Hologram Freddie Mercury to appear at a Queen show later this year
After the holographic Tupac at this year’s Coachella, it looks like “holographic” dead performers might be the thing this year. Queen guitarist Brian May recently revealed that an undead Freddie Mercury would be performing with the band later this year during a special performance of the West End musical We Will Rock You.
May stressed the new “effect” was not a hologram, calling it “an optical illusion of sorts”.
“People will come out saying, ‘did we actually see Freddie?’” he added.
The guitarist hinted the musical might employ a similar technique to the one used to make the late rapper Tupac Shakur perform on stage at the Coachella music festival last month.
“It’s a little unfortunate they did that thing with Tupac as we’ve been trying to make Freddie appear on the stage for quite a while,” he said.
“[That technique] is something we’ve looked at ourselves but I think probably for a show that runs eight shows a week it’s not really quite practical.”
The special performance, on 14 May, will celebrate 10 years of the hit musical at London’s Dominion Theatre.
As well as almost all the original London cast in attendance, Hollywood star Robert De Niro - who is one of the show’s producers - will also be making an appearance.
“There is a certain person who’s coming that’s intimately associated with getting the production on in the first place - our friend Bob from Los Angeles,” May confirmed.
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