Long Live Queen: This Tribute Show Honours Freddie Mercury’s 50-Year Legacy

This September, the spirit of Freddie Mercury returns to Brisbane and around the country as Australia’s most authentic Queen tribute show, Bohemian Rhapsody, is back for their greatest hits tour. 

When Australian music royalty Danni Minogue tells you, “That’s the best Freddie Mercury impersonation I have seen,” it’s safe to say you’re doing the queer music legend genuine justice. 

When Thomas Crane stepped onto the Australia’s Got Talent stage in 2011, that’s the reception he received. Crane blew the judges away with his incredible charisma and talent, wowing the country as the iconic Freddie Mercury. 

However, this was nothing new for Crane — he’s built a 30-year career via his impressive skill for impersonating the iconic Queen frontman.

Crane and his band have toured all around Australia and all the world, paying homage to one of music’s greatest stars. And this year, the show must go on: they’re doing it all again. 

Bohemian Rhapsody is proudly dubbed ‘the most authentic Queen tribute show’, and the band’s promoter Ben Maiorana says it’s “one of the most established Queen tribute shows in Australia and the world”. In fact, he goes so far as to state that the group are the world’s number one Queen tribute act. 

“He has the vocals,” Ben says of Crane. “No one reaches him with the vocals; they are far superior to anyone else I’ve seen or heard.”

However, it’s not just the vocals that bring home this authentic experience; when Crane takes to the stage, it’s a complete performance, including live piano and guitar playing. 

“He plays the piano on stage with all our performances and plays the guitar for Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” Maiorana points out as one of the defining differences for the performance. “If you do Bohemian Rhapsody, you don’t play the piano and you’re a Queen tribute artist, it’s not authentic,” he says. “That’s why we’re the most authentic one out there.”

For their 2025 tour, the Bohemian Rhapsody team are bringing the best of the band’s biggest hits on stage for their Greatest Hits Tour. 

The first half of the show will feature a complete set of the band’s biggest hits, kicking off with Radio Gaga, while the second half of the show will feature a tribute to the iconic 1986 Wembley Stadium performance of Bohemian Rhapsody. Breathing new life into the performance will be a fresh set of costumes, staging and visuals that will bring the 2025 show to life bigger and brighter than ever before. 

Bohemian Rhapsody will be bringing their greatest hits tour to cities around the country, including Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, Darwin and Brisbane, where they will bring the iconic QPAC stage to life once again. 

Just in time for Brisbane Pride month, the tour will arrive on September 11 and Ben can’t wait to see the show return. “Brisbane is one of the highlights of the whole tour because QPAC is known as one of the most distinguished buildings,” he says. 

The Brisbane show has proved so popular that in just under two weeks, 500 tickets have already been sold to eager punters ready to see Freddie Mercury reincarnated and hitting the stage. With the Queensland shows so popular, there are already plans to add another show to the tour at the Redland Performing Arts Centre in September as well. 

If you’ve never seen a Queen tribute show, this is truly the one to see if you’re after authenticity – that’s what’s made audiences fall in love with Bohemian Rhapsody time and time again. 

“Everything is here, right down to the trademark cheeky banter and singing contests between Freddie and his audience,” says Maiorana. “Bohemian Rhapsody manages to take everything that made a Queen show unique, and bring it back to life before your very eyes and ears.”

In the words of Molly Meldrum: “My God, Freddie Mercury is alive and well! He would have been very proud of that vocal performance.”

You can find more information and get your tickets at bohemianrhapsody.com.au.