Adam Lambert And Queen Rocked The Oscars, And Twitter Went Wild
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The Oscars were hostless this year, so Adam Lambert and Queen stepped in to give the show an opening to remember. The band performed a medley of hits and paid tribute to late frontman Freddie Mercury, who was the focus of the nominated film Bohemian Rhapsody.
Adam, who has been performing with the band for several years now, led a powerhouse performance of “We Will Rock You” and “We Are the Champions.” At the end, Freddie Mercury appeared on screen behind them, and Adam declared, “Welcome to the Oscars!” The crowd gave a standing ovation.
The Audience Loved It
One of the best parts of the performance was getting to see Hollywood’s biggest stars, dressed to the nines, rocking out from their seats. Highlights included Javier Bardem, Glenn Close, and Allison Janney.
Allison Janney rocking out to a Queen tribute at the #Oscars is MY EVERYTHING ✨✨✨✨ @AllisonBJanney pic.twitter.com/sf1JrvTKTk
— GIPHY (@GIPHY) February 25, 2019
Twitter Loved It, Too
Adam got plenty of love from fans on social media, including from fellow musicians and his American Idol family. Former Idol contestant Melinda Doolittle said he “has a unicorn melted gold velvet voice made of all your favorite things.”
For some viewers who found the rest of the ceremony boring, making the whole show a Queen concert sounded like a great idea.
Other Twitter users simply shared how great they thought the performance was, with some calling it one of the best Oscar performances in history and “a career moment for Adam.”
Forget The Haters
Of course, the performance wasn’t without its detractors. Some viewers complained about the song choices, while others insisted that Adam could never compare to the great Freddie Mercury.
However, as songwriter Elio Pace pointed out on Twitter, “If you want Freddie PUT THE RECORDS ON!”
A Big Year For ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’
It’s not hard to understand why the Oscars chose Queen to open the show. Bohemian Rhapsody was nominated for five awards and won four of them, including Best Actor for Rami Malek. As Oscars producer Donna Gigliotti told the LA Times,
“How did we come to that decision? Well, you have to look at the fact that this is a movie [“Bohemian Rhapsody”] that has done in excess of $800 million worldwide business. Japan alone is $100 million. We are putting on a show for a worldwide audience. So Queen is kind of a natural for us. I mean, don’t you want to be at rehearsals when Queen are rehearsing? It’s exciting. It’s fantastic.”
The coming year is also a big one for Queen and Adam Lambert. Not only are they going on a new tour this summer, but Adam recently released a new song called “Feel Something” off his upcoming fourth album — his first in more than three years.
They said they would rock us, and they did.
