Adam Lambert will tour with Queen this summer.
The ‘American Idol’ 2009 winner, who has performed with the band in the past, will join guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor on a 19-date tour, which Brian claims will be the "closest that you’ll ever get to see Queen as it was in our golden days."
Adam told Rolling Stone magazine: "I think the thing that’s really special is that this is the real deal. This is live.
"In today’s music world, you go to a concert and you’re getting a lot of playbacks. There’s click tracks. It is what it is. I’m not hating on it. But this is the real deal. This is pure."
He added: "We’re not playing to a click. We’re not playing to tracks. This is all live instruments. I’m singing all the vocals with these guys on vocals. It’s purely organic. I think in today’s day and age, it’s very exciting for an audience to see something that has that much heart."
Brian insists it is "not an imitation" of the days when Freddie, who died in 1991 of bronchopneumonia, a complication of AIDS, was the frontman in the band, but says he wants to give younger fans the opportunity to see Queen live and create a new experience.
The 66-year-old musician said: "We’re here live and real and we have a great singer. They’ll be a lot of newness about this. I think that’s very exciting. It’ll be loud and dangerous and all the things that people used to look for in us."
Adam, 32, feels "honoured" to be taking the place of Freddie and admits he’s still trying to get his head around the fact he has performed with the ‘We Will Rock You’ hitmakers.
He added: "It’s beautiful. It is surreal. I feel inspired by it. When we did our run overseas in Europe, we had about ten days to rehearse. There were definitely some songs I wasn’t familiar with. That pressure and that intensity of the process gives it a lot of power. I like pressure."
Adam and Queen’s US tour kicks off June 19 in Chicago, and wraps up July 21 in Washington DC.
Queen announce tour with Adam Lambert
