Queen and vocalist Adam Lambert sat down with SiriusXM's Mark Goodman for an interview where they spoke about their upcoming tour and much more. An excerpt is available below.
Brian May and Roger Taylor discuss the "privilege" of going on tour and thriving with Adam Lambert. They also talk about ticket prices and being a "people's band."
Brian May: "On the advice of our promoters, we are doing this thing where tickets cannot be resold for more than the original value. And we are told, we hope that that will lead to a situation where the fans won't get ripped off anymore by these scalpers. I don't know if it's gonna work or not, but we agreed we would try it because it just don't, it just bothers us that the fans get ripped in that way."
Roger Taylor: "We don't want people to get ripped off. And we want them to have value. We don't want the, the ticket prices to be as ridiculous as some of them have been recently."
Mark Goodman: And it also sort of relegates this experience to the well to do, you know?
Roger Taylor: "Absolutely."
Mark Goodman: Which is offensive as hell.
Brian May: "We've always been a kind of people's band, really. We wanna just stay that way."
Brian May Describes Queen + Adam Lambert Collaboration as "truly incredible."
Additional clips:
- Brian May Calls Queen a "people's band."
- Queen + Adam Lambert Tour Requires 30 Semi-Trucks
Having first launched their universally acclaimed Rhapsody Tour with 25 epic shows across North America in 2019, Queen + Adam Lambert are bringing their highly acclaimed production, now expanded and updated, back to where it first began.
After a 4-year long hiatus, Sir Brian May, Roger Taylor and their exceptional frontman Adam Lambert have announced they will set out on a spectacular North America run this fall. Produced by Live Nation, the tour kicks off on October 4 at Baltimore’s CFG Bank Arena making stops in Toronto, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Dallas, Denver and more before concluding at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles. See full routing below.
Brian May says, “Our last tour featured our most ambitious production ever. So we decided to rip it apart and get even more ambitious. Watch out world.”
And Adam Lambert says: “I can’t wait to tour North America one more time with the Rhapsody tour alongside the two unbelievably talented legends that are Brian May and Roger Taylor.”
Queen + Adam Lambert’s 150-minute career-spanning set list celebrates the band’s extraordinary back catalogue, lining up wall-to-wall immortal anthems like “We Will Rock You”, “Don’t Stop Me Now”, “Radio Ga Ga”, and “Somebody To Love” alongside classic deep cuts and vintage fan favourites. Featuring a dazzling state-of-the-art stage design, incredible special effects and set pieces, this sense-swamping extravaganza has been blowing critics and fans away the world over.
As with last year's UK and European dates, the 2023 North American tour will see Queen + Adam Lambert supported on stage by their regular band members, long-serving Queen keyboard player and musical director Spike Edney, bass guitarist Neil Fairclough and percussionist Tyler Warren.
Having extensively toured over the last few years, the Rhapsody show is forever evolving. But it remains at heart a tribute to Freddie Mercury’s majestic legacy, a confirmation of Brian and Roger’s undimmed musical prowess, plus a magnificent showcase for Adam’s vocal skills and electrifying stage charisma, all of which adds up to a glorious full-blooded celebration of one of the greatest songbooks in rock history.
Tickets will be available via a general on-sale beginning Friday, March 31 at 10 AM, local time at LiveNation.com.
Queen + Adam Lambert appreciate that it is an enormous task to try and stop scalpers from taking advantage of fans wanting to purchase tickets for the tour. In an effort to help minimize resale and keep ticket prices at face value for fans, the band are collaborating with the venues’ ticketing partners to restrict the ability to transfer tickets for The Rhapsody Tour so that they may only be transferred between fans at the original price.
Fans will still have protection against unforeseen circumstances. Those who purchase tickets and are no longer able to attend their show will be able to sell their tickets at the price they paid using a face value ticket exchange, including the Ticketmaster Face Value Exchange - which is free to use for buyers and sellers. More information on how the Ticketmaster Exchange works is available here.
Unfortunately, the states of NY, IL, and CO have laws in place that protect ticket scalpers - these laws prohibit artists from being able to restrict the transfer of their tickets to face-value exchanges only. For shows in these states, Queen + Adam Lambert strongly encourages fans to only buy or sell tickets to one another on face-value exchanges. More information can be found here, with more details to follow in the coming weeks.
Tour dates:
October
4 - Baltimore, MD - CFG Bank Arena
8 - Toronto, ON - Scotiabank Arena
10 - Detroit, MI - Little Caesars Arena
12 - New York, NY - Madison Square Garden
15 - Boston, MA - TD Garden
18 - Philadelphia, PA - Wells Fargo Center
23 - Atlanta, GA - State Farm Arena
25 - Nashville, TN - Bridgestone Arena
27 - St. Paul, MN - Xcel Energy Center
30 - Chicago, IL - United Center
November
2 - Dallas, TX - American Airlines Center
5 - Denver, CO - Ball Arena
8 - San Francisco, CA - Chase Center
11 - Los Angeles, CA - BMO Stadium
Video courtesy of SiriusXM's Classic Rewind and SiriusXM's Mark Goodman.
