{"id":282380,"date":"2025-11-25T11:43:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T11:43:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/282380\/"},"modified":"2025-11-25T11:43:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T11:43:11","slug":"brian-may-hints-queen-will-live-forever-as-abba-style-avatars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/282380\/","title":{"rendered":"Brian May hints Queen will live forever as ABBA-style avatars"},"content":{"rendered":"

“I’m very taken with the idea that we can be the original Queen again.”<\/p>\n

Queen’s Brian May, Freddie Mercury and John Deacon in 1982Author: Scott ColothanPublished 19 hours ago
Last updated 19 hours ago<\/p>\n

Sir Brian May<\/a> has strongly suggested that Queen<\/a> will launch an avatar show similar to the wildly successful ABBA Voyage. <\/p>\n

In a new interview with the Big Issue to mark the recent 50th anniversary of \u2018Bohemian Rhapsody\u2019, Queen guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor spoke about the possibility of immortalising the band as avatars.<\/p>\n

\u201cFreddie (Mercury)<\/a> is still alive through the music that we listen to all the time,\u201d Brian May said. \u201cIn a sense, John (Deacon)<\/a> is still with us in the same way, but now we have so many other opportunities. <\/p>\n

\u201cI mean things that are immersive, like The Sphere in Las Vegas, it will be possible to give people the experience very closely of what things were like for us when we were Freddie, John, Brian and Roger. And that really appeals to me. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn our Queen shows for a very long time I\u2019ve been doing \u2018Love of My Life\u2019. And in the end, Freddie comes in and joins me as on video. It was just quite simply done, but it\u2019s a way of involving Freddie, and I think we can basically take that a lot further. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt wouldn\u2019t be just playing old footage or whatever. it would be creating Queen as if we were creating it today. I\u2019m very taken with the idea that we can be the original Queen again.\u201d <\/p>\n

Expressing some reticence after watching the ABBA Voyage show in London, Roger Taylor added: \u201cI had a good time. I enjoyed it (but) I didn\u2019t find the actual projections that convincing. I do think technology now has come so much further since the ABBA show started, I think a lot more can be done.\u201d <\/p>\n

Back in September, Brian May revealed Queen are \u201chaving conversations\u201d about a \u201cstupendous\u201d residency at the Sphere<\/a> in Las Vegas. <\/p>\n

“I\u2019m very keen on the Sphere,\u201d Brian enthused to Rolling Stone. \u201cIt\u2019s got my mind working. I sat there watching the Eagles, thinking, \u2018We should do this. The stuff that we could bring to this would be stupendous.\u2019 <\/p>\n

“So, yeah, I would like to do it. We\u2019re having conversations.” <\/p>\n

KISS have previously announced they\u2019re planning to launch an avatar show in 2027<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Freddie Mercury – A life in photos:Freddie Mercury’s early years<\/p>\n

Freddie Mercury was born Farrokh Bulsara in Stone Town in the British protectorate of Zanzibar on 5th September 1946. Here’s Freddie as a baby. His parents, Bomi (1908\u20132003) and Jer Bulsara (1922\u20132016) were from western India.<\/p>\n

Freddie Mercury’s childhood<\/p>\n

Freddie Mercury spent much of his childhood in India and attended St. Peter’s School from the age of 8. Pictured is Freddie at St Peter’s in 1958. <\/p>\n

Freddie Mercury’s childhood home<\/p>\n

In 1964, Freddie Mercury and his family fled to England from Zanzibar to escape the violence of the revolution. They lived at two properties in Feltham, Middlesex before eventually settling at 22 Gladstone Avenue. Pictured is Brian May and Freddie’s sister Kashmira Cooke at the property when a blue plaque was unveiled in September 2016. <\/p>\n

Freddie Mercury at Ealing Art College<\/p>\n

Freddie at Ealing Art College in London in 1969. He earned a diploma in Art and Graphic Design.<\/p>\n

Freddie Mercury in 1969<\/p>\n

Freddie Mercury in Kensington, West London in August 1969. Prior to fame he worked as a market stall trader in the now-demolished Kensington Market in London. <\/p>\n

Freddie Mercury with band Ibex<\/p>\n

Freddie Mercury (left) on the road in St Helens, Merseyside with the short-lived Liverpool band Ibex. When they failed to take off, he joined another band called Sour Milk Sea but by early 1970 they had split too<\/p>\n

Freddie Mercury in early 1970s<\/p>\n

Although famously shy, Freddie Mercury was an extrovert on stage. Here he is wearing a typically flamboyant outfit on stage in the early 1970s<\/p>\n

