Adam Lambert joined Queen to reprise the band’s 1985 Live Aid set for the first time ever at a fundraising concert for the Australian bushfires.
Queen’s Brian May and Roger Taylor and Lambert, who performs with the rock group as their lead singer, repeated the original 22-minute set in its entirety on Sunday night at the ANZ Stadium in the Sydney Olympic Park.
The concert was held to raise awareness and funds for the National Bushfire Relief after devastating fires tore through the country.
WOW – our minds are officially blown! 🤩
👑 FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HISTORY, @QueenWillRock, fronted by singer @adamlambert, performed the Band’s Iconic 1985 Live Aid Set for #FireFightAustralia!
📷 @jaredmleibowitz pic.twitter.com/tWq995nxpf
— Fire Fight Australia (@FireFightAU) February 16, 2020
Lambert, May and Taylor recreated the band’s six-song set from Queen’s famous performance at the Wembley Stadium Live Aid concert more than 30 years ago.
With American singer Lambert filling in for the late Freddie Mercury, they performed Bohemian Rhapsody, Radio Ga Ga, Hammer To Fall, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, We Will Rock You and We Are The Champions.
The full set was recently recreated in the film Bohemian Rhapsody, with Rami Malek acting alongside Mercury’s original vocals.
Former American Idol contestant Lambert, who has toured with Queen since 2014, said it was a “real honour” to recreate the band’s much-loved Live Aid set for the benefit concert.
He added: “It’s terrifying to see what is happening to our world, and we need to take responsibility now.”
Guitarist May said: “We’re very happy to be able to do our bit to help Australia to fight back against the terrible fires. This is Australia’s pain but it’s humanity’s problem.
“My heart has broken seeing the plight of the animals. I hope the concert will help them too. We all need this tragedy to never happen again.”
Drummer Taylor added: “This would seem to be not only Australia’s problem but a climate change problem that affects the whole world.
THANK YOU AUSTRALIA. What an amazing show for an amazing cause. We love you. #FireFightAustralia
— 5 Seconds of Summer (@5SOS) February 16, 2020
“We are here right now and anything we can do to help in finding Australia a way to recover is the least we can do as musicians. We are all in trouble.”
Other performers at the Fire Fight Australia concert included Michael Buble, KD Lang, Ronan Keating and Australian boy band 5 Seconds Of Summer.