If you think that a 70s guitar band and an Italian tenor probably wouldn’t sound that good together, think again, because renowned opera singer Andrea Bocelli and Queen’s Brian May are here to prove otherwise. The duo’s heartfelt rendition of Queen’s ‘Who Wants to Live Forever’ was performed live onstage earlier this month, and it shows that even two talents as seemingly disparate as these can sound absolutely stunning when brought together for a performance.
The duet took place in Tuscany at Bocelli’s 30th anniversary performance, and when you hear it for yourself you will wonder why on earth the collaboration didn’t happen sooner! May kicks off the vocals, holding his guitar close to him as his gentle voice rings out across the stadium. Then it’s Bocelli’s turn, with his operatic vocals proving powerful enough to make all the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end.
Queen fans are notoriously hard to please, but going by the comments on this YouTube video, it seems that this duet has met even their high standards. “A fitting rendition of a deeply moving song,” summarized one viewer, whilst another described how proud the late Queen vocalist Freddie Mercury would have been of the performance, saying, “I know Freddie would love it.”
One reason why this duet might have worked so well, Music Man readers, is because Queen are no strangers to performing with legends of Italian opera! Back in 2003, they were joined by Luciano Pavarotti – perhaps the most famous opera singer of all time – for the Brian May solo track ‘Too Much Love Will Kill You’. Again, the collaboration was extremely well received by Queen fans, and in fact led many to speculate what a duet between Pavarotti and Freddie Mercury might have sounded like.
Although a legendary rock band like Queen and an iconic opera singer like Andrea Bocelli or Luciano Pavarotti might seem like a strange combination, the two videos above prove that, under the right circumstances, it’s a combination that works. To date, the Queen/Pavarotti duet has received over 24 million views online; no doubt the performance with Bocelli will reach similar levels of online popularity over the course of the next few years.
If you think that a 70s guitar band and an Italian tenor probably wouldn’t sound that good together, think again, because renowned opera singer Andrea Bocelli and Queen’s Brian May are here to prove otherwise. The duo’s heartfelt rendition of Queen’s ‘Who Wants To Live Forever’ was performed live onstage earlier this month, and it shows that even two talents as seemingly disparate as these can sound absolutely stunning when brought together for a performance.
Queen fans are notoriously hard to please, but going by the comments on this YouTube video it seems that this duet has met even their high standards. “A fitting rendition of a deeply moving song” summarised one viewer, whilst another described how proud the late Queen vocalist Freddie Mercury would have been of the performance, saying “I Know Freddie would love it”.