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Queen and Adam Lambert kicked off their 2024 Japanese tour last night in Nagoya’s Vantelin Dome.
In the run-up to the band’s first show since last year’s trek across North America, Sir Brian May documented rehearsals, his excitement and worries on social media.
Being driven to the concert venue he also shared a little-known Freddie Mercury bombshell.
The 76-year-old wrote on Instagram: “I keep thinking … who could have imagined we’d come this far along the Rocky Road ? Strange to think we never played an indoor gig with Freddie even half as big as these magnificent Japan domes.
“OK – now to work — to make sure our show on Monday will sound and look and feel …. stupendous !!! Bri.”
Once inside the Nagoya Super Dome, which has a capacity of 49,000 for concert, Sir Brian reflected: “Walking from backstage, my first contact with the incredibly complex wonders of our new Japan stage, assembled here for full production rehearsals in Nagoya — and, on Monday, our opening show of the tour. Greeting our great team, whom we mostly haven’t seen since last year in The USA. They do an incredible job for us behind the scenes – so perfectly recreating our stage environment that we can walk on at a moment like this and instantly feel like we’re at home – anywhere in the world.
“But this new rig is bigger and more ambitious than anything we’ve attempted before. it has to be to fill these gorgeous domes with sound and vision and make our audience members feel they’re not only intimately connected to us, but transported to a new land of fantasy and escape !!! Hopefully a ride they will never forget !! Bri.”
As Queen and Adam Lambert made their final preparations, the guitarist shared his on-going concerns.
Sir Brian confessed: “YESSS !!! Show Day tomorrow – TODAY ! Sunday. Here’s my Guitar rig, and my scruff-bag jet-lagged face half way through a long final day’s rehearsal. Some final adjustments to the set list and treading a fine line between playing enough to polish every song, and playing too much and making the finger ends raw – which is an ever-present concern at this point for me. OK – now we have put in the work, and a few small prayers are in order that we will deliver what we have prepared without any noticeable train-wrecks !!
“This stuff never gets easy – but that’s probably why we love it so much. The extra ingredient will arrive tomorrow – the most crucial ingredient of all —- you !! THE AUDIENCE !!! We decided many years ago that we would invite our audience to perform with us every night. And that’s what sets fire to the show.
Sayonara folks !!! SHIGOTO NI IKIMASHOU !!! ( Let’s go to work !!! ) Bri.”
Queen and Adam Lambert will next performing Osaka’s Kyocera Dome on Wednesday.