Lambert also shared his go-to tip for jet lag, how he’s a “tornado” when packing, and more.
Performing in sold out stadiums and belting out some of the most iconic rock anthems with the legendary band Queen has allowed Adam Lambert to travel the world. And while his latest gig of playing the enigmatic Emcee in “Cabaret” on Broadway has him situated in New York City for a while, he’s still exploring nonetheless.
Lambert first collaborated with Queen when he was a contestant on American Idol Season 8 (he came in as runner-up.). It was there where the iconic band members Brian May and Roger Taylor were struck by his incredible vocals — and the rest was history. Lambert appeared as a guest singer for them at first and then officially was named the lead singer on the “Queen + Adam Lambert Tour” in 2012, even performed with them at the Oscars at the 91st Academy Awards in 2019.
Fast forward to 2024, Lambert made his Broadway debut in the fall, however, he’s no stranger to theater. He was a cruise ship performer at one point and also appeared in a national tour of “Wicked.”
“Coming back to this wonderful, nostalgic reminder of my youth, to be honest, [has] been restorative and wonderful for the spirit,” Lambert told Travel + Leisure in a recent interview. “Also, taking on a character, there’s freedom in being someone else. One of the things that drew me into wanting to be an artist in the music industry was to have the freedom to be myself. And now it’s like, I’m flipping it back to this sort of this liberation, of getting to be lost in a character.”
I usually bring my iPad and I’ll watch a movie that I’ve downloaded or I’ll start or continue a series. I like watching stuff. And then if I’m doing an overnight I try to sleep, and I’ll put my headphones in and listen to sort of zen meditation music to go to bed.
Jet lag hack?
If I know that it’s gonna hit me, if I’m going east, I try to drink a lot of water on the plane. That usually does help a bit. I load up on all these vitamins and do things to try to combat it, and stay awake when I get there and try to wait to go to bed. Go for a walk. It’s hard, because every time I land and I go overseas, all I want to do is sit in bed and just veg. But I make myself get up and go for a walk or go to the gym, and then it helps my body sleep later.
Go-to plane snack?
The nuts are always good. One thing we’ve discovered is, if I’m traveling domestically, the food on JetBlue is really good and they’re one of the few airlines that have milk alternatives. I find it very funny that even on this day, as you fly on most other airlines, if you get a coffee and you want oat milk or almond milk you can’t get it. I don’t understand that! Every coffee shop has it. I’ve always said I should tweet about it or something and I don’t want to complain but why aren’t we getting milk alternatives?
Oh, it always depends on my mood. I love “Another One Bites the Dust” because it’s sort of aggressive and funky. I like singing “The Show Must Go On” just for the challenge of it. It’s a hard one, very athletic. So is “Who Wants to Live Forever?” That tends to be like a big thing.
That sense of liberation is also something Lambert experiences when he travels. The 42-year-old who has four solo albums, told T+L that he loves performing in Europe, especially Amsterdam, Germany, Denmark, and Sweden. And although he loves the progressive cultures of Amsterdam and Norway in particular, for audiences he gives a call out to Bologna, Italy.
“I mean you have like a whole choir in the audience just loving it and singing along. Same thing with Seoul, South Korea,” he said. “It was like having a backing track! It was amazing!”
Touring does keep him on a schedule when he travels but when it comes to traveling for fun, he just wings it.
“I don’t love a big plan because I tend to change my mind impulsively,” he said. “I like to play it by ear and see how I feel. I’ll do a little research because I like to have options.”
And when it’s time to pack? He needs options as well
“You notice the trend here?” he joked. “I am a tornado. I tend to overpack because I’ll be sitting in my closet and I’ll over-prepare. I tend to overdo it, and then I don’t wear the stuff that I would bring.”
Between his solo tours and touring with Queen, Lambert has covered a lot of continents including Australia and Asia but he says Egypt and the Amalfi Coast are still on his list. His favorite hotels in the world include The Waldorf Astoria in Amsterdam and the Corinthia in London. The Aman Resort in Porto Heli Greece, Ammanzoe, is also unbelievable, he said.
He won’t be traveling this holiday season as he’ll be entertaining audiences in “Cabaret” at the August Wilson Theater. “I’m working through the holidays but the show is so important and it means a lot to me to be on stage and telling this story.”