BRIAN MAY On Upcoming QUEEN Tour: 'I Feel So Privileged That We Can Still Do This'

QUEEN and "American Idol" finalist Adam Lambert recently sat down for an interview in which they discussed their upcoming European tour, which kicks off at the end of May. You can now watch the first part of the chat below.

QUEEN guitarist Brian May said: "I feel so privileged that we can still do this. We spent half our live building this legacy of songs and contact with an audience, and we can still be out there and doing it. And it's wonderful that we have Adam, because without Adam… You need an extraordinary figurehead, and we do have it in Adam. So it's a gift from God. I call him a gift from God."

Added Lambert: "And these guys play their butts off. I mean, it's pretty incredible. You're listening to riffs and fills and stuff that feel like the originals. It feels like the recordings. I get up on stage and I'm, like, 'It's like the record. It's amazing!' It's unbelievable. Their skill and their talent is undeniable."

QUEEN drummer Roger Taylor added: "I didn't even think we'd ever get to this age. You don't think about it. I'm still kind of 35 inside."

Continued May: "Like Roger, I'm surprised that we're still doing it now. I didn't think I would be around. I'm getting close to 70 now. It's quite something to be running around on a stage with [Adam], who is a young boy full of youthful energy and stuff. But I love it. I'm thrilled that we can still do this. How amazing! And it still makes people happy."

Lambert, May and Taylor first shared the stage during "American Idol" in May 2009 for a performance of "We Are The Champions". They teamed up again in 2011 at the MTV European Music Awards in Belfast, Ireland for an electrifying eight-minute finale of "The Show Must Go On", "We Will Rock You" and "We Are The Champions" and in the summer of 2012, Lambert performed a series of shows with QUEEN across Europe as well as dates in Russia, Ukraine and Poland. They also performed three sold-out gigs at London's Hammersmith Apollo.

After completing QUEEN's European tour in January 2015, May described Lambert as the only singer the band had found capable of filling Freddie Mercury's shoes. "Adam is the first person we've encountered who can do all the QUEEN catalogue without blinking," said May.

Lambert, for his part, downplayed the Mercury comparisons, saying: "There's never going to be another, and I'm not replacing him. That's not what I'm doing. I'm trying to keep the memory alive, and remind people how amazing he was, without imitating him. I'm trying to share with the audience how much he inspired me."

Lambert released his third studio album, "The Original High", last June through Warner Bros.