More about: QueenIsle of Wight FestivalQueen and Adam Lambert
The band will only play one UK show next year, and it'll be at IOW Festival
Isle Of Wight Festival have announced Queen + Adam Lambert as the first headliners for next year - and it'll be their only UK show of 2016. If you didn't get a chance to catch them on tour in 2015, this is your chance - and the setlist is sure to be packed with hits.
This'll also be Queen's first UK festival with Adam Lambert, who rose to prominence on American Idol before becoming the touring lead singer of Queen.
Speaking of the announcement in a statement, Brian May said, "I think Queen at The Isle of Wight Festival is a date that was long overdue. How incredible to take on this challenge at this point in our lives. With an injection of new blood in the shape of the incredible Adam Lambert, Queen will be ready to tear it up on this legendary stage in 2016. Freddie would have loved it. Can’t wait."
Adam Lambert added, "I'm so excited to be a part of The Isle of Wight Festival and share the stage once again with the Queen family. I adore making music with Roger and Brian, and am thrilled to help continue their legacy into 2016. It is true I have large shoes to fill so I'm urgently planning on searching for a new pair of boots (or 5) to wear for the set."
The band, who are currently celebrating the 40th anniversary of their iconic single 'Bohemian Rhapsody', will close the festival on Sunday 12 June.
Isle Of Wight Festival takes place between 9 and 12 June 2016 at Seaclose Park, Newport. Buy Isle Of Wight tickets and get more information here.
The video for 'Bohemian Rhapsody' is generally recognised as the first promotional music video in the history of music and it was based on the band's Queen II album cover. The shoot was directed by Bruce Gowers, it was shot in 3 hours for £3,500 at the band's rehearsal space.
Freddie Mercury recorded on the same piano for 'Bohemian Rhapsody' that Paul McCartney used for the Beatles' ‘Hey Jude’. It was Trident Studio's stock piano, also used by Elton John, David Bowie and Carly Simon, among many others.
In November 1991, 'Bohemian Rhapsody' topped the charts for a second time, when it was re-released by Queen immediately after Freddie Mercury's passing to raise money in the fight against AIDS. 1In 1992 the song had yet another revival from the popularity of “Wayne’s World” with that famous headbanging scene.
Bohemian Rhapsody was pressed on blue vinyl in 1978. Only 200 were pressed, and thus it is one of the most collectable records of all time. Gives us a shout if you stumble upon one, we'll pay handsomely.
Label EMI and manager John Reid deemed the song too long and advised an edit. Kenny Everett aired the song on London’s Capital Radio in its entirety, 14 times over the last weekend in October 1975 and by the Monday Morning, record stores were inundated with requests.
Bohemian Rhapsody first featured in Queen's live show in the 1975 UK tour. It would feature in every concert thereafter, including Live Aid in 1985 and Queen's final show with Freddie, on August 9th 1986. Can you imagine a Queen shot without it?
Scaramouche is a stock character from a drama in the Italian 16th century, a buffoon who always manages to wriggle out of the sticky situations he invariably finds himself in, usually at the expense of someone else. 'Scaramouch' means a boastful, yet cowardly person.
Ironically, the song that knocked this off the #1 chart position in the UK was "Mamma Mia" by Abba. The words "Mamma mia" are repeated in this in the line "Oh mamma mia, mamma mia, mamma mia let me go."
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