Queen and Adam Lambert are about to embark on a huge North America stadium tour. Lambert himself has answered fans who have complained he is not Freddie Mercury. His response was summed up by a typically frank “No Sh*t.” But the band’s legendary guitarist Brian May has also explained in a major new interview why their new frontman is not and could never replace Freddie Mercury.
May told Guitarworld how Lambert has allowed the band to create an exciting and new phase in their long story: “I think performance is still a big part of our history.
“We still go out there with Adam and do it at the top level. I don’t think anybody could have predicted that, either. What’s great is, Adam doesn’t feel like a replacement at all; in his own way, he’s an innovator on stage. He’s part of our new balance.”
May goes on to explain what makes Lambert so special and how May and Taylor treat him “just like Freddie.”
May added: “Adam can do all the stuff that Freddie did and more. It doesn’t matter what you throw at Adam — he can do it. He can do “Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy” [from 1976’s A Day at the Races]…
“He’s a born exhibitionist. He’s not Freddie, and he’s not pretending to be him, but he has a parallel set of equipment. He knows how to deal with an audience. He teases and taunts an audience quite naturally, without thinking about it. He loves to dress up… Adam lives and breathes that stuff.”
“Adam is style, and that’s not to say he’s not content as well. He’s a born rock star and frontman, so it’s a very vibrant relationship we have with him. We treat Adam exactly the same as we treated Freddie in almost every way.”
FULL INTERVIEW IN GUITARWORLD HERE