Brian May hints Queen will be stars of new Abba Voyage-style AI hologram show

Queen guitarist Sir Brian May has hinted the band will be the stars of a new Abba Voyage-style AI hologram show.

The 78-year-old guitarist revealed he and drummer Roger Taylor were exploring ways to bring the band back to life in its original incarnation with late singer Freddie Mercury, who died in 1991, and bass player John Deacon, 74, who retired in 1997.

Speaking to Big Issue, Sir Brian 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.

“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.”

Rumours of a hologram show of the pop rock band began circulating when the company who manages Mercury’s back catalogue filed a trademark for his name in 3D and VR. At the time representatives for Queen said there was “nothing to say”.

Despite the planning, Taylor, 76, said he came away from the Abba Voyage show with mixed feelings.

He said: “I had a good time. I enjoyed it, 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.”

Taylor said Mercury would be “thrilled” that the band’s work is “still relevant today”.

He added: “We haven’t finished yet, we can play fine, but we are getting older, and so we’re just looking at all the options, especially with the incredible technology we have now which is literally changing by the day.”

Queen have had six UK number one singles and 10 UK number one albums. Some of their best known songs include Bohemian Rhapsody, Killer Queen, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, and We Are The Champions.

The full interview can be read in this week’s Big Issue, on sale from the magazine’s vendors now.