Queen + Adam Lambert have rolled out the initial dates to their 2023 “Rhapsody Tour.” The trek kicks off on October 4th at Baltimore's CFG Bank Arena and, as of now, winds down on November 11th in L.A. at BMO Stadium.
Guitarist Brian May told Rolling Stone, “This tour has lots of new bells and lots of new whistles. We’ve evolved as performers, I think. We’ve stepped up our game. We have better chemistry than ever. We understand each other better than ever, and we feel more free in the way that we interpret stuff. We’re very happy with it. There’s lots of new production and stuff we want to excite you with.”
As with their European tour last year, the band hopes to pepper the set with fan favorites and deep cuts, with frontman Adam Lambert admitting, “I always like doing 'Dragon Attack.' That’s one of my favorites. There’s a lot of time between now and when the tour starts in October to come up with new ideas. I think we’ll have many.”
Adam Lambert admitted that he stepped into pretty big shoes when he agreed to take the stage fronting Queen — a band that had perhaps the most legendary and charismatic frontman with the late-Freddie Mercury: “At first it was a little daunting, when we started our first incarnation of this. I was definitely. . . I was apprehensive. He’s a big idol for me, and I thought to myself, y’know, ‘I hope that the fans dig this,’ y’know? ‘Cause there was a possibility that they wouldn’t. And it felt really good, the reception was warm, the press reaction to it the first time was very warm. And it’s such a treat to get on stage and pay my respects and pay tribute to one of my favorite singers ever — and to sing some of the greatest music ever written.”
Prior to hitting the road last time around, Brian May told us that he, Roger Taylor, and Adam Lambert all look closely at the Queen songbook and figure out what key elements they need for a perfect show: “We’re up for anything, really. Yeah, and, we’ll look at the whole catalogue and see what we can pull off, I think. Y'know, what needs to happen is we need to be happy amongst ourselves. We need to be comfortable. Adam needs to be comfortable — challenged, but comfortable. And yeah, I think we’ll take a real careful look at all those albums and see what we can cherry pick and, y’know, bring to a new place.”
JUST ANNOUNCED: Queen + Adam Lambert North American tour dates (subject to change):
October 4 – Baltimore, MD – CFG Bank Arena
October 8 – Toronto, ON – Scotiabank Arena
October 10 – Detroit, MI – Little Caesars Arena
October 12 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden
October 15 – Boston, MA – TD Garden
October 18 – Philadelphia, PA – Wells Fargo Center
October 23 – Atlanta, GA – State Farm Arena
October 25 – Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena
October 27 – St. Paul, MN – Xcel Energy Center
October 30 – Chicago, IL – United Center
November 2 – Dallas, TX – American Airlines Center
November 5 – Denver, CO – Ball Arena
November 8 – San Francisco, CA – Chase Center
November 11 – Los Angeles, CA – BMO Stadium