Queen Will Debut Freddie Mercury Illusion in London

Freddie Mercury

Queen guitarist Brian May has told the BBC that the band has been working on a special effect that will make their late frontman Freddie Mercury appear on stage with them during a special performance of the West End musical We Will Rock You on May 14th. May, who stresses that the effect will be “an optical illusion of sorts” and not a hologram, says that “people will come out saying ‘Did we actually see Freddie?'”

May says their Mercury illusion will not be like the projected image of a virtual Tupac Shakur that appeared during Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre‘s set at Coachella 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 told the BBC. “[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.”