Brian May says that he’s still weighing up the idea of an ABBA Voyage-style immersive avatar show for Queen.
Staged in the 3,000-seat ABBA Arena, a purpose-built venue in east London, ABBA Voyage features ‘ABBAtars’ based on the Swedish pop superstars as they appeared in 1979, alongside a 10-piece band, performing over 20 hit songs. The project took six years to realise, but within weeks of its launch in May 2022, the attraction had sold more than 380,000 tickets, and continues to sell out performances four years on.
At the final Kiss show, at New York’s Madison Square Garden on December 2, 2023, the band announced their own avatar show, scheduled to launch in 2028, co-produced by Kiss and Pophouse Entertainment, the Swedish company behind ABBA’s show. The Kiss show will be staged in Las Vegas, with avatars created by the George Lucas-founded visual effects company, Industrial Light & Magic.
In a new interview with Absolute Radio, Brian May was asked if he might consider working on a similar virtual concert residency for Queen.
“Yeah, like the ABBA Voyage thing?” the guitarist responded. “It’s not really a hologram, but it’s an immersive experience, right? Yes, we looked at it very seriously, particularly after I saw the [Las Vegas] Sphere and what the Eagles did with the Sphere, which I thought was amazing. And I spent a lot of time planning out what I thought could be a Queen show.
“I’ve kind of backed off now because you can’t do it without massive use of A.I., with all the consequences of that,” May continued. “Now, in some ways, I don’t wanna be stealing the work of other people. If you’re stealing your own work, I’m not quite sure where I stand on it, ’cause you would be stealing from the Queen oeuvre, you know, which maybe is okay because that’s ours. But at the same time, you’re adding to the stresses that A.I. is putting on the world.
“So, I don’t know,” he admitted. “I’m not so keen as I was. I think it would be great to have a permanent place where people could go and feel like they’re seeing us play live in our peak, maybe all over the world, maybe at all points in time. The doors are open, but I don’t know if we’re gonna walk through.”
A film of Queen’s July 27, 1986 gig at Budapest’s Népstadion, the first Western stadium rock show to take place behind the Iron Curtain, is to be screened in cinemas worldwide on October 7.
Queen Budapest is of major significance to Queen fans as it represents the last filmed live performance of the band with Freddie Mercury, showing the quartet at the height of their powers as a live act.
The band are planning to use a screening of the film to recreate the atmosphere of a Queen show for fans in London.
Across two screenings at London’s iconic Roundhouse on October 3, the newly restored film will be shown on a giant LED screen, with the visuals augmented by surround sound and synchronised lighting. A range of original Queen merchandise will also be on display.
“It’s going to be definitively the most real experience ever of us, Queen, in our glory days,” says May. “I think people will get lost in it and even forget they’re watching a film.”
(LouderSound)
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