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Adam Lambert, the flamboyant American Idol alum, was rumoured to be joining Queen for a performance at the Sonisphere Fest in July followed by a string of tour dates.

As we reported yesterday, Lambert gloated to the Daily Mail:  ”The intention is to pay tribute to Freddie and the band by singing some f***ing great songs,” he allegedly said. “It’s to keep the music alive for the fans and give it an energy that Freddie would have been proud of.”

Lambert then took to his Twitter to dismiss the rumours on Friday evening:

“Oooh them clever reporters takin my quotes outta context…. I haven’t confirmed any guest appearances. I was talking about the EMA’S,” he tweeted, without directly referencing the report. “That being said, I’m truly flattered by your jump to such glorious conclusions mr journalist!! ”

They had all performed together at the 2009 American Idol finals as well as a November gig at the MTV EMAs.

Lambert’s sophomore album Trespassing is due in March.

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Freddie Mercury is irreplaceable, but unfortunately, Adam Lambert never got the memo.

The flambouyant “American Idol” winner thinks people will still pay attention to Queen now that he’s their brand new lead singer. Mercury died of bronchopneumonia brought on by AIDS in 1991. Queen was just never the same.

Now, 21 years later, the rest of the band wants to ressurect their sound and carry on. Lambert’s busy promoting his new album “Trespassing” that comes out next month but Rolling Stone reveals he’s set to tour with Queen in the summer.

“The intention is to pay tribute to Freddie and the band by singing some great songs. It’s to keep the music alive for the fans and give it an energy that Freddie would’ve been proud of,” Adam tells reporters.

I doubt anybody is proud that the band constantly tries to replace Freddie. Sometimes you just got to give up and start something new.

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There’s a fine line between sampling a song and straight ripping off someone else’s artistic integrity. Imitation is recognized as the highest form of flattery – but at what point does it go too far?

Most recently, Madonna finally spoke out about her insane influence of Lady Gaga, with focus on ‘Born This Way‘ and it’s similarity with Madge’s 1989 hit ‘Express Yourself’. And in the spirit of that buzz – we’re delighted to bring you a little sampling, thirteen songs that famously ripped off others (and were pretty successful in their own right). Some of which dealt with court settlements and others were able to slip through the legal cracks. For those arguing that the likes of Hammer and Vanilla Ice had the right to sample – both were busted by the predecessors for their use. Ice even argued in an episode of VH1′s ‘Behind the Music’ that it was completely original and the sampling accusations were bogus.

Tell us what you think! Below are thirteen examples, first being the song that ripped off the following song:

Jennifer Lopez “On The Floor (Ft. Pitbull)” VS. Los Kjarkas “Lloranda se fue”

MC Hammer “U Can’t Touch This” VS. Rick James “Superfreak”

Sean Kingston “Me Love” VS. Led Zeppelin “D’yer Mak’er”

Sum 41 “Pieces” VS. Coldplay “The Scientist”

Ray Parker Jr. “Ghostbusters” VS. Huey Lewis “I Want A New Drug”

Red Hot Chili Peppers “Dani California” VS. Tom Petty “Mary Jane’s Last Dance”

Flo Rida “Right Round” VS. Dead Or Alive “You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)”

The Offspring “Why Don’t You Get A Job” VS. The Beatles “Ob La Di Ob La Da”

Vanilla Ice “Ice Ice Baby” VS. Queen & David Bowie “Under Pressure”

Avril Lavigne “Girlfriend” VS. The Rubinoos “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend”

Coldplay “Viva La Vida” VS. Joe Satriani “If I Could Fly”

Green Day “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” VS. Oasis “Wonderwall”

Fergie “Fergalicious” VS. J.J. Fad “Supersonic”

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The Muppets are back! Kermit, Miss Piggy and the gang are ruling the Thanksgiving box-office this weekend and the world is officially in a nostalgic frenzy.

Before Jason Segel revamped the series, the adorable characters were famous in their own right. Their television program (1976-1981) featured a variety of celebrity cameos, from Alice Cooper to 007′s Roger Moore, in the final episode. It’s the family friendly programming that transcended generations. The franchise includes a seemingly endless stream of beloved films such as “The Muppets Take Manhattan,” “The Muppet Christmas Carol,” “Muppet Treasure Island,” “Muppets From Space” and “The Great Muppet Caper.” If this is all breaking news to you, then I highly recommend you check them out – or at least add it to your wish list this year.

Since legendary puppeteer Jim Henson created the Muppets in 1974, there has been an incredible assortment of Muppets appearances, performances and moments. Aside from the hilarious parody trailers and Saturday Night Live appearance recently, it felt appropriate to take a moment to reflect on the classics. We pulled together our favourite ten, let us know yours!

