THE DARKNESS will be taking the stage alongside The Boomtown Rats as special guests when Queen + Adam Lambert perform their massive open-air concert at Marlay Park on July 8.
Queen + Adam Lambert are returning to Dublin this summer following unprecedented demand from Irish fans who were unable to attend their incredible sold-out 3Arena show last November.
Since first sharing the stage for the American Idol final in May 2009, Queen + Adam Lambert have proved to be a hugely successful global partnership, having now played more than 130 shows in every corner of the world.
On the musical side, the Queen + Adam Lambert touring band also features Spike Edney on keyboards, Neil Fairclough on bass, and Tyler Warren on percussion.
They will be joined by the The Boomtown Rats who exploded out of Ireland in 1976.
Fronted by singer Bob Geldof, their defiant motormouth, their arrogance and flagrant disrespect for authority endeared him and the band to every youth who felt weighed down by the heavy-handed blandishments of church and State.
They first toured with the Ramones and Talking Heads rocking and mocking the status quo alongside the Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Jam and The Stranglers.
They became one of the biggest bands of the late 70s /80s with a string of top ten hits and platinum albums, earning them Brit Awards, Ivor Novellos and Grammy Awards.
Making history as the first Irish band to have a UK Number 1 hit with ‘Rat Trap’, they went on to top the charts in 32 countries with ‘I Don't Like Mondays’ and racked up six era-defining albums.
The Darkness released their Number 1 debut album ‘Permission to Land’ in 2003, which went five times platinum and sold over 1.5 million copies in the UK alone.
The Darkness headlined the Oxegen Festival in 2004 and won three BRIT Awards the same year for Best Group, Best Rock Group and Best Album.
They also won two Kerrang! awards for Best Live Act and Best British Band. They released their latest album ‘Pinewood Smile’ last year.
The summer concert will again showcase Queen + Adam Lambert’s spectacular new stage production which was conceived around the 40th anniversary of Queen’s News of the World album and drew rave reviews.
Queen + Adam Lambert’s magnificent 2017/2018 touring show has been custom tailored for the band by some of the world’s most cutting-edge creative talents.
Responsible for design and production is Ric Lipson from Entertainment Architects Stufish Productions, who are renowned worldwide for their innovative work with artists such as Pink Floyd, the Rolling Stones, and U2, as well the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Making use of over 300 moving lights during the show is the highly acclaimed lighting designer Rob Sinclair, who has illuminated tours for major artists including Adele, Peter Gabriel and Kylie Minogue.
The production’s genuinely eye-popping laser elements are the work of ER Productions, who were behind both the opening and closing ceremonies of the London 2012 Olympics that were seen by over 900 million people worldwide.
