Queen have announced a 19 date tour of the US with “American Idol” winner Adam Lambert.

The tour is set to take place this summer and has been described by Roger Taylor and Brian May as the "closest that you'll ever get to see Queen as it was in our golden days."

Adam said in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine: "I think the thing that's really special is that this is the real deal. This is live.

"In today's music world, you go to a concert and you're getting a lot of playbacks. There's click tracks. It is what it is. I'm not hating on it. But this is the real deal. This is pure.

"We're not playing to a click. We're not playing to tracks. This is all live instruments. I'm singing all the vocals with these guys on vocals. It's purely organic. I think in today's day and age, it's very exciting for an audience to see something that has that much heart."

Brian May also insisted that they are not trying to imitate what it was like back when Freddie Mercury was still alive and performing with the band.

"We're here live and real and we have a great singer. They'll be a lot of newness about this. I think that's very exciting. It'll be loud and dangerous and all the things that people used to look for in us," he said.