Bohemian Rhapsody (2009)In 2009, the gang released their rendition of Queen’s famous song. This viral video introduced this generation to “Bohemian” just like Mike Myers did with Wayne’s World.

Kermit Cycling (1979)
“Jolson sang, Barrymore spoke, Garbo laughed, and now Kermit the Frog rides a bicycle,” began Roger Ebert’s original 1979 review of “The Muppet Movie”. “If you can figure out how they were able to show Kermit pedaling across the screen, then you are less a romantic than I am: I prefer to believe he did it himself.” Muppet magic.

Larry King Live (1994)
Kermit and Gonzo guest-hosted the show with featured guests including supermodel Carol Alt and Hulk Hogan. Surprising that neither replaced King when he retired last year, but there’s still the hope for Regis-replacement.

(Day O) Banana Boat Song (1978)
Before Lil Wayne and Jason Derulo ruined the song, Harry Belafonte and Fozzie Bear’s collaboration was pure brilliance. Fozzie even asks the question that we all want to know, “What is a “Tally Man”?”

Keep Fishin’ (2002)
Weezer resurrected the Muppets from temporary obscurity for their music video off their fourth album, “Maladroit”.

Bennie And The Jets (1977)
Elton John became a reoccuring character in the late 70s, performing many of his songs including “Crocodile Rock” and “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”. But it is the banter between Elton and Kermit during “Bennie” that defines his involvement. You could also see where Cee-Lo took a few notes.

Alice Cooper (1978)
As Gonzo declares him “the voice of doom,” this episode also guest starred horror film-icon Vincent Price and revolved around the theme of “ghoulies and ghosties and long-legged beasties and things that go bump in the night.”

Buddy Rich VS. Animal (1981)
Two of the greatest drummers of all time face-off in this classic skit from the Muppet Show. Who won? You be the judge.

‘Treasure Island’ Roll Call (1996)
Directed by his son, Brian, this post-Jim Henson film is not the same – but it has it’s moments, like this one. Kermit’s Captain Abraham Smollet is introduced to his crew of “cutthroats, villains and scoundrels.”

The Rainbow Connection
Perhaps the greatest Muppets moment of all-time, the opening banjo strum is guaranteed to cause a lump in the throat. Covered by many, including Willie Nelson, Sarah McLachlan and Jason Mraz – enjoy!

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I can’t sing.  Not well, anyway.  But I feel that puts me in the norm rather than outside of it.  With that in mind, I sat down last week with a couple of friends who can sing, to enjoy a little SingStar: Queen.

As a huge Queen fan, I felt I had the advantage going in to this impromptu karaoke competition, at least when it came to knowing the lyrics and general dynamic of the songs.  What I didn’t count on (and should have) is that my two fellow competitors were karaoke superstars. For convenience’s sake, let’s call them Brodie and his girlfriend, Chris.

Now, we set out to get a taste of everything this game had to offer.  Having already sung a song on my own before they arrived, I had an idea of the format of the game.  The lyrics appear onscreen along with a display that shows the notes you have to hit, and how long to hold them.  If you hit the note and hold it for the duration, the bar representing that note fills green.  If you don’t hit it, or only hit part of it, the bar doesn’t fill and an area outside of the bar fills red (above the bar for a sharp note, below for a flat note), indicating that you suck.  Let’s just say that I was mostly seeing red that night.

After going through a few solo songs, passing the mic between Brodie, Chris and myself; we decided to do a few duets.  Those went pretty well, and I found that the display for the duets was just as intuitive as the solo version.  After a few battles between two of us at a time (wherein both players sing the song simultaneously, higher score wins) we decided to take on the Pass the Mic feature, which divides players into teams and puts them through various types of challenges.  From Solos, to Battles, to Medleys (arguably the hardest kind of challenge, since you have to pick up the song for a couple of bars and then switch it up) we were laughing our way through the night with this game, from song to song.

To get the high score, you need to grow a Mercu-stache.

But in every case, we ran into the same problem.  We encountered huge delay on the mic track.  We checked out the options screen, under mic settings, to no avail.  We played through the pain, and later I found out that the calibration settings for making sure your mic track, the display and the Queen track are all in sync were under the Display settings.  Not misleading at all.

