Queen to launch ABBA-tar style shows? Brian May hints at Freddie Mercury 'reunion'

25 November 2025, 11:04

Queen - and Freddie Mercury and John Deacon
Queen - and Freddie Mercury and John Deacon. Picture: Alamy

By Mayer Nissim

Brian May and Roger Taylor have kept the Queen flame alive.

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After the tragic death of Freddie Mercury and John Deacon's departure from the band, Queen have continued to play live.

Freddie Mercury's tribute concert was packed with superstar guest singers, and the band have since gone on to tour regularly, first with Paul Rodgers as frontman then Adam Lambert.

Brian May and Roger Taylor show no signs of slowing down, and now guitarist May has hinted at a reunion of sorts, not just with the retired Deacon, but even late legend Mercury.

"Freddie is still alive through the music that we listen to all the time," May told The Big Issue.

"In a sense, John is still with us in the same way, but now we have so many other opportunities."

He added: "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."

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Naturally minds go to the ABBA Voyage avatars that used motion capture performances and cutting-edge technology to present "holograms" of the foursome in their heyday, accompanied by a real live band.

But it seems as though May is looking for something even more ambitious. "I had a good time. I enjoyed it," May said of the ABBA Voyage show.

"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."

It's not the first time Brian has entertained the possibility of a hologram return for Freddie and Queen, but emphasised that real, live performance would have to be at the core of any such plans.

Queen live gig at The Rainbow London part of the Sheer Heart Attack Tour in 1975
Queen live gig at The Rainbow London part of the Sheer Heart Attack Tour in 1975. Picture: Alamy

"We've talked about and looked at, very seriously, holograms of Freddie and stuff," Brian May told The Graham Norton Radio Show podcast a couple of years ago.

"We love to be live and dangerous, that's it, that’s our emphasis."

He added: "Now, when we're all gone, yeah sure, make an ABBA thing about us but while we're here I want to play live. I don't want to be a hologram, I want to be me.

"ABBA don't want to go out and play live anymore, and they never did that much playing live, although they were a wonderful band in the studio. But for us, the live thing is it."