How Queen prepared for their Fire Fight Australia performance
Adam Lambert has revealed he had a very “meta” experience with Queen ahead of last weekend’s recreation of their iconic Live Aid set at Fire Fight Australia.
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Queen prepped for recreating their iconic Live Aid set at the Fire Fight Australia concert by re-watching their own iconic 1985 peformance to refresh their memories.
The refresher session took place in Wellington, after the band hatched the idea on New Year’s Eve and managed to keep it a secret until last Sunday.
“It was Brian’s (May) idea,” frontman Adam Lambert said. “Brian, Roger (Taylor) and I got some food and watched Live Aid together on a big TV. I’ve seen it before obviously, but it was fun to re-watch it and get a vibe.
“I got a real kick out of watching Freddie (Mercury), he was so cheeky and funny. I like being reminded of the fact he didn’t take himself too seriously. It’s important to remember that. And of course I had a moment where I thought, ‘This is so meta, I’m watching Queen at Live Aid, with Queen’.”
Queen’s Live Aid set was used by many Fire Fight Australia acts as the blueprint for a 20-minute performance, after many believed Queen stole the show at the 1985 event.
“We tried to steal the show and I think we were up there,” Lambert said about Fire Fight Australia. “I did see 5 Seconds of Summer after us, and they were great. Ashton their drummer is a beast. I heard some other performers backstage, everyone sounded amazing.
“It was an incredible show. I looked out, it was very young, lots of kids.”
Their Rhapsody tour has seen the rebooted Queen playing stadiums in Australia for the first time since the 80s, with the hit Bohemian Rhapsody biopic introducing the band to a new young audience.
For diehard fans, deep cuts Doing All Right and In the Lap of the Gods have joined the extensive selection of Queen hits, as well as Elvis and Led Zeppelin covers (Lambert sang Whole Lotta Love on American Idol).
Lambert is hoping the Melbourne weather holds out for their two AAMI Park shows — tonight and Thursday — the band played in torrential rain in Brisbane and Sydney last week.
“They’ve come up with a contingency plan to cover parts of the stage if it rains but the gazebo is not that attractive! It’s summer, what’s going on!”
Lambert will release his new solo album Velvet on March 20 and while he hopes to return here to tour that project he stated he no plans to leave Queen. “I’m in as long as they are.”
QUEEN RHAPSODY TOUR SETLIST
Now I’m Here
Seven Seas of Rhye
Keep Yourself Alive
Hammer to Fall
Somebody to Love
Killer Queen
Don’t Stop Me Now
In the Lap of the Gods ... Revisited
I’m in Love With My Car
Bicycle Race
Fat Bottomed Girls
Another One Bites the Dust
I Want It All
Love of My Life
‘39
Doing All Right
Crazy Little Thing Called Love
Under Pressure
Dragon Attack
Whole Lotta Love
Heartbreak Hotel
I Want to Break Free
Who Wants to Live Forever
Tie Your Mother Down
The Show Must Go On
Radio Ga Ga
Bohemian Rhapsody
Encore:
We Will Rock You
We Are the Champions