Queen guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor have spoken about the possibility of an ABBA Voyage-style hologram show – see what they had to say below.
Speaking to Big Issue recently, May and Taylor addressed the chances of an original Queen line-up reunion of sorts with late vocalist Freddie Mercury and bassist John Deacon, who retired in 1997.
Touching on “reuniting” with their former bandmates virtually, May said: “Freddie is still alive through the music that we listen to all the time. In a sense, John is still with us in the same way, but now we have so many other opportunities.”
“I 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,” he continued.
May went on to compare their recent live shows to what can be done via holograms: “In our Queen shows for a very long time I’ve been doing ‘Love of My Life’. And in the end, Freddie comes in and joins me as on video. It was just quite simply done, but it’s a way of involving Freddie, and I think we can basically take that a lot further.
He said of a possible hologram-style show: “It wouldn’t be just playing old footage or whatever. it would be creating Queen as if we were creating it today. I’m very taken with the idea that we can be the original Queen again.”
Drummer Roger Taylor then revealed that while he “had a good time” and “enjoyed” the ABBA Voyage show – which debuted in 2022 – he left a showing with mixed feelings: “I didn’t 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.”
Last year, speculation emerged that a Queen hologram show was in the works after Mercury Songs Limited – the organisation which has ownership over late frontman Freddie Mercury’s solo works – reportedly filed to trademark his moniker for virtual reality and 3D.
At the time, May seemed reluctant at the idea: “We’ve talked about and looked at holograms of Freddie, [but] we love to be live and dangerous, that’s it, that’s our emphasis. Now, when we’re all gone, yeah sure, make an ABBA thing about us, but while we’re here I want to play live.”
He continued, once again comparing the idea to having archival footage of Freddie Mercury showing up onscreen: “We have a little bit of stuff with Freddie… I do ‘Love of My Life’ generally and Freddie comes in and joins me at the end when we do our live shows. But it’s not a hologram, it’s just sort of old-school technology which we kind of like.”
As for Queen, the band were named the UK’s most-played rock act of the 21st century back in October. The month before that, May revealed that Queen have worked on new music with Adam Lambert, though they’re not sure it will go anywhere. “Not many people know, but Adam and we have been in the studio trying things. Nothing really materialised so far. Some things are meant to be and some things are not.”
He then added that the band have considered bringing their live show to The Sphere in Las Vegas. “ I’m very keen on the Sphere. It’s got my mind working,” he said.