Ten years ago, Adam Lambert sang ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ as his audition piece for American Idol Season 8. Little did he know that later on, he would sing alongside the band behind the song. Was it a foreshadowing of the singer’s future collaboration?
The positive response from Lambert’s audition prompted thousands of fans to send the video of the performance to Brian May.
Lambert believes that singing the song during his audition had “planted a seed” to pave a way for the opportunity to sing with the famous band. Lambert thinks that his audition was one of the reasons as to why Queen was selected to perform at the show’s finale.
Rumors have spread that Queen had asked Lambert to become their vocalist. It was later on debunked by May; he stated in an interview with Rolling Stones, “Amongst all that furor, there wasn’t really a quiet moment to talk”. The rumors were not true, but May added that they were interested in working with Lambert.
Lambert was busy after the season end of the show; going on tour with fellow top 10 Idol contestants, releasing his debut album, For Your Entertainment, and his Glam Nation world tour kept him pretty busy. Queen had waited for the rising of Lambert’s career to simmer down to get the opportunity to collaborate with the singer.
The band and the singer had been brought together again as both acts performed at the MTV Europe Music Awards in Belfast. They performed ‘The Show Must Go On’, ‘We Will Rock You’, and ‘We Are the Champions’ live in front of 8,000 spectators and millions of viewers from both online and on television. The collaboration was a success as thousands praised and gave positive feedback about the performance.
They had performed their first full show in June 2012 in Kiev, Ukraine as part of a mini-tour in Europe. Two years after, they had performed across North America. Lambert and Queen have continuously been working together until the present.