Queen and Adam Lambert are to release their first live album together later this year.

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The announcement follows a series of cryptic social media posts from the group’s Brian May after the guitarist teased an announcement in a new video earlier this week.

Posting on Instagram on Wednesday (August 19), May shared a brief clip which saw him performing to thousands of fans, alongside drummer Roger Taylor and the band’s current vocalist, Lambert. The band had also been hinting at an incoming announcement in some recent interviews.

The new album, ‘Queen + Adam Lambert Live Around the World’, is set for release on October 2 via EMI and is available to pre-order here.

Queen were set to head out on a huge UK and European tour this summer, but the tour was rescheduled to 2021 due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Following the tour cancellation, on YouTube Queen shared a special Queen + Adam Lambert Tour Watch Party – an hour long show of live highlights from previous tours. The overwhelming fan response to the video inspired the group to compile the live album.

“We hadn’t really watched those clips before, we were always too busy touring” said Taylor. “We weren’t aware of how good the band sounded. So we thought, well, maybe there’s a live album of highlights of concerts that we’ve done over the last eight years with Adam Lambert to be made.”

Brian May added: “As we all grapple with the challenge of creating live shows in a world dominated by a formidable viral enemy, it seemed the perfect time for us to create a collection of hand-picked live highlights from our Queen shows over the last 7 years with our brother Adam Lambert.

May continued: “It’s a first! As you watch and listen to these tracks you’ll be journeying all around the world with us, and experiencing a complete virtual live set.  The collection climaxes in Sydney earlier this year when, in support Fire Fight Australia, we recreated the complete Queen Live Aid set.

“It was a historic event for a great cause – with perhaps the highest adrenaline level since the original Live Aid in 1985.  It makes me particularly happy that we can now share this unique moment with the whole world.”

Lambert added: “When we couldn’t tour this year we wanted to give the fans something in place of that, and a Live album just felt right.

“It’s the first time we have released an album together and we have had a lot of fun putting it together, picking out favourite performances over the past seven years.”

It marks the first major activity from the band since May suffered a heart attack earlier this year.

In May, he told fans that he had been “very near death” when he was hospitalised after doctors discovered that three arteries in his heart “were congested and in danger of blocking the supply of blood to my heart”.