I have a question. How does an auditorium full of Norwegian senior high students know Bohemian Rhapsody so well? The note under the video claims that it is a spontaneous singalong, and, since it’s the first day of the (2019) school year, we’ll take that at face value. One possibility is that many of the students had sung the song in music class the previous year. Another explanation could be that Bohemian Rhapsody the movie came out in 2018, leading to a surge of interest in Queen songs.
Or maybe Bohemian Rhapsody is perennially popular in Norway. Whatever the case, most of the scholars love the song and know all the lyrics, despite it being in their second language. A few of the kids might be checking the lyrics on their phones, but most need little prompting, although the four students in the front seem to help coordinate things, including the hand movements. Then there is the niggling issue of the quality of the video of a spontaneous singalong, but that’s another matter:
The explanation for the quality of the video footage could be that this is a first day of school gathering of the department of music/dance/drama. It could be that these classes are videoed as a matter of course, so performances can be documented and reviewed, or that filming and editing video is part of the curriculum. When it was posted in August 2019, the video of Rud Senior High School students went viral. It was even shared by Queen on their social media channels.
News From MediaBlog gushes about the piano-playing teacher: “He is so skilled that he can keep an eye on the kids just as well as his quick fingers. He makes eye contact with the crowd, sings along, cracks jokes, bangs his head, and brings the entire performance to a satisfactory conclusion. Everyone ought to have a teacher like that at least once!” Youtuber1650 comments: “Was it perfect? Hell no. Was it great? Hell YES!!!” How about another large singalong of Bohemian Rhapsody?
That was the audience before Harry Styles’ concert in Cardiff on 21 June 2023. Singing Bohemian Rhapsody before Harry Styles concerts seems to have become a thing, just like it is a “thing” before Green Day Concerts.
Bohemian Rhapsody was released in 1975. It remains one of Queen’s most well known songs and it is as popular, if not more popular, than it ever was. RIP Freddie Mercury.