QUEEN + ADAM LAMBERT Kick Off 'Crown Jewels' Residency In Las Vegas (Video)

QUEEN + ADAM LAMBERT kicked off their “The Crown Jewels” residency last night (Saturday, September 1) at Park Theater at Park MGM in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The performances offer a stadium-sized rock show in a relatively intimate setting, with former “American Idol” contestant and solo star Adam Lambert filling in on vocals nearly 27 years after the untimely passing of original QUEEN singer Freddie Mercury.

The setlist was as follows:

01. We Will Rock You (fast version)
02. Tie Your Mother Down
03. Somebody To Love
04. Fat Bottomed Girls
05. Killer Queen
06. Don’t Stop Me Now
07. Bicycle Race
08. I’m In Love With My Car
09. Another One Bites The Dust
10. I Want It All
11. Love Of My Life
12. Heartbreak Hotel
13. Crazy Little Thing Called Love
14. Under Pressure
15. Who Wants To Live Forever
16. The Show Must Go On
17. Radio Ga Ga
18. Bohemian Rhapsody

Encore:

19. We Will Rock You
20. We Are The Champions

“The Crown Jewels” is a 10-date limited engagement, with additional performances scheduled on September 2, 5, 7, 8, 14, 15, 19, 21 and 22 at 8 p.m. local time. It is the first time the group is staying in one place for a total of three weeks.

Tickets for “The Crown Jewels” shows range in price from $79 to $350, not including applicable service charges, at the Ticketmaster web site.

Mercury died in 1991 of complications related to AIDS.

In a recent interview with Yahoo! Entertainment, QUEEN guitarist Brian May said about Lambert: “Freddie would love and hate him, because Adam has a real gift from God. It’s a voice in a billion. Nobody has that range, nobody that I’ve ever worked with. Not just the range but the quality throughout the range. I’ve seen Adam develop just like I watched Freddie develop.

“In no way does he imitate Freddie, but he provides that piece of the jigsaw puzzle,” he added. “It’s stupendous. We would never be doing this now if it weren’t for Adam.”

Lambert, who is currently working on his fourth solo studio album, said that there is no end date in sight for his collaboration with QUEEN, which began after his 2008 audition for “American Idol”, where he performed — somewhat prophetically — QUEEN‘s “Bohemian Rhapsody”. “It’s one of those things where we kind of take it as it goes,” he said. “Each time we go out on another leg of touring, it’s kind of, like, ‘Are we doing this again? Okay. Cool.’ They’re very kind of chill about it.”

Lambert said that he didn’t think his time with QUEEN would last as long as it has. “I’m just glad that I sang ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ for my ‘Idol’ audition, because if I hadn’t done that, I don’t know even know if it would have happened at all,” he explained. “But after the first time performing together, it was kind of, like, ‘Oh my gosh! This is amazing!’ I thought it was a once-in-a-lifetime thing. And then we did a big tour together, and then it led to another tour. It’s like the gift that keeps on giving. I’m very, very honored.”

The QUEEN biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody” is set for release on November 2.