Over the past 15 years, Adam Lambert has played many of the largest concert venues on the planet as frontman of Queen + Adam Lambert, often in front of audiences of over 50,000 people. But on Friday, he found himself on stage at New York City’s Café Carlyle in front of about 90 fans to perform a one-night-only Halloween show to benefit his Feel Something Foundation, which supports numerous LGBTQ+ causes.
Lambert released his new LP, ADAMin July, and has a catalog of other solo albums dating back to his time in american idolalong with covers like “Whole Lotta Love” and “Ring of Fire” that he has been singing for years. But the vocalist decided to discard most of his standard repertoire and instead focus the evening on Halloween-themed songs like “I Put a Spell on You” and “Bad Moon Rising.”
«Halloween is my favorite time of year,» says Lambert rolling stone via Zoom from his New York City apartment a few days after the show. «We call it Gay Christmas for a reason.»
Lambert spent many Halloweens in the past in Los Angeles, but recently moved to New York and not long ago became an official resident by going to the DMV and getting her first New York driver’s license. Shortly after our interview, he planned to go vote in his constituency.
«Now I’m familiar with the streets,» he says. «I got my hair cut this morning and I walked to SoHo to get it done, and it’s a beautiful day. In L.A., it’s always like that, you have to get in your car and drive here, park here, get out, drive here, park. I really enjoy just walking. It’s really nice to just people watch and get some fresh air.»
He also became familiar with the history of the Carlyle, a beautiful Art Deco luxury hotel on the Upper West Side that has hosted artists such as Bobby Short, Woody Allen, Eartha Kitt, Rita Wilson and Art Garfunkel in a first-floor restaurant/performance space.
“I saw the documentary on Carlyle, which was really interesting, so it was on my radar as an interesting place to apply,” he says. «It’s very small, but I think that’s the appeal. That’s what’s exciting about it. You get a strong, strong, instant connection with the audience.»
When his manager suggested a benefit concert the day before Halloween, Lambert jumped at the opportunity. «I didn’t want them to be cheesy Halloween songs,» he says. «We did ‘I Put a Spell on You,’ which is probably the most kitsch. But I said, ‘I’d like to make songs that seem to fit into a dark, romantic, gothic world of different generations and different genres.’ I imagined a vampire who had been around for 1,000 years and would have loved a lot of different songs from different genres.»
That’s why he opened with Creedence Clearwater Revival’s 1969 classic, “Bad Moon Rising,” and then jumped 37 years to Amy Winehouse’s “Back to Black,” before jumping back several decades with “I Put a Spell on You” and “Helter Skelter.”
«I don’t think I’ve ever done a Beatles song before,» Lambert says, noting that he chose it in part because of its connection to the Charles Manson murders. «It’s spooky, it’s scary, it’s murder. I wanted to find songs that felt like they fit into a Halloween world without saying, ‘Happy Halloween!’ “It’s kind of a loose connection.”
At the last minute, he added “Dust in the Wind” by Kansas to the set. «I was looking at the set and I felt like it was getting really dark,» he says. «And I was thinking, ‘Is there something that’s a little prettier and more hopeful, but still works thematically?’ I thought, ‘Well, all we are is dust in the wind.’ I guess if a vampire goes out into the sun, he turns to dust in the wind.’”
The intimacy of the show allowed Lambert to talk to individual members of the crowd, and even gently tell a couple of overzealous fans not to sing so loudly after they joined him on Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game.” “Don’t sing along with this one,” he said just before playing Jeff Buckley’s “Lilac Wine.” «If I can hear you and you’re not on the same note as me… I love you.»
A handful of their own songs, including “Ghost Town” and “Soaked,” worked with the show’s theme. And he didn’t touch Queen’s catalog until the end, when he sent the crowd home with “Another One Bites the Dust.” «It fits the theme and seemed like a good way to introduce an encore,» he says. «Obviously, Queen is a big part of my life.»
But Queen + Adam Lambert have been inactive since wrapping up the Rhapsody world tour at the Tokyo Dome on February 14, 2024. Last month, Brian May made headlines around the world by saying he had no desire to tour. «I made the decision 18 months ago that I didn’t want to tour again,» the guitarist said. The times. «I love to play, I love to travel, but the trade-off is sacrificing freedom. I have a wife (actress Anita Dobson), grandchildren and a lot of astrophysics I want to do, so I think maybe 50 years is enough.»
He later walked back the comment and told her rolling stone It’s only been a few days since he’s been really unsure about the band’s future as a touring act. “I was misunderstood a little bit, I was misquoted a little bit,” he said. «I never said we’d never tour again. I don’t know how I could say that. I couldn’t. I feel like I’m on a break and I’m enjoying my break… Maybe one day I’ll wake up and think, ‘Oh, maybe we should go on tour.'» But I don’t think I’ll commit to nine-month tours again.”
Lambert says he has had similar conversations with May privately. “He told me, ‘I’m enjoying being with my family and I don’t feel like getting back on the road right now,’” Lambert says. «So, I guess it’s not like anyone is saying this is over or it’s never coming back, but then again, I heard that in one of the interviews, so maybe that’s the case and I don’t know.»
The idea of playing Sphere with Queen does excite him. “I actually went to see the Grateful Dead at the Sphere,” Lambert says. «I took my dad to his birthday because he’s a huge Deadhead and I was blown away by what I was seeing. And I immediately emailed Brian and Roger and said, ‘Guys, you have to check this out. This place is crazy. It’s an amazing place. We could do something so crazy.’ So, I think it’s a fantasy. I don’t know how close to reality it is. I would love that.»
Whatever the future holds for Queen, he is simply happy to have had the opportunity to be a part of the legacy for so many years. “I am eternally grateful,” he says. «I’ll always be grateful and have incredibly fond memories. I mean, would I like to do more with them? Yes, I would. But if that’s it, then that’s it. You know?»
Just don’t expect him to form some kind of spin-off group like Adam Lambert’s Queen Experience. «Now that I’ve played with the actual members of the band,» he says, «anything other than that seems a little cheap to me.»
Plus, there’s plenty more than Queen to occupy Lambert’s time in the future. He made his Broadway debut in late 2024 as an MC in a revival of Cabaretand is open to another musical in New York City or possibly London.
«I think if I do another show, I want to create something,» he says. «I want to create something that you can collaborate on and do it new for the first time. And even if it’s a revival of a show that already exists, I want to create a role in a new production. I was very lucky with Cabaret because they were very collaborative and wanted me to make it mine as much as possible. But that production was really spearheaded by Eddie (Redmayne)’s vision for the character and that’s how it was built, and I loved stepping in and doing it. But if I do another one, I would like to be part of that part of the process where you are developing something.”
That’s why he’s been writing songs for a musical he has in mind about a real-life ’70s musician he’s not ready to name. «It’s actually a little dark,» says Lambert. «He’s not that famous. Yeah, that’s the appeal, he’s like a lost hero.»
Lambert has selected a producer and possible director for the project, and is recording demos and working on the book, but he won’t play the title character if it ever gets off the ground. «I’m probably too old to play him at this point,» he says. «He was young, but I would like to be a part of this in another way. So you’ll have to wait and see exactly what it is.»
In the meantime, he hopes to start recording his next solo album this winter. «I’m going to continue making music,» he says. «It’s what I do. It’s what I do.»
