Queen have posted episode nine of season two of their YouTube series, The Greatest.
This time out Brian May and Roger Taylor discuss why lighting is such a vital part of their show.
May says, “For that two-and-a-half hours that we're onstage, we are in complete control of the environment -- that means the sound, the lights, the temperature, everything.
"We've always thought the lights are not just objects to illuminate, they’re objects in themselves and they're part of the environment. And that's a kind of rock ‘n’ roll thing, I think. I think we imbibed that from seeing stuff that we enjoyed when we were kids.”
And Taylor adds that they took a cue from Pink Floyd's use of lights and built upon it. “There were so many acts going around that had hundreds of lights, all different colors, and it just made white. So, we had this idea of just having red, green and white. And it was very effective.”
One of Queen's lighting rigs, according to May, even inspired Michael Jackson. “We had lights in pods, and in each pod there was a man running it and operating it so you could actually interact with these pods. And there's some footage of me doing the guitar solo and playing to the pod and sort of moving it. It would sort of interact with me and talk to me when I'm playing. That was a lot of fun. Michael Jackson saw that and said, I want that. And he did.”
Queen have posted episode three of season two of their YouTube series, The Greatest.
In this week's edition of Queen The Greatest Live, they are seen rehearsing for their 1986 Magic tour -- their last one with Freddie Mercury.
It combines footage from Magic shows with a secretly taped film from rehearsals.