Benson Boone was joined by surprise guest Sir Brian May, 77, for his Coachella set this weekend.
For the performance, which warmed up for headliner Lady Gaga and Missy Elliot, Boone, 22, wore a flared, tight-fitting blue jumpsuit.
Just before the last two songs of Boone’s electric 11-track set, he appeared on stage wearing a Freddie Mercury-inspired regal cloak – a sign of what was to come.
As the first recognisable notes of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody rang out into the California festival, the crowd cheered, and Boone took his place on his piano before jumping out of his robe to mark the change of tempo.
Then out of a smoky backdrop, Sir Brian’s iconic figure rose onto the stage, wearing a white shirt, tight jeans, and looking the picture of health after his recent stroke, as he strummed his iconic guitar solo.
Boone hit Freddie Mercury’s high notes with expertise, while Sir Brian at one point even ran across the stage to meet him in time for the epic guitar-filled crescendo, to rock out like it was 1979 again.
In the final guitar riff Boone sprang from the piano top and actually jumped over Sir Brian, who stayed on stage to perform Boone’s breakout hit Beautiful Things to close the set.
Boone’s royal cloak was a clear nod to Mercury, who wore a similar regal shrug and crown in Queen’s last ever live tour in 1986 for their final song.
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This isn’t the first time Sir Brian has performed since he was rushed to hospital with a stroke in September last year.
Just a month after his ‘scary’ medical emergency – which came four years after his 2020 heart attack – Sir Brian performed at the Red Special Convention guitar convention despite being ‘low energy’.
While his wife Anita Dobson reassured fans on Good Morning Britain this week that Sir Brian is ‘back to his old self’ following the health scare, no one was expecting him to tackle the Coachella stage.
Elsewhere on the first night of the multi-weekend Indio festival, Lady Gaga topped the bill for the second time after her 2017 headline performance.
Fans praised her elaborate and almost satanic performance, which included her hit pop songs Poker Face, Bloody Mary, Abracadabra, and Judas.
What was Sir Brian May’s stroke health scare?
Taking to social media with the news of his stroke in September, the We Will Rock You hitmaker said: ‘I’m here to bring you some good news I think – I can play guitar after the events of the last few days.
‘I say this because it was in some doubt because that little health hiccup I mentioned happened about a week ago and what they called it was a minor stroke.
‘All of the sudden out of the blue I didn’t have any control over this arm,’ he explained, brandishing his left arm.
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He continued: ‘So it’s a little scary I have to say, I had the most fantastic care and attention. Blue lights flashing, the lot, very exciting.
‘I might post you a video if you like, I didn’t want to say anything at the time because I didn’t want anything surrounding it. I really didn’t want sympathy. Please don’t do that because it will clutter up my inbox and I hate that.
‘So the good news is I’m okay, I’m just doing what I’m told which is basically nothing. I’m grounded, I’m not allowed to drive, get on a plane, not allowed to raise the heart rate too much, but I’m good.’
Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong – who is headlining the event this evening – joined The Go-Gos earlier in the evening to perform their 1984 hit Head Over Heels.
Tonight, Charli XCX will light up the stage in Brat green, while Travis Scott will close the night following Green Day’s performance.
Fans have complained this year about Coachella’s long queues and lack of facilities, with attendees even forced to go to the toilet in bushes while waiting in a reported 12-hour traffic jam to get through security and into the festival.
Coachella is livestreamed via the festival’s YouTube channel or via the Coachella Livestream app, beginning at 4pm PT (11pm GMT).
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