That is the major problem with Singstar: Queen, and now that it’s out of the way, let’s look at some of the more positive aspects of this game that is, at the end of the day, pretty enjoyable.  The songs are definitely more difficult than previous incarnations of the SingStar brand, due in no small part to Freddie Mercury’s unstoppable vocals, along with the rest of the band frequently providing backup in chorus.  But the fun and flavour of Queen is all over this game.  As you sing, the background video is overlaid with Queen music videos and concert footage, which really adds to the energy of the game – but if you are  confident not only in your singing but also your stage presence, as it were, you can opt to record yourself on video through  PlayStation Eye to get your own personal MTV style.

I suppose the fun is what matters most, but what put a downer on the evening was the awkwardness of getting the

Hot girls not included with game. They don't even show up later. I waited.

sound profile for the game to jive correctly. The playbacks were horrible, but laughably so – which means it was still fun.  All in all, I feel that this game is for karaoke addicts only, and even then it’s definitely on a party-game basis.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, I got my ass handed to me by my fellow gamers… BRODIE!!

Graphics – 5 / 5 (For the Queen video playing while you sing)

Audio – 4 / 5 (Awesome song selection, but it’s definitely hard to sing over Mercury)

Controls – 2 / 5 (Controlling menus with the mic is easy, but the menus don’t lend themselves well to calibrating the mic)

Gameplay – 3 /5 (Party games, replay value is weak at best)

Cheers!

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Guess what is in stores now?  Singstar Queen, the newest title in the series that has been trying to fill the big shoes of Guitar Hero and Rock Band with it’s vocal-only styles.  Being released for the PS3 and PS2, this game promises to bring the thunder Freddie Mercury-style.  What may push this newest title and give it the edge is right there in the title: Queen.

The game features over 20 of the most popular and memorable Queen singles ever released.  I personally suggest you Wayne’s World it and headbang the chorus to Bohemian Rhapsody.  So I will finally be able to play a singing game where I actually know the words.  This could be the beginning of a new era, where I do not suck at singing games.

Man I love Queen.

Cheers.

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The stars of “We Will Rock You” will soon be rocking Canadians across the country.

Mirvish Productions has announced that the production, which features the music of British icons Queen, will tour Canada after its final performance in Toronto on May 11.

The Toronto run will have lasted 61 weeks by then. The show, which won a Dora for best musical last year, was originally set to run for seven weeks but has been extended a number of times.

The original production of “We Will Rock You” is in its sixth year in London, and is currently also playing in countries including Germany and Spain.

David Mirvish said the show has “introduced live theatre to many young people, making them loyal theatregoers, if we are to judge by how often many of them have been to see ‘We Will Rock You.’”

The show was penned by English comedian, writer and director Ben Elton, with musical consultation from Queen’s Brian May and Roger Taylor. It follows a group of kids “fighting against the all-powerful Globalsoft Corporation that controls their lives and feeds them a diet of synthesized pop,” according to producers.

Details of the Canadian tour are pending.

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It’s no longer fun to make fun of Britney Spears.

CBC.ca is reporting that lyrics in current hit musicals poking fun at the star have been removed due to her recent mental troubles.

Monty Python’s “Spamalot” and Queen’s “We Will Rock You” have removed references to the former pop princess from their shows.

“We Will Rock You” may see the biggest difference as there is a character named after Spears in the show.

The references have been changed to Victoria Beckham in both shows.

“The references have always been intended as good-natured fun, and even a kind of tribute to her because, as you know, we have worked with Britney. But right now, we didn’t want there to be any risk of our show adding to her pain. So we are now adding to Victoria Beckham’s legend instead,” May wrote on his website about why things were changed.

The changes apply to current showings of the hit musical all around the world – including its current run in Toronto.

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In honour of AIDS day, Saturday, Dec. 1, legendary rock band Queen will release what will be their first single in ten years.

Following in the footsteps of fellow British musicians Radiohead, Queen’s single will be available for free download on the bands official website.

The band is particularly invested in the cause because Freddie Mercury, the band’s renowned lead singer, passed away in 1991 due to an AIDS related illness.

According to a statement made on Thursday by the drummer, Roger Taylor, Queen hopes to capture Nelson Mandela’s message regarding the treacherous disease.

“By making the song available for free, we hope to help Nelson Mandela with his campaign to get across the message that no one is safe from infection,” Taylor said.

“It’s in our own hands to bring a stop to this.”

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Brian May wrote “We Will Rock You,” the hit anthem by Queen, after the audience sang all their hits back to the band at a concert in London. Now, “We Will Rock You” is a hit stage musical in London, and is slated for a run in Toronto starting in March of 2007.

At a press conference today attended by May, Queen bandmate Roger Taylor and writer Ben Elton, members of the press were given a sneak preview in the form of a clip of the show from London.

