On this edition of Queen The Greatest, the band charts the song's evolution on the stage, with highlights footage of the group's most iconic performances from each of the past five decades.
The curtain goes up at the Hammersmith Odeon in December 1975, with historic first ever filmed footage of Freddie Mercury presenting the song that was then enjoying a nine-week run at the top of the UK charts. Still in its infancy, Freddie performs just a segment from the song as part of a medley as a full version was yet to be incorporated into their show. It would take until the bands 1977 US tour before "Bohemian Rhapsody" would be performed live virtually in its entirety.
A cut to the historic Live Aid benefit concert of July 13, 1985, finds Freddie at the piano, performing the song as the opening of the band's historic 21-minute set, treating the London Wembley Stadium and one and a half billion strong worldwide audience to the performance that is forever acknowledged as truly having stolen the show.
"The response from the crowd was so deafening," remembered Brian May, "it took your breath away."
Next up is 1992’s Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, where guests Axl Rose and Elton John joined Queen for a performance of the song in honouring Freddie.
Underlining "Bohemian Rhapsody"'s capacity for reinterpretation, the episode skips onward to November 2003's inaugural 46664 concert in Cape Town, South Africa, where Brian and Roger Taylor join the Soweto Gospel Choir to honour Nelson Mandela while raising funds for the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Finally, as "Bohemian Rhapsody" reaches its plaintive denouement - 'Nothing really matters' - we join the Adam Lambert-fronted lineup of modern times for 2014's New Year's Eve concert in the shadow of London's Big Ben. And as Freddie duets with the band via projected archive footage, this living, breathing rock classic is brought full circle.
"It will always be there, I think, 'Bohemian Rhapsody,'" says Brian. "It's truly immortal and that's a good feeling."
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