Watch Queen + Adam Lambert Tweak 'We Are the Champions' in Quarantine
+ performed a scaled-back quarantine version of “We Are the Champions” in an Instagram video posted Monday on their respective accounts. And they made one simple — yet significant — tweak, changing the titular pronoun from “we” to “you” in a display of solidarity.
The clip unfolds in a split-screen format, with Lambert flanked by guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor. They play a no-frills take in this trio format, eschewing the bass guitar, rich harmony vocals and layered guitars of the studio cut. After struggling to get in sync, they lock in for the song’s triumphant chorus, with Lambert altering the lyric on the second go-round.
May has remained active on social media during the coronavirus pandemic: offering a tutorial on how to play the “Bohemian Rhapsody” guitar solo, sharing performances of other classic tracks and challenging fans to accompany him on the band’s 1984 tune “Hammer to Fall.”
The guitarist also urged fans to self-isolate. “I feel this might be THE MOST IMPORTANT THING I EVER POSTED,” he wrote on Instagram. “There is so much false information out there — people saying the CoronaVirus is not a threat — even that it doesn’t exist. And our own Government has failed to act promptly, acting on catastrophically bad advice, which will eventually be the cause of thousands of deaths.”
Lambert is set to appear in the GLAAD livestream Together in Pride: You Are Not Alone, set for Sunday, April 26th on the organization’s YouTube channel and Facebook page. The event, which highlights the LGBTQ community’s response to COVID-19, also features appearances from Billy Eichner, Kathy Griffin, Lilly Singh and Bebe Rexha, along with performances by Kesha and Melissa Etheridge.
