the bass riff to Deacon. Bowie, on his website, said that the bassline was already written before he became involved. Roger Taylor, in an interview for the BBC documentary Queen: the Days of Our Lives, stated that Deacon had indeed created the bassline, stating that all through the sessions in the studio he had been playing the riff over and over; he also claims that when the band returned from dinner Deacon had, amusingly, forgotten the riff, but fortunately Taylor was still able to remember it.

I strange path of creating this song, ended up with this....



Personnel

Musicians:
Freddie Mercury - lead and backing vocals, piano, synthesizer (?), organ (?), handclaps, fingersnaps
David Bowie - lead vocals, synthesizer (?), additional guitar (?), handclaps, fingersnaps
Brian May - guitars, handclaps, fingersnaps
John Deacon - bass guitar, additional guitar (?), handclaps, fingersnaps
Roger Taylor - drums, backing vocals, handclaps, fingersnaps
David Richards - synthesizer (?), organ (?)

Produced by: Queen and David Bowie


Releases

Albums:
Greatest Hits, 1981 USA
Hot Space, 1982
Live Magic, 1986
Greatest Hits II, 1991
Classic Queen, 1992
Live At Wembley '86, 1992
Greatest Hits III, 1999
Live At Wembley Stadium, 2003
Queen On Fire: Live At The Bowl, 2004
Queen Rock Montreal, 2007

Singles:
Under Pressure, 1981
Under Pressure, 1988 3" CD Single
Innuendo, 1991 12" / CD Single
Under Pressure (rah mix), 1999 CD Single

Compilations:
The Ultimate 80's, CD, 1994, 516 831-2

Alternate Versions:
Greatest Hits II Edit - Greatest Hits II: Parlophone CDP 79 7971 2
Classic Queen Edit - Hollywood HR-61311-2
Karaoke Instrumental - Japan Toshiba EMI TOLW - 3249.50
1991 KEWB FM US Radio - Unreleased
1999 Rah Mix Album - Greatest Hits III
1999 Rah Mix Radio Edit - CD QUEENS 28
1999 Mike S*&@^#r Mix - CD QUEENS 28
1999 Knebworth “Live” Mix - CD QUEENS 28
1999 12” Promo Club 2000 Mix - Queen WL 28
Feel Like: Original Demo: (5:00) - Unreleased
1999 CD-R Acetate Millennium Mix (Long Intro) - Unreleased
1999 CD-R Acetate Millennium Mix (Short Intro) - Unreleased


“Under Pressure” Music Video

The video for the song features neither Queen nor David Bowie due to touring commitments. Taking the theme of pressure, director David Mallet edited together stock footage of traffic jams, commuter trains packed with passengers, explosions, riots, cars being crushed and various pieces of footage from silent films of the 1920s, most notably Sergei Eisenstein's influential Soviet film Battleship Potemkin, the silent Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde starring John Barrymore, and F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu, a master work of the German Expressionist movement. The video celebrates the pressure-cooker mentality of a culture willing to wage war against political machines, and at the same time love and have fun (there is also footage of crowds enjoying concerts, and lots of black and white kissing scenes)

youtu.be/ysr-xMMvquI


“Under Pressure” Live

The song was played live at every Queen concert from 1981 until the end of Queen's touring career in 1986. It is recorded on the live albums Queen Rock Montreal and Queen at Wembley.

Although very much a joint project, only Queen incorporated the song into their live shows at the time. David Bowie was never present for a live performance of the song with Freddie Mercury, and in the Queen concerts, Roger sang the backing vocals usually in unison with Freddie, as Freddie took over all of Bowie's parts.

David Bowie chose not to perform the song before an audience until the 1992 Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, when he and Annie Lennox sang it as a duet (backed by the surviving Queen members). However, since Freddie's death and the Outside tour in 1995, Bowie has performed the song at virtually every one of his live shows, with bassist Gail Ann Dorsey taking Freeddie's vocal part. The song also appeared in setlists from A Reality Tour mounted by David Bowie in 2004 when he frequently would dedicate it to Freddie Mercury. Queen + Paul Rodgers performed the song on their tours; and in summer of 2012, Queen + Adam Lambert included a performance of the song by Adam and Roger in each show.