“I actually think that shapes up pretty well, because let’s face it, the film of stage always looks a bit crap,” said Elton. “So if you can imagine that in a live context, with all the bells and whistles actually coming to you, then I think you can imagine why people are actually getting on their feet. It is a live gig, in every sense of the word: 36 fabulous, sparkling vocal artists and an incredible live eight-piece rock and roll band.

When Elton was first approached, “We Will Rock You” was going to be a biographical musical of the band and the late Queen lead singer, Freddie Mercury, who died from complications due to AIDS in 1991.

However, Elton saw a different story for the musical set to the hit songs from the band. He let Queen know of his intentions and they gave him the go-ahead.

“I suggested that we start a legend of our own,” Elton said.

The show tells the story of a society 300 years in the future, where no musical instruments remain, and the music the society listens to is dictated to them by the higher ups. A Killer Queen runs the Globalsoft Corporation, which controls the society. The Killer Queen is served by a henchman named Khashoggi. Live music has been banned.

However, one lone guitar remains, buried in rock, for the chosen one to retrieve and perform with and reclaim music for themselves. The two leads are Galileo and Scaramouche, two rebels who fall in love and reclaim music.

“We’re thrilled to be here, we spent the last two days completely immersed in auditions and we have a fantastic new all-Canadian cast and completely Canadian band,” May said.

May also noted that Canadian audiences will be treated to a different show than what is currently running in London, because “We Will Rock You” takes on a local feel, and incorporates local references. He would not elaborate on what those changes, or references, will be though. Elton said Toronto audiences will also see new changes in the play and if the response is good, they may take the changes over to London.

“We hope it will make you laugh,” he said, “and make you cry.”

“But in a nice way,” Elton chimed in.

Taylor said that one of their main objectives with the show is to have a real, live, rock and roll band play the music.

“We like to think that ‘We Will Rock You’ is not a title, it’s a promise,” Elton said to great applause from the crowd.

May said writing a musical was not in the band’s long-term plan.

“We did have insane dreams at the beginning, we did. We had precocious thoughts, we thought we could conquer the world in a sense, but we were just four kids. We didn’t know anyone and it was very difficult in the beginning,” May said.

Although they had high hopes, they never thought they would be putting their songs into a musical context.

“Both Roger and I would certainly admit that we were both quite cautious about going into musical theatre. Musical theatre, in a sense, is what we reacted against. This is very much not ‘My Fair Lady’ or ‘The Sound Of Music,’ not that I put that down, but we’re rock musicians, and we were very conscious that this had to be a rock event. This had to be something that still has spirit, has passion, has spontaneity, and doesn’t become sort of run of the mill,” May said. That is why he and Taylor were in Toronto for the casting, because they wanted to be involved with the show the whole way through.

May credited Queen’s manager, Jim Beach, who always told the band that one day they would write a musical. “And we would say, ‘nah, we don’t want to write a musical.’ But here we are, and I tell you what, we like this musical.”

Pictured from left to right: Ben Elton, Evan Buliung, Alana Bridgewater, Brian May, Roger Taylor, Erica Peck and Yvan Pedneault Photo credit: Sarah Millar, andPOP

May said it was important to have the songs incorporated into the action of the play, instead of the songs just coming out of nowhere. He said they had to stand alone, and in “We Will Rock You,” they do.

“I hope I’m not being presumptuous in saying this, but I have never seen this show fail to raise people to their feet,” he said. He explained that the audience is an important part of the show, and even takes over the show at one point, reminiscent of the relationship Queen had with their audience at their concerts.

The show features 32 of Queen’s hits; many of them remain unchanged, but some of them had to be altered lyrically to fit the mood of the show.

“The songs are pretty much as were, and the sound as was, except perhaps slightly better than could be. But ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ was never performed in its entirety live by the members of Queen because they didn’t have the voices to do it. We do,” Elton said.

Elton said that although Mercury did not live to see the premiere of the musical, his mother did send a note to him saying that above all else, Mercury loved to love, and would have loved the musical. To this day, Elton treasures the note.

“The spirit of Freddie is very strong in the musical, and consciously so. Roger and I, and Ben as well now, I know, always think of Freddie when we’re making a decision. ‘Well, what would Fred think?’ And in some cases, I think we know, because he was like a family member, we were very close,” May said.

After Mercury’s death, Taylor said the band was unsure of whether to go on together, but the spirit of the band has been reborn in new fans, which makes Taylor proud.

“For quite a few years, I think Brian and I sort of really had given up on the idea of the band. But the flames seemed to keep itself alive and our music still seems to be very popular, which we’re very, eternally grateful for,” Taylor said.

