Queen singer Adam Lambert has very special memories of Berlin. “It was a wild time,” he recalls in an interview.
Adam Lambert (40) has been a singer for the British cult band Queen for almost ten years. The legendary formation around guitarist Brian May (74) and drummer Roger Taylor (72) lost their frontman Freddie Mercury in 1991. He died of pneumonia at the age of 45. A few years earlier he was infected with HIV.
The band is currently touring through Europe, they have also played in Berlin, Cologne and most recently in Munich. “I love Germany. I associate a lot of good memories with it,” explains Lambert in an interview with the news agency spot on news. The 40-year-old experienced wild times, especially in a German city.
Adam Lambert felt “very liberated” in Berlin
One of the first professional jobs the American got was a role in the musical Hair. Although the cast came from the USA, “all the shows took place in Germany”. So it came about that Lambert spent a few months in Berlin. “But also some time in Munich and Hamburg,” explains the musician before the Queen concert, which took place on June 29 in Munich’s Olympiahalle. “I was 22 at the time. I was very innocent and inexperienced.”
Coming to Europe as an American is always exciting. “People in Germany are very open-minded, especially in Berlin. The motto there is: Live and let live.” That opened Lambert’s eyes to other perspectives and ways of life. He also changed his look in the German capital: “I dyed my hair black and white like a chess board, got piercings and bought crazy clothes.” He felt “very free” at the time.
Laughing, the singer adds: “I also had some sexual experiences that were great. I was able to tick some things off.” He also paid a visit to the Berlin KitKatClub. The techno club is known for its sexual promiscuity. “It was a wild time,” summarizes the musician. “I saw many things for the first time.”
Adam Lambert is committed to the LGBTQ community
Today, Lambert is committed to the LGBTQ community and founded his own foundation in 2019. “We’ve come a long way, a lot has changed in the last 20 years,” explains the 40-year-old. According to the singer, the fact that society has developed is also due to the media. “The media has helped the gay community to evolve and become more mainstream. We have the entertainment industry to thank for that.”
Because if people don’t understand something, “or have never seen it, they are automatically afraid of it and reject it”. It would be human nature, according to the Queen frontman. “But the more familiar you are with something, or the more myths are dispelled, the more the general public can embrace it.” We’ve come a long way, but there’s still a lot to do. “It’s like a pendulum: you make progress and then it swings back.”
The US is currently going through “hard times in many ways”. “Hopefully this will wake up young people and get them involved in politics.” For Lambert the system is “corrupt and broken, we have to reform everything”.
