Having first launched their universally acclaimed Rhapsody Tour with 25 epic shows across North America in 2019, Queen + Adam Lambert are bringing their highly acclaimed production, now expanded and updated, back to where it first began. After a 4-year long hiatus, Sir Brian May, Roger Taylor and their exceptional frontman Adam Lambert have announced they will set out on a spectacular North America run this fall. Produced by Live Nation, the tour kicks off on October 4 at Baltimore’s CFG Bank Arena making stops in Toronto, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Dallas, Denver and more before concluding at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles. See full routing below.
Brian May says, “Our last tour featured our most ambitious production ever. So we decided to rip it apart and get even more ambitious. Watch out world.”
And Adam Lambert says: “I can’t wait to tour North America one more time with the Rhapsody tour alongside the two unbelievably talented legends that are Brian May and Roger Taylor.”
Queen + Adam Lambert’s 150-minute career-spanning set list celebrates the band’s extraordinary back catalogue, lining up wall-to-wall immortal anthems like “We Will Rock You”, “Don’t Stop Me Now”, “Radio Ga Ga”, and “Somebody To Love” alongside classic deep cuts and vintage fan favourites. Featuring a dazzling state-of-the-art stage design, incredible special effects and set pieces, this sense-swamping extravaganza has been blowing critics and fans away the world over.
As with last year’s UK and European dates, the 2023 North American tour will see Queen + Adam Lambert supported on stage by their regular band members, long-serving Queen keyboard player and musical director Spike Edney, bass guitarist Neil Fairclough and percussionist Tyler Warren.
Having extensively toured over the last few years, the Rhapsody show is forever evolving. But it remains at heart a tribute to Freddie Mercury’s majestic legacy, a confirmation of Brian and Roger’s undimmed musical prowess, plus a magnificent showcase for Adam’s vocal skills and electrifying stage charisma, all of which adds up to a glorious full-blooded celebration of one of the greatest songbooks in rock history. The story of The Rhapsody Tour so far, including the special performance opening the Platinum Jubilee concert with the late Queen herself tea cup tapping to the beat of “We Will Rock You” below.
After their explosive 2019 North American tour, the band just managed to skirt the arrival of the pandemic in early 2020 with epic concerts across South Korea, Japan, New Zealand and Australia. The latter saw the band perform to more than 70,000 people at the Sydney Fire Fight Australia benefit concert, raising funds for bushfire relief, at which for the first time in its history, the band reprised its entire fabled 22-minute Live Aid 1985 set.
While Covid shut down plans for further touring that year, Brian, Roger and Adam still found a way to go Live Around the World – just in a different physical format. After seven years of officially touring all over the world, Queen + Adam Lambert finally released their first album together in October 2020.
The Live Around The World album highlighted favourite performances from the previous years of touring. “When we couldn’t tour this year, we wanted to give the fans something in place of that, and a Live album just felt right,” Lambert said at the time. The album debuted at No.1 on the UK Official Album Chart in its week of release providing Queen with their 10th No 1 record in the UK and giving Adam Lambert his first as they topped charts all around the world.
The Covid period did not stem the individual band members’ creative endeavours. Using the downtime, Brian May released two newly revisited solo projects in special Gold Series editions, “Back To The Light” (August 2021) and “Another World” (April 2022). Roger Taylor released a new solo album “Outsider” (October 2021) his first in eight years, and a subsequent live tour album “The Outsider Tour Live” (September 2022). Adam Lambert is currently supporting his latest release, his covers “High Drama” album.
After the postponement of Queen + Adam Lambert’s highly anticipated European tour for two years, the trio finally got back on the road in 2022.
The band’s sensational return last summer took in 36 shows across the UK and Europe, including a 10-day residency at London’s The O2 Arena. This was highlighted across the world when the band opened the Platinum Jubilee Concert at Buckingham Palace in recognition of the late Queen Elizabeth II’s 70-year reign.
That special performance produced one of the most viewed TV moments in history as the late Queen herself and her tea time guest Paddington Bear heralded the band’s performance by tapping out the beat of We Will Rock You on their china teacups.
The incredible scene was impressively followed by a parade of military drummers beating out the song’s distinctive intro. This was just prior to Brian appearing above the Queen Victoria memorial to join Roger and Adam for their explosive event opener, a moment summed up by the guitarist himself as “one to treasure”, and a moment watched on television by more than 13.4 million viewers.
The band’s spectacular three-song performance in honour of H.M. the Queen in front of Buckingham Palace was a magnificent opener for its upcoming European tour which the following day saw the band take up residency of London’s The O2 Arena for ten nights before taking the Rhapsody show on to play a further 18 sold out concerts across 11 countries in Europe, for a total of 36 shows.
TICKETS: Tickets will be available via a general onsale beginning Friday, March 31st at 10AM local time at LiveNation.com.
QUEEN + ADAM LAMBERT THE RHAPSODY TOUR 2023 DATES:
Wed Oct 04 – Baltimore, MD – CFG Bank Arena
Sun Oct 08 – Toronto, ON — Scotiabank Arena
Tue Oct 10 — Detroit, MI – Little Caesars Arena
Thu Oct 12 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden
Sun Oct 15 – Boston, MA – TD Garden
Wed Oct 18 — Philadelphia, PA – Wells Fargo Center
Mon Oct 23 — Atlanta, GA – State Farm Arena
Wed Oct 25 – Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena
Fri Oct 27 – St. Paul, MN – Xcel Energy Center
Mon Oct 30 — Chicago, IL – United Center
Thu Nov 02 – Dallas, TX – American Airlines Center
Sun Nov 05 — Denver, CO – Ball Arena
Wed Nov 08 – San Francisco, CA – Chase Center
Sat Nov 11 – Los Angeles, CA – BMO Stadium
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