Queen’s Roger Taylor is going on tour this year

Virgin Radio

1 Jun 2021, 15:23

If you’ve been left disappointed that Queen + Adam Lambert’s UK tour has been put back until 2022, then don’t despair, because you can still experience some live Queen in 2021. Roger Taylor has just announced that he will be hitting the road for some solo gigs later this year.

Excitingly, the drummer, singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist is promising to bust out some Queen classics, along with material from his upcoming new solo album, Outsider.

“For some time now, we’ve all just been trying to get by. Now, it’s back to the basics, myself and some great musical pals getting back out there to play some rock,” Taylor said. 

The legendary musician, who penned classics such as Radio Ga Ga, A Kind of Magic and These Are the Days of Our Lives, explained that the shows will be a mix of old and new material. “Obviously, we’ll include some of the Queen classic catalogue, and some of my earlier solo work, but we’ll also be introducing them to some of the new stuff. So we hope folks are going to come on down.”

These upcoming shows will be the drummer’s first live performances away from Queen in more than 20 years, but it doesn’t seem like he’s feeling Under Pressure at the prospect of a solo tour. “This is my modest tour, I just want it to be lots of fun, very good musically, and I want everybody to enjoy it. I'm really looking forward to it,” he enthused.

Although it’s being described as a solo tour, Taylor will actually have a pretty awesome band with him, including Queen + Adam Lambert’s keyboardist Spike Edney, guitarist Jason Falloon, drummer Tyler Warren, and keyboardist Angie Pollock and bassist Charlie Jones, who are members of Goldfrapp’s live band.

When talking about his new album, Outsider, Taylor explained “I’ve had a bit of a creative spurt and suddenly found myself with an album, which was lovely. It was a surprise! I just found myself in the studio and they came out one after the other. It was a pleasure really.”

Taylor’s tour starts in Newcastle on October 2nd, the day after the release of his new album, Outsider, and will travel around the UK before closing at the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London on Friday October 22nd. You can catch him at the following venues:

October 2 - Newcastle, UK - O2 Academy 3 - Manchester, UK - Academy 5 - York, UK - Barbican 6 - Cardiff, UK - St. David’s Hall 8 - Liverpool, UK - O2 Academy 9 - Norwich, UK - University East Anglia (Uea) 11 - Bath, UK - Forum 12 - Bournemouth, UK - O2 Academy 14 - Plymouth, UK - Pavilions 15 - Nottingham, UK - Rock City 17 - Bexhill, UK - De La Warr Pavilion 19 - Guildford, UK - G Live 20 - Coventry, UK - HMV Empire 22 - London, UK - O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire