One Band Will 'Likely Draw More Eyeballs' to Oscars

The Academy's plan this year to shorten the Oscars by giving out some awards during the commercials failed. Now it had better hope one of its featured bands doesn't play one of its most famous tunes in its entirety. Queen is set to perform at the awards show Sunday night, with American Idol alum Adam Lambert taking over Freddie Mercury's frontman role, along with original guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor. And while there's no word whether they'll rock out to "Bohemian Rhapsody" (also the name of the biopic about them that's up for several awards), Deadline reports the band's presence "is likely to draw more eyeballs to ABC's telecast."

The announcement came via an Academy tweet Monday, quoting the film's title track: "Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?" NPR notes Lambert has been playing with Queen on occasion since May and Taylor performed with him on the 2009 season of American Idol. Missing from the group, and not likely to show up Sunday unless there's a surprise: John Deacon, the group's original bassist, who retired decades ago, deciding there was no point going on without Mercury. ("Bohemian Rhapsody" was recently deemed the most-streamed song from the 20th century.)