American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert returns Idol tonight as he fills in for Keith Urban as a season 14 judge. And It looks like he makes quite a nice addition to the panel because he has experienced American Idol from start to finish, unlike the judges.
His American Idol 2015 return got us talking about his own audition from 2009 and how it was clear that day that this guy had something special going on. So we pulled the audition out for a little throwback. Not only do we get to see pre-glam Adam, but it’s also nice to see Simon, Paula and Randy together. Oh, and Kara is there, too, but let’s face it, she was almost the Cousin Oliver (Google it) of American Idol.
Anyway, Adam gave us his first Queen performance (there’d be many) with his rendition of “Bohemian Rhapsody.” What’s funny is, the actual audition is only about 24 seconds long. It takes only that long before he’s stopped. But his judgment isn’t all high praise. Simon actually raises the fact that Adam is quite theatrical. He never says that’s a bad thing, though. He doesn’t get a chance to say much because Kara starts blabbing in unwarranted attack mode. But anyway, he gets all four yeses and the rest is history.
Check out Adam’s original audition below and tune in tonight to see him sit alongside Jennifer and Harry during the New York auditions this week.