Tyler Coates @tylercoates
.@hilmonstah wrote this fantastic piece about @adamlambert, who is bringing 21st century relevance to Queen:
www.esquire.com/entertainment/music/a56046/adam-lambert-queen-interview-two-fux/Adam Lambert Isn't Here to Replace Freddie Mercury. He's a Queen Frontman for the 21st Century.
On the 40th anniversary of the earth-shattering News of the World, Lambert contributes to the rock band's legacy while moving forward with his own.
When I mention that Adam Lambert—who's touring with Queen as its frontman, and has been since 2012—can step up to the microphone he inherited from Freddie Mercury without breaking a sweat, he laughs. Lambert, like Mercury before him, has a flair for the dramatic under the heat of the spotlight, and that extends to his wardrobe: A bold leather jacket is his showman's staple, be it studded, printed, covered in zippers, or, lately, star-spangled. For this jaunt, he favors a silver one striped with shocks of red that match the current shade of his hair; he will likely break it out for a number of the 21 shows he'll play in the next 30 days, and will sweat his ass off for every single one of them.
"Well, I sweat. I sweat a whole lot."
It's a deflection, this joke at his own expense, and another parallel between the 35-year-old American Idol alum and the mustachioed tenor, who died in 1991 at the age of 45. As Mercury did in Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody"-belting heyday, Lambert roars through some of the 20th century's most adored and vocally taxing verses with infuriating ease, and he gives everything he can until all that's left is a ringing in the ears of a stunned crowd and enough perspiration soaking his collar to cause concern.
"I'm drenched and a hot mess by the end of the first twenty 20," he says. "But hey. It's worth it."
"I DON'T WANT TO IMITATE, COPY, OR MIMIC," LAMBERT SAYS. "I'M NOT HERE TO DO AN IMPERSONATION. I'M HERE TO MAKE SURE THESE SONGS ARE STILL HEARD, TO KEEP THE SONGS IN A LIVE SPACE."