Four of the 36 cast members were announced at the press conference: Yvan Pedneault, from Sept-Îles, Quebec, as Galileo; Erica Peck, a 20-year-old midway through the theatre program at Sheridan College, who will play Scaramouche; Alana Bridgewater as Killer Queen; and Evan Buliung, who has appeared in classical and musical theatre, will play Khashoggi, the Killer Queen’s henchman.

“This has been one of the most satisfying castings that I have been a part of,” Elton said. “The young, fresh, new Canadian talent that I have seen during the auditions has just sparkled and we have assembled a truly electrifying, all-Canadian company.

May said the Toronto show puts extra pressure on him because of family he has living in Brockville, ON.

“We have to succeed here,” May laughed, “or I’m dead.”

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The Toronto Star reported this morning that it is nearly a sure thing that “We Will Rock You” will be hitting the stage in T.O. next year.

Sources tell the paper the show, which is based on 32 Queen songs and debuted in London in 2002, will take the stage on March 14, 2007. It will follow “Mama Mia’s” footsteps – the cast will be Canadian, but the creators of the original show will oversee its production.

Mirvish confirmed the speculation, tickets for the show go on sale Nov. 20. and the show will take the stage next March

The arrival of “We Will Rock You” has been on and off again in Toronto for a number of months. A few months ago, a Mirvish source said the odds were 70-30 in getting the musical.

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Speculation continues that the Queen inspired musical, “We Will Rock You” will be hitting a Toronto stage in the near future.

The Toronto Star reports that due to the fact that “The Phantom of the Opera” will be put on stage at the Princess of Wales theatre, instead of its old home, The Cannon (AKA Pantages) theatre, this opens up the Cannon for something bigger. Something that will rock you.

Still, no one at Mirvish productions has confirmed the speculation, however a spokesperson did say the odds of the musical coming are 70-30.

The Star surmises the production would open next April, and run for the summer before heading out on a North American tour.

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A birthday bash commemorating Freddy Mercury’s birthday in his home country of Zanzibar is being ordered not to go on.

Officials for the Muslim population in the country have told the Associated Press that they will not respect any celebrations honouring the later Mercury because he was gay, which is against the Muslim religion.

That’s why he was branded a Queen,” Azan Khalid said, adding that the Muslim leaders would try to halt the party being planned by Mercury’s restaurant.

The restaurant maintains that the show must go on.

Mercury was the frontman of Queen and died in 1991 of AIDS.

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Brian May, guitarist of Queen, is frustrated with My Space.

According to the news section on his website (brianmay.com), the Queen guitarist is frustrated because not only are there many fake My Space sites under is name, but My Space admin refuses to shut any of them down.

“Just so you know, folks, once and for all, there IS NO Brian May page on MYSPACE …. NOR WILL THERE EVER BE ONE …. I am completely disgusted that the organisers of this site exert no sense of responsibility to check that people are who they say they are,” he writes to on his site in his first entry on the subject.

Then, a day later, May adds:
“It seems to be a bigger problem than I realized … it’s obviously a fad that has broken out like a rash … some people must think it’s clever or funny. I’ve since discovered that I’m not the only one whose identity has been pirated …. Paul Stanley of Kiss apparently is also fighting this invasion, and Roger and John – and my own lady, Anita, has already had to close one down. It really is laughable that if you are trying to get something taken off, apparently the proprietors of this annoying website will not talk to you unless you join their pesky club ! And give them all kinds of personal details, and a picture ! ha ha! AS IF !!!! Outrageous ! And unforgiveable.”

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In a letter to the editor published in the Ottawa Citizen last week, Queen guitarist Brian May says that Toronto will finally get a production of “We Will Rock You,” however Toronto?s theatre production company run by the Mirvishes are not totally agreeing, the Toronto Star reports.

May said in his letter that “We Will Rock You” ? a show similar to “Mama Mia,” which uses Queen’s songs to tell the story about a futuristic society ? will finally hit the Toronto stage next July.

However, John Karastamatis, director of communications for Mirvish Productions, tells the Star that nothing has been signed yet.

Despite that comment from Mirvish Productions, sources in one of Toronto’s talent agencies told the Star they were told to prepare their clients for auditions for the musical in January 2007.

If May is telling the truth, this will be the third attempt to bring “We Will Rock You” to Toronto.

It was originally supposed to come in May of the 2004-05 season, but was replaced with “Evita.” The speculation began it would be the next big musical in Toronto, until “The Lord of the Rings” was announced.

The Star says it is expected the musical will cast an all Canadian cast, which will then tour North America after its run in Toronto. The only place in North America “We Will Rock You” has performed is in Las Vegas.

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