Queen still wearing the crown

WHEN Freddie Mercury passed away in 1991, most people would have thought that Queen would abdicate their crown.

That just wasn’t to be, the band just wouldn’t lie down — and it seemed that nobody wanted them to.

A collaboration with Paul Rodgers (Free/Bad Company) saw a new album as well as tours — the latest of which calls in at Sheffield next week.

Paul was a great frontman for the band and the tours were all well-received. But in the end — 2009, in fact — he went his separate way again.

That same year, Queen’s guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor performed Queen music in the eighth season of American Idol. One of the contestants was Adam Lambert, who impressed them so much that he went on stage with them at the MTV Europe Awards in 2011.

It was then that Taylor let slip that they were considering Lambert as lead vocalist for them to go out as Queen again.

This they did and Lambert proved to be such a hit with the fans that, after the 2012 Queen + Adam Lambert Tour, they did it again in 2014/15.

There were some summer festivals in 2016 and last June the band embarked upon a world tour that will take them up to next March.

When the tickets for the UK dates went on sale last April, every show sold out within an hour and extra shows were added in Birmingham and London.

The band will unveil a brand new stage production for this tour, and it promises to be spectacular.

The teaming of Lambert with May and Taylor seems to be a winning formula. Lambert has a powerful voice and is a very flamboyant performer which suits the music well.

Along with May, Taylor and Lambert will be long-standing keyboard player Spike Edney, bassist Neil Fairclough (John Deacon has so far refused all enticements to come out of retirement) and percussionist Tyler Warren.

As well as all the greatest Queen songs, Lambert will perform some solo material and we will see the legendary Freddie Mercury on pre-recorded vocals.

Expect to hear Bohemian Rhapsody, Killer Queen, and all the classics, not forgetting the Queen anthems We Will Rock You, Radio Gaga and We Are The Champions in all their live glory, in a live experience nobody is likely to forget in a hurry.

Queen + Adam Lambert will be performing at The Sheffield Arena on Friday December 8.