There are so many recordings of “Under Pressure” that I have decided to just select three of the official Queen live recordings and a few other performances.

Queen first recorded a live version of the song at The Montreal Forum in Canada on 24 November 1981. This was included in the concert films We Will Rock You and Queen Rock Montreal. It is one of the few times in concert where Freddie used falsetto in the song on the line "these are the days it never rains but it pours".

youtu.be/U_IhiEUp2bQ

A second live version of the song was recorded at Milton Keynes, England, in 1982. This was released in 2004 on the live album/DVD Queen on Fire - Live at the Bowl. Prior to the concert, rumors circulated that David Bowie would appear with Queen to sing his parts onstage, but it is probable that he did not even attend the concert.

Later, Queen recorded a third live version of the song at Wembley Stadium, London, in 1986. This was released on the live album/DVD Live at Wembley Stadium.

youtu.be/4-rkJmRiFug

Another rendition from this same tour (from Queen's concert in Budapest) appeared in edited form on the album Live Magic in 1986.

youtu.be/2cKzzP9FJ5w

A recording taken from Queen's last gig in Knebworth Park in 1986 was remixed and used as a B-side from second CD single of "Rah Mix" version of this song, released in 1999. (see below)

During the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert in 1992, the surviving members of Queen along with Bowie and Annie Lennox (filling in for Mercury) performed the song. The concert was later released on DVD in 2002 for the 10th anniversary.

youtu.be/fCP2-Bfhy04

A version recorded by David Bowie's live band in 1995 was released on the bonus disc included with some versions of Outside – Version 2. This live version was also released on the single "Hallo Spaceboy" in 1996.

David Bowie's DVD A Reality Tour (2004) and album A Reality Tour (2010) include a November 2003 live version from the A Reality Tour, recorded in Dublin, with Bowie's bassist Gail Ann Dorsey singing Mercury's parts.

youtu.be/bxrlssUbNIc

Queen + Adam Lambert “Under Pressure” Live in Kiev, 2012

youtu.be/Br1YpqHjzmE


Remixes: "Rah Mix"

There are countless remixes of “Under Pressure”. The most famous one is the "Rah Mix" and was issued in December 1999 to promote Queen's Greatest Hits III compilation, reaching #14 on the UK Singles Chart. The video for Under Pressure "Rah Mix" was directed by DoRo and features footage of Freddie Mercury from the Wembley concert on July 12, 1986 and David Bowie at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert also at Wembley on April 20, 1992 spliced together due to digital technology (and with Annie Lennox carefully edited out) and features on Greatest Flix III VHS, Under Pressure "Rah Mix" cd single CD1 and Queen Hot Space 2011 iTunes edition.

youtu.be/tUS5cQNtWWA


“Under Pressure” Lyrics


youtu.be/zG1G5abvMsU

Under Pressure

Pressure pushing down on me
Pressing down on you no man ask for
Under pressure
That burns a building down
Splits a family in two
Puts people on streets

Bah bah bah bah bah bah
Bah bah bah bah bah bah

That's OK!
It's the terror of knowing
What this world is about
Watching some good friends
Screaming let me out!
Pray tomorrow takes me higher
Pressure on people
People on streets

Do do do bah bah bah bah
OK
Chipping around
Kick my brains round the floor
These are the days
It never rains but it pours
People on streets
People on streets

It's the terror of knowing
What this world is about
Watching some good friends
Screaming let me out!
Pray tomorrow takes me higher higher higher
Pressure on people
People on streets
Turned away from it all
Like a blind man
Sat on a fence but it don't work
Keep coming up with love
But it's so slashed and torn
Why why why?
Love love love love

Insanity laughs under pressure we're cracking
Can't we give ourselves one more chance?
Why can't we give love that one more chance?
Why can't we give love give love give love?
Give love give love give love give love give love?
Because love's such an old fashioned word
And love dares you to care
For people on the edge of the night
And love dares you to change our way
Of caring about ourselves
This is our last dance
This is our last dance
This is ourselves under pressure
Under pressure pressure



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