Hollywood RecordsQueen + Adam Lambert have debuted a video at the band’s official YouTube channel that features a live performance of “The Show Must Go On” filmed at London’s O2 Arena on July 4, 2018.
The performance will be featured on Queen + Adam Lambert’s first-ever concert album, Live Around the World, which will be released October 2 on multiple audio and video formats. “The Show Must Go On,” which appeared on Queen’s 1991 album Innuendo, was one of the last songs lead singer Freddie Mercury recorded before he died of AIDS in November 1991.
Queen guitarist Brian May, who wrote the song, recalls that when it came time to record the vocals, he worried whether an ailing Mercury would be able to hit the high notes.
“I said to Freddie…’I don’t want you strain yourself — this stuff isn’t going to be easy in full voice, even for you!'” May remembers. “He said, ‘Don’t worry — I’ll f***ing nail it, Darling!’ He then downed a couple of his favorite shots of vodka, propped himself up against the mixing desk, and…delivered one of the most extraordinary performances of his life.”
Adds Lambert, “I always sense a great cathartic release throughout the audience during this song. I think we all recognize that it was a big statement for Freddie at that point in his journey as well; he was fighting for his life.”
Live Around the World features performances personally selected by May, drummer Roger Taylor and Lambert that span from a June 2014 show in Los Angeles through Queen + Lambert’s appearance this past February at the Fire Fight Australia bushfire-relief concert in Sydney.
The collection is available to pre-order now on CD, as a vinyl LP, and as a CD/DVD or CD/Blu-ray set.
By Andrea Tuccillo and Matt Friedlander
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