Queen in 1973<\/p>\n

Queen’s Freddie Mercury, Roger Taylor, Brian May and John Deacon photoshoot in London in 1973.<\/p>\n

Freddie Mercury in 1973<\/p>\n

Freddie Mercury in 1973.<\/p>\n

Freddie Mercury in rehearsals <\/p>\n

Freddie Mercury rehearses for Queen’s first major tour on 9th July 1973<\/p>\n

Freddie Mercury in London in 1973<\/p>\n

Freddie Mercury in London in August 1973.<\/p>\n

Queen accept gold disc for debut album<\/p>\n

Queen are presented with a gold disc for their eponymous debut album ‘Queen’ in Tokyo, 1974<\/p>\n

Queen in 1974<\/p>\n

Queen arrive back from their successful Australian tour in 1974.<\/p>\n

Freddie Mercury in 1976<\/p>\n

Freddie Mercury at Heathrow airport in January 1976 ahead of Queen’s USA tour<\/p>\n

Queen before receiving British Phonographic Institute awards<\/p>\n

Queen in London, September 1976, to receive a British Phonographic Institute Platinum, Gold and Silver award for record sales. <\/p>\n

Freddie Mercury at Madison Square Garden in 1977<\/p>\n

Freddie Mercury in his imperious live prime at Madison Square Garden in January 1977. <\/p>\n

Queen at Earls Court in 1977<\/p>\n

Queen at Earls Court in London, June 1977.<\/p>\n

Queen in 1978.<\/p>\n

Queen looking cool in 1978.<\/p>\n

Freddie Mercury in Paris in 1979<\/p>\n

Freddie Mercury in his element, live in Paris in 1979.<\/p>\n

Freddie Mercury in California in 1982<\/p>\n

Freddie Mercury performing live in Oakland, California in 1982.<\/p>\n

Freddie Mercury at Live Aid in 1985<\/p>\n

Freddie Mercury during Queen’s legendary Live Aid performance at Wembley in 1985. It’s widely regarded as one of the finest concert performances of all time.<\/p>\n

Freddie Mercury at Live Aid with Paul McCartney, Bono and David Bowie<\/p>\n

Freddie Mercury performing with Paul McCartney, Bono, David Bowie and more at Live Aid, 1985. <\/p>\n

Freddie Mercury in Sydney in 1985<\/p>\n

Freddie Mercury on stage in Sydney in 1985.<\/p>\n

Queen in 1985<\/p>\n

Queen pose for a portrait in 1985.<\/p>\n

Freddie Mercury and Anita Dobson in 1988<\/p>\n

Freddie Mercury with Brian May’s second wife Anita Dobson in 1988.<\/p>\n

Freddie Mercury and Monserrat Caballe in 1988<\/p>\n

Freddie and Monserrat Caballe perform ‘Barcelona’ at Barcelona’s Montjuich park, to celebrate the arrival of the Olympic flag from Seoul, October 1988<\/p>\n

Queen in 1989<\/p>\n

Queen pose together in smart attire in 1989. <\/p>\n

Queen at The BRIT Awards 1990<\/p>\n

Freddie Mercury’s appearance at The BRIT Awards in February 1990 was his last public appearance. <\/p>\n

Flowers left outside Freddie’s home after his death<\/p>\n

Fans leave flowers outside Freddie’s London home on 24th November 1991 \u2013 the day of his untimely death aged 45. <\/p>\n

Freddie Mercury statue in Montreux<\/p>\n

The iconic Freddie Mercury statue overlooking Lake Geneva in Montreux. Standing three metres high, the Irena Sedlecka sculpture was unveiled five years after Freddie’s death by Montserrat Caball\u00e9 and Freddie’s mother Jer.<\/p>\n

Freddie Mercury exhibition at Sotheby’s<\/p>\n

In 2023 Freddie Mercury’s closest friend Mary Austin (to whom Freddie left half of his \u00a375 million estate) announced that she was finally selling his life’s possessions, which had been stored in his Kensington mansion since his death. Before the auction, Sotheby’s displayed the 1,500 items at an exhibition in London, with members of the public able to view Freddie’s outfits, artworks, lyric sheets, instruments, furniture and more.<\/p>\n

Listen to Planet Rock on DAB nationwide, on our Rayo app, online or via your smart speaker (\u201cPlay Planet Rock\u201d).<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“I’m very taken with the idea that we can be the original Queen again.” Queen’s Brian May, Freddie…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282381,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[96,128,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-282380","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-music","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282380\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}