Queen + Adam Lambert Announce UK & European shows
Having well and truly rocked North America with 25 giant shows across the Summer which drew universally ecstatic reviews – “it’s loud, it’s fun, and it’s unforgettable” – and played to sold-out audiences totaling close to 400,000 spectators, Queen + Adam Lambert have finally announced that they will bring their brand new, hugely anticipated “Rhapsody” concert experience to UK and Europe audiences next year.
In what will be their first European dates since the worldwide box office sensation that was the “Bohemian Rhapsody” film, Queen + Adam Lambert today reveal that they will perform 16 shows in England and Europe in spring 2020.
The announcement comes on the eve of one of the biggest North American concerts in Queen’s illustrious history. They will take to the stage as headliners this Saturday, September 28, for this year’s annual Global Citizen Festival on the Great Lawn of New York’s Central Park, playing to an expected audience of 60,000.
The all-star event has been staged each year since 2012 by the Global Poverty Project, which has set the goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030. Queen + Adam Lambert will star alongside artists such as Pharrell Williams, Alicia Keys, One Republic and Carole King.
The all-new “Rhapsody” show, already hailed as “a marvel of technical advances,” will kick off the new year of 2020 with 17 giant arena and stadium shows across
South Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. The extravaganza will then arrive in the UK and Europe in late spring, as Queen original band members Brian May and Roger Taylor team up once more with longtime frontman Adam Lambert on lead vocals to perform 16 shows across eight countries from late May into early July.
The European tour will launch in Italy on May 24, with its final stop in Denmark on July 1. Along the way, it will play in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany and Switzerland, as well as the UK, where dates will center around five London shows at the O2 Arena beginning on June 2.
Over the six weeks of this leg on the “Rhapsody” tour, European audiences will, at last, have the chance to see the epic new show which has drawn awe and acclaim all through it’s North American run, and became Rock’s hottest ticket of the year in the USA. Ever the masters of extravagant performance and sumptuous visuals, Queen + Adam Lambert’s newest production is again the work of Stufish Entertainment Architects’ set designer Ric Lipson and lighting designer Rob Sinclair who both have a long-term association with Queen including the most recent eye-popping “News Of The World” touring show.
Lipson describes the two-and-a-half-hour production as “A new chapter in the history of the band. Once again for them expanding the parameters of what a live music experience can be, this new show delivers the band’s most spectacular yet, an innovative and interactive celebration of the continued power of Queen’s music.”
The tour comes at a time Queen when continue to ride high on the momentum of their box-office-busting, Oscar-winning “Bohemian Rhapsody” biopic, which has introduced their music to new audiences with record-breaking results. Apart from becoming the highest-grossing music biopic of all time, in the UK it is also No. 1 biggest-selling film of 2019 on home release.
Queen’s original soundtrack to the film has remained high in the UK album chart ever since its November 2018 debut; in the US, it became the band’s highest-charting album in 38 years, and Queen sold more albums in North America than any artist in the first half of 2019. The timeless and groundbreaking “Bohemian Rhapsody” video has reached a historic one billion views on YouTube making it the most viewed music clip of the 20th Century. In addition, YouTube views of “Don’t Stop Me Now” have just passed the 500 million mark.
Revealing the news long-awaited by the band’s UK and Europe fans, Queen’s Roger Taylor stated: “We’re back and we’re hot.”
An enthused Brian May said: “This is a fearsome new production taking the Queen legacy to a new place. I’m well proud.”
Adam Lambert joined in saying: “I can’t wait to get back to the UK and Europe, we had a blast on our last tour, and I am so excited to bring this new show over there!”
Since Adam Lambert first shared the stage with Queen for the 2009 American Idol final, his dynamic performances have reinvigorated the band and delighted fans worldwide. Starting as they meant to go on, their first full show together in June 2012 thrilled a crowd of half a million strong in the Ukraine capital city of Kyiv. Since then, May and Taylor’s musical fireworks have been matched by Lambert’s vocal prowess and stage presence, making for an explosive combination. Over 200 gigs later, the partnership has remained a commercial and critical triumph, playing to enraptured full houses in every corner of the world.
Their story is now the subject of the major, new two-hour TV documentary “The Show Must Go On: The Queen + Adam Lambert Story,” which premiered in US primetime on ABC TV, drawing one of the biggest viewing audiences of the night. With rare concert footage and exclusive, revealing portraits of the band members off stage, “The Show Must Go On” chronicles Queen and Lambert’s incredible journey since “American Idol.”
Documenting his humble beginnings and meteoric rise on reality TV to his current place center stage as the frontman of Queen + Adam Lambert, the film features brand new interviews with Lambert, his parents Leila and Eber and Queen founding members Brian May and Roger Taylor. Also featured are Rami Malek, the Golden Globe and Oscar winner for Best Actor in “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and Foo Fighters’ Taylor Hawkins.
“The Show Must Go On: The Queen + Adam Lambert Story” is produced by Simon Lupton and Jim Beach for Miracle Productions and Matt Lombardi is the executive producer for Lincoln Square Productions.
QUEEN + ADAM LAMBERT “Rhapsody Tour” UK & EUROPE 2020
Sun 24 May Bologna, Italy Unipol Arena
Tue 26 May Paris, France AccorHotels Arena
Wed 27 May Antwerp Belgium Sportspalais
Fri 29 May Amsterdam, Netherlands Ziggo Dome
Sat 30 May Amsterdam, Netherlands Ziggo Dome
Tue 2 June London, UK O2
Wed 3 June London, UK O2
Fri 5 June London, UK O2
Sat 6 June London, UK O2
Tue 9 June London, UK O2
Thu 11 June Manchester, UK MEN Arena
Wed 24 June Berlin, German Mercedes-Benz Arena
Fri 26 June Cologne, Germany Lanxess Arena
Sun 28 June Zurich, Switzerland Hallenstadion
Mon 29 June Munich, Germany Olympiahalle
Wed 1 July Copenhagen, Denmark Royal Arena
Once again completing the tour line-up will be the band’s long-term on-stage collaborator Spike Edney on keyboards, Neil Fairclough on bass and Tyler Warren on percussion.
