Queen and Adam Lambert Will Tour North America

Just after the success of the 2018 “Bohemian Rhapsody” film Dec. 3, Queen announced their latest North American tour with vocalist Adam Lambert simply dubbed “The Rhapsody Tour.” The tour is set to start July 10 and finish Aug. 23 with venues such as Los Angeles, New York City and Chicago’s United Center Aug. 9.

Queen has been performing with different vocalists since 2004, starting with Paul Rodgers who was with the band until 2009. This current incarnation of Queen, featuring Lambert, the 2009 American Idol runner-up, was created in 2011 and has gone on several tours including two worldwide tours in 2014-15 and 2017-18. “The Rhapsody Tour” is the third tour to have North America as a destination and the first to only take place on the continent.

Guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor, the remaining members of Queen, carry on the spirit of the iconic group even after bassist John Deacon retired in 1997 and lead singer Freddie Mercury died in 1991. With Lambert’s fantastic vocal range, the group is able to bring classic songs like “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “Radio Ga Ga” to life for a crowd longing for music of days gone by.

Since Mercury’s passing, Queen has created original material including the 1995 album “Made in Heaven,” the 1997 single “No One But You (Only the Good Die Young),” and the 2008 album “The Cosmos Rocks” which was created with Paul Rodgers. While all of Queen + Adam Lambert’s tours have been only contained songs by the original Queen, the group may be working on original material, according to an Ultimate Classic Rock interview with Taylor and May on Mar. 12, 2014.

The tour was likely created to capitalize on the newfound popularity of Queen following the musical biopic,which has become the highest grossing film of its genre and the ninth highest grossing film of 2018 with a intake of over 600 million dollars, according to Box Office Mojo. The film has also been nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture-Drama and Best Actor- Motion Picture Drama further showing its quality.