Last week at Madison Square Garden, a capacity audience thrilled to songs made famous by Freddie Mercury and Queen: “We Will Rock You,” “We Are the Champions,” “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” “Bohemian Rhapsody” and more. Brian May’s guitar soared; drummer Roger Taylor battered his kit into oblivion.
Out in front, Adam Lambert of “American Idol” fame glittered, strutted (in towering platform shoes), flirted and unleashed his stratospheric vocals. For “Bicycle Race,” he rode a rotating, gleaming beast of a motorcycle; for “Killer Queen,” he made up his face in a dressing room mirror like a Broadway starlet.
Lambert first performed with the original members of Queen during the finale of “American Idol” in 2009, singing “We Are the Champions” and “We Will Rock You.” (Previously, Lambert had auditioned for a part in the Queen musical “We Will Rock You.” He didn’t get the gig.) Lambert didn’t win — what happened instead was even better: He became an honorary member of the group.
He has been playing the world’s biggest stages with Queen since 2014. He captures the spirit of the late, great vocalist Freddie Mercury while also making the songs his own. Taylor and May, who once reasonably thought their arena days were over, have called him “a gift from god.” This year, he is touring with Queen on the Rhapsody tour.
But Lambert has a musical life outside of Queen too. His most recent album, “High Drama,” features covers of songs by Boy George, Billie Eilish, and Noel Coward.
“I’m not consciously making a decision to ignore the fact that I work with Queen,” Lambert told Forbes, of navigating his solo career. “But at this point it’s been ten years touring with them. It’s part of who I am, fully. It’s a part of my identity. It’s a part of my musical identity. I’ve learned a lot from them and being on the road with them.”
If there’s a common theme of Lambert’s musical journey, from “Idol” to his work with Queen and his solo career, it’s his flair for interpretation.
“I think there’s a certain amount of it that’s purely instinctual,” he said. “It’s one of those things where if you end up thinking too much about it, it’s not really coming from the right place. As I’ve matured and I gotten more experience in this business I’m able to trust my instincts more and more.”
Growing up in San Diego, California, Lambert made his debut as a performer at eight years old, playing Linus in “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.” The feeling he gets stepping onto a stage now is not that far away from his excitement playing Linus.
“At its core it is kind of the same thing. There’s a lot more layers to it now,” he said, laughing. “I think the thing that keeps me coming back to it is the beautiful experience of getting to communicate to a group of people. Having the ability to help them feel something, whether they’re laughing with you, or they’re nostalgic — like with Queen — or they’re crying. The connection you have with the audience is a very special thing.”
