‘The quintessential rock band of all time’: Adam Lambert to join Queen for North American tour

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Months after a hugely successful U.S. debut as part of Las Vegas’ September iHeart Radio Festival, Queen will mount its first-ever North American tour with Adam Lambert. Brian May and Roger Taylor have been collaborating off and on with the American Idol finalist since 2009, but before then had only appeared on major concert stages in Europe.

These 19 new summer dates kick off on June 19, 2014, at Chicago’s United Center, and continue through July 21 in Washington D.C. with stops at U.S. cities like New York, Dallas and Los Angeles as well as Canadian venues in Montreal and Vancouver. Tickets will be available via Live Nation beginning Friday, March 14, 2014.

Plans include more dates around the world, the band said in an appearance today on Good Morning America, depending on the success of these initial shows.

Since Lambert was runner up on Idol, he has released two solo albums — including the Grammy nominated For Your Entertainment and Trespassing, which was a Billboard No. 1 debut. Along the way, Lambert has continued appearing with Queen, however.

They’ve performed at the European MTV Music Awards, held in 2011 at Belfast; in a series of summer 2012 dates in Russia, Poland and Ukraine; and for a trio of subsequent sold-out concerts in London.

Lambert takes over for the late Freddie Mercury, who passed more than two decades ago after a bout with AIDS — but not before becoming a hero to many, including Lambert. John Deacon, Queen’s founding bassist and composer of the charttopping “Another One Bites the Dust,” later retired from the music business.

“To get to be onstage with these two rock royalty members — honestly, Queen is the quintessential rock band of all time. They’ve influenced bands for years,” Lambert enthused on GMA. He said it’s a dream come true “to be able to bring [these songs] to life on stage” with May and Taylor.

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