Brian May is firing back at those who charge that Queen has become a tribute band, saying he and Roger Taylor have found a way to walk a fine line between celebrating their past and moving forward with Adam Lambert.
There’s a distinction to be made, he says, because Queen + Adam Lambert — in the midst now of their first world tour — isn’t content to focus on what came before with late founding frontman Freddie Mercury.
“The tribute band will reproduce what we used to do, whereas what we are doing now is taking it to a different place, evolving it in a different way — and it’s a joy,” May tells The New Zealand Herald. “Within our show, we have little points of nodding to Freddie and we are very conscious that it could be too much and it could be too little. But we think we’ve got it just fine to make that connection and reinforce that Freddie, in a sense is very much still part of this.”
Queen first performed with Lambert in 2009, as part of his finale appearance on TV’s American Idol. They’ve appeared with him off and on ever since, finally making their U.S. stage debut last fall in Las Vegas. A North American tour followed this year. Mercury died in 1991 from AIDS-related illness.
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