Brian May thought Queen song ‘lugubrious’ before Freddie Mercury reworked track | Music | Entertainment

This week’s episode of Queen The Greatest live takes fans back in time to Queen’s 1986 Wembley Stadium performance.

This would be the band’s final tour as a four and the last for Freddie Mercury, who died in 1991, and John Deacon, who ended up retiring.

In this epic footage, the singer leads a 72,000 strong audience in a rendition of A Kind of Magic, the title track of their latest album at the time.

Penned by Roger Taylor, the song featured on the soundtrack of Highlander, with songs Who Wants To Live Forever and Princes Of The Universe.

Brian May originally found the original A Kind of Magic “lugubrious and heavy” with its pulsing synth-rock.

That was before Freddie developed the song into a funkier and lighter treatment that would be re-recorded with producer David Richards.

Roger recalled: “Originally, A Kind Of Magic was used at the end of the movie [Highlander], over the closing credits. It was a grander concept with a much more broken-up tempo. Freddie really believed in this song and we reworked it as a single.

“It became very popular onstage. And when we did it on the 1986 Magic Tour, which was our last ever tour, it used to go down incredibly well.”