Thirty years on, Queen return with Adam Lambert to remember history making 1985 Rock in Rio Concerts
After stealing the show at Rock in Rio, last September, they are ready to rock Lisbon on May 20th
Pre-sale begins November 20th. General sale will begin January 26th. www.rockinriolisboa
Lisbon, November, 9th, 2015 – 30 years after an historic performance at Rock in Rio, and after a memory filled concert last September in Rio de Janeiro, Queen + Adam Lambert will headline Rock in Rio-Lisboa 2016 and once again join the celebration of the festival’s 30th anniversary, performing on the opening night, May 20th 2016
. “30 years ago, Queen performed in front of 250,000 and Freddie Mercury conducted a chorus of people singing to “Love of My Life”. It became one of the most iconic moments of Rock in Rio and of music history”, says Rock in Rio President and Founder Roberto Medina. “We’re thrilled to have Queen + Adam Lambert perform in Lisbon, we’re certain it will once again be a moment no one will ever forget.”
This will be Adam Lambert’s first time performing in Portugal and the second time for Queen.
Queen and Rock in Rio: a 30 year old love story – Queen was to create history in South America when in January 1985 the band went to Brazil to headline two nights, including the opening night concert, at Rock in Rio, an awesomely ambitious new music festival invented by advertising mogul Roberto Medina that had set its sights on establishing itself as the biggest new kid on the global block, not only for Brazilian eyes to see, but throughout the world
Queen’s opening night January 11, 1985 at Rio’s custom built City of Rock exploded the record books, drawing an audience of over 250,000. The band’s second appearance on January 18, brought their total Rock in Rio audience beyond 500,000. Televised to over 60 countries across the world, Queen’s shows were watched by nearly 200 million people. Queen albums occupied all top ten places in the Brazilian album chart and “Love of My Life” became a new Brazilian anthem. Last September Queen + Adam Lambert went back to Rock in Rio, on the 30th anniversary of the festival, and once again stole the show and the audience’s hearts with an unique performance. Filled with emotion, the audience sang with May as he played “Love of My Life” in front of 85,000 people. And now, the band and the festival meet again, in a new city: Lisbon will now be able to hear some of rock’s most memorable anthems such as “Radio Ga Ga”, “The Show Must Go On” or “Bohemian Rhapsody”.
In a career spanning over 40 years Queen has amassed a staggering list of sales, awards, and hall of fame inductions that is second to none. Record sales in the hundreds of millions of units, including an unprecedented string of number one albums and top-charting singles that continue to put Queen in the top ten of all-time iTunes sales, plus seven Ivor Novello Awards, an MTV Global Icon Award, two songs enshrined in the Grammy Hall of Fame – “We Will Rock You” and “We Are the Champions” – which also remain the most played songs at sports events and arenas around the world, make Queen one of rock’s most honoured bands. Queen has also achieved the distinction of becoming the first artist ever to sell over six million copies of an album in the UK with their Greatest Hits album, which also achieved the record of over 1,422 weeks on the British album chart.
The statistics show a staggering one in three British households now own a copy of the band’s original Greatest Hits collection, originally released at the end of October 1981. Even with the tragic loss of their uniquely talented singer Freddie Mercury, Queen remain one of the most revered bands in rock and pop history, able to claim one of the most enduring song catalogues of all time, including “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “Another One Bites the Dust”, “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”, “Radio Ga Ga”, “Killer Queen”, “Fat Bottomed Girls”, “Bicycle Race”, songs that form the backdrop to the lives of generations of fans across all ages. With their sterling song craft, virtuoso musicality, and colossal spectacle of their live performances, Queen – Brian May, Freddie Mercury, Roger Taylor and John Deacon – captured hearts and conquered charts like no other band in history, a legacy that continues to live through the ongoing work and concert performances by May and Taylor, now joined by Adam Lambert. October 31 saw Queen celebrate the 40th anniversary of their history making single “Bohemian Rhapsody”.
Having first appeared together on the 2009 American Idol finale, followed with a performance at the MTV Europe Music Awards, Adam Lambert soon became a fixture with Queen, and with the band performed several big concerts and television performances in 2012 and 2013, followed by a fully sold out 24 date US tour in 2014 at the end of which Queen + Adam Lambert received the Band of the Year accolade at the 10th annual Classic Rock Roll of Honour awards as well as being voted Best Live Band of the Year in Ultimate Classic Rock’s year round up reader’s poll.
Queen + Adam Lambert closed 2014 in spectacular style when they were invited to perform an exclusive concert on New Year’s Eve from London, close to the iconic landmark of Big Ben, for a live broadcast on BBC One TV. Queen + Adam Lambert Rock Big Ben Live took place in the build up to the clock striking midnight to see in 2015 and continued after the spectacular, world famous fireworks display along the river Thames. The special was seen by a peak of 12 million people and in the subsequent 24 hours ‘Adam Lambert’ was the top of the trending searches on Google in the UK with more than 500,000 searches for his name
. Early 2015 saw Q + AL returned to concerts with 26 sold out shows in 10 countries throughout the UK and Europe taking their critically acclaimed show to France, Austria, Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Switzerland, Czech Republic and Poland. When the band ended their European tour on 27 February 2015 in Sheffield, UK, they had notched up 67 sold out concert dates across the world in less than a year drawing universally rave reviews: “Queen and Adam Lambert delivered just over two hours of pure sensation straight into the nerves and bones of anyone fortunate enough to witness it. Freddie may be gone, but he would surely approve.” (Brisbane Times) “Did they rock us? Oh YES!” (New York Daily News).
Adam Lambert’s debut album For Your Entertainment earned him a Grammy Award nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, and a worldwide smash hit with ‘Whataya Want From Me’. His second album, Trespassing, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard charts. In 2013, Adam appeared as a guest star on the hit TV series, GLEE and as as a featured vocalist on Avicii’s album ’True’. Adam released his highly anticipated third album, ‘The Original High’ this summer, it entered the worldwide chart at number 3, and took his overall worldwide sales to over 2.5 million. The Single ‘Ghost Town’ has had over 100 million streams worldwide including 37 million views of the video. He has just announced his brand new single “Another Lonely Night”