Queen Talk New Music And Potential Sphere Residency: “I Don’t Think We’re Done”
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Queen’s signature epic “Bohemian Rhapsody” turns 50 next month, and the song has been all over the zeitgeist lately. In addition to bandmates Brian May and Roger Taylor performing the song with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Symphony Chorus for BBC Proms, Ndlovu Youth Choir released an Isizulu version. Julien Cohen sang it as part of a flash mob in Paris. An original test pressing of the track is set to be auctioned for the BRIT Trust, the charitable arm of the BRIT Awards. On the less adulatory side of things, Barstool Sports’ Kevin Clancy said the song “stinks,” while Guns N’ Roses’ former manager Alan Niven called Queen one of the most overrated bands ever.
Yet for all the focus on the past, Queen still have their sights set on the future. In a new Rolling Stone feature pegged to the “Bohemian Rhapsody” interview, Taylor says the band, which has toured several times with Adam Lambert on vocals since 2011, plans to get back on the road soon: “I don’t think we’re done. And I don’t think we’re gonna say, you know, final farewell tour or whatever. ‘Cause it never is, is it?”
Some of those shows might be at the Sphere. In the same feature, May says he’s highly interested in a Queen residency at the high-tech Vegas venue: “I’m very keen on the Sphere. It’s got my mind working. I sat there watching the Eagles, thinking, ‘We should do this. The stuff that we could bring to this would be stupendous.’ So, yeah, I would like to do it. We’re having conversations.”
The Sphere might be a good solution for May, who wants to play shows but has grown weary of touring. “I don’t like the idea that you wake up in your hotel room and you’re trapped,” he says. “I had a few experiences recently where stuff happened at home with my family and I could not go home. It got under my skin and I just thought, ‘I’m not sure if I want this anymore.’ I feel like I’ve given up my freedom too many times. So my feeling at the moment is I don’t want to tour as such. I still want to play shows. I still want to innovate.”
Queen have never released new music with Lambert on vocals, but Taylor says the possibility is “always in the mind.” Don’t expect those recordings to materialize any time soon, though Taylor says they’ve tried: “Not many people know, but Adam and we have been in the studio trying things. Nothing really materialized so far. Some things are meant to be and some things are not.”
