Brian May says Adam Lambert is taking Queen's songs to places Freddie Mercury never did
Queen guitarist Brian May has revealed that Adam Lambert "blows my mind" by taking Queen's old songs to places he never expected. May's revelations come in an interview with Sammy Hagar conducted in late 2019 and uploaded to the YouTube channel of AXS TV this week. The footage was shot backstage at a show honouring Nashville guitar legend James Burton.
"Adam brings fresh views on things," says May. "He's not afraid to say, 'why don't we try it this way or that way?' so the songs are not fossils. They're alive and evolving with Adam, which is great, and sometimes he blows my mind.
"We do Who Wants To Live Forever, which is a song which Freddie would do at times, but if he felt a little off-colour, that was going to be little bit too much strain for Freddie... you know, Adam will always do it, and always pull it off, and he will take it higher and higher.
"So I'm standing there playing and I'm going, 'what did he just do?!' It blows my mind, the range that he has and the courage that he has to kind of blend things into a different place, just slightly morph things into a new place. So I love it. I love working with Adam."
Elsewhere in the interview, May talks about working with Freddie Mercury as he neared the end of his life, and about how he and Roger Taylor have curated Queen's legacy in the years since Mercury's death. The footage then finds Hagar discussing the secrets of longevity with Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh, failing to recognise David Letterman's band leader Paul Shaffer, and chatting with a woman he's "been in love with my whole life", country star Tanya Tucker.
Sammy Hagar's Best of All Worlds kicks off tomorrow (July 13) in West Palm Beach, Florida. Full dates below.
Sammy Hagar: The Best of All Worlds tour
Jul 13: West Palm Beach iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre, FL
Jul 14: Tampa MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre, FL
Jul 16: Alpharetta Ameris Bank Amphitheatre, GA
Jul 19: Charlotte PNC Music Pavilion, NC
Jul 20: Bristow Jiffy Lube Live, VA
Jul 22: Saratoga Springs Broadview Stage at SPAC, NY
Jul 24: Bridgeport Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater, CT
Jul 26: Mansfield Xfinity Center, MA
Jul 27: Holmdel PNC Bank Arts Center, NJ
Jul 29: Cuyahoga Falls Blossom Music Center, OH
Jul 31: Toronto Budweiser Stage, ON, Canada
Aug 02: Clarkston Pine Knob Music Theatre, MI
Aug 03: Tinley Park Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre, IL
Aug 09: Las Vegas MGM Grand Garden Arena, NV
Aug 11: Morrison Red Rocks Amphitheatre, CO
Aug 13: Spokane Airway Heights BECU Live at Northern Quest, WA
Aug 14: Ridgefield RV Inn Style Resort Amphitheater, WA
Aug 16: Wheatland Toyota Amphitheatre, CA
Aug 17: Concord Toyota Pavilion, CA
Aug 19: Los Angeles Kia Forum, CA
Aug 20: Phoenix Talking Stick Resorts Amphitheatre, AZ
Aug 22: Dallas Dos Equis Pavilion, TX
Aug 23: Houston Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion , TX
Aug 25: Rogers Walmart AMP, AR
Aug 27: Cincinnati Riverbend Music Center, OH
Aug 28: Nashville Bridgestone Arena, TN
Aug 30: Noblesville Ruoff Music Center, IN
Aug 31: St. Louis Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, MO
