Adam Lambert.Photo: Dave Simpson/WireImage
Adam Lambertis more excited than ever to get back in front of an audience.
After a year of virtual performances, the singer is set to take the stage on Sunday as he headlines the final day ofPride Live’s annual Stonewall Day event,OUTLOUD: Raising Voicesconcert, in honor of the first weekend of Pride month.
The three-day event, which will benefit variousLGBTQ+charities, kicks off Friday at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and marks the first in-personPride eventin the city since the pandemic.
In addition to Lambert, the show will also feature headliners Sofi Tukker (Friday) andHayley Kiyoko(Saturday), as well as performances from Daya, Saro, Mykki Blanco, Malia Civetz and Shea Diamond, among others.
“I’m really excited,” Lambert, 39, tells PEOPLE. “In the name of Pride and in the name of myFeel Something Foundation, we put together an amazing lineup and can get people out to a live event, which is so exciting to happen now in 2021.”
“I feel really excited to get in front of a live audience,” he adds. “I did a virtual concert around my birthday, and that was a lot of fun too, but it’s just not the same. Having a live audience, it’s like you tap into a collective energy and it’s an experience… there’s just nothing like it.”
Adam Lambert.Noam Galai/Getty Images
His show will feature a “very diverse group” of performers, includingKim Petras, Vincint, Sam Sparrow, Chely Wright, Zhavia Ward, Angel Bonilla and Wrabel. There will also be pre-recorded performances from Conchita and Yungblud.
“I’ve never actually curated a set before for a festival like this so it’s been a really interesting experience,” he explains. “I worked with my team and we just made a list, and hashed it out. We said, ‘Who would we think would be a good addition to the list, as a well-rounded set?'”
Many of the performers Lambert selected are people he says he crossed paths with during his career, but also people that he “really admires as vocalists.”
“I was so excited that I had an opportunity to highlight and support other queer artists,” he says. “We have a variety of different genres and identities being represented. I think everyone that comes or watches it on Twitch will find something that resonates with them, and that’s really important.”
Along with highlighting other artists, Lambert says he’s excited to celebrate how far the LGBTQ+ community has come in the music industry.
“The mainstream music scene has opened up and expanded so much for us,” he says. “It was [initially] a tricky situation because so many people in the business just weren’t sure if it was commercially viable to be out and proud.”
“Now we know that there’s an audience for it, and it’s an audience beyond the queer audience. It’s a mainstream mixed audience,” he says. “There are plenty of straight fans of gay artists, so it’s not just about superseding your own community. Now it’s about reaching out past it.”
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Ultimately, Lambert believes the concert will provide fans with a memorable experience, especially after a challenging year.
“It’s going to be a great celebration,” he explains. “I hope it just gives people a sense of joy and will be an opportunity to bring people together after the weird year that we’ve had.”
“And I hope that it makes people feel proud of who they are,” he adds. “Community is more important right now than it ever has been, considering all the challenges that are going on in the world, so I think it’ll be a nice sense of community and a celebration of who we are and where we’re at, but also a reminder of what still needs to be done.”
OUTLOUD: Raising Voices will be held on June 4-6, beginning at 4:00 p.m. PT. Tickets can be purchasedhere, and the show will also be streaming exclusively for free onTwitch.
source: people.com
