Queen Reimagine We Will Rock You On The Greatest Live

Bruce Henne | 06-23-2023

Video still

(hennemusic) Queen explore how they reimagined their 1977 classic, "We Will Rock You", for the concert stage on the latest episode of the weekly series The Greatest Live.

Few songs have remained at the heart of popular culture like the opening track from "News Of The World." When Brian May presented the song to the band, they recorded the original studio version without drums, with all four members instead supplying foot stamps and handclaps.

"I wasn't sure if it was going to sound like a proper song," May told Guitar World. "But as soon as I heard Freddie singing it, I started to be more confident, because he sounded like a kind of rabble-rouser."

Played live on that year's News Of The World tour, and rapidly earning its enduring status as a must-play setlist highlight (usually followed by "We Are The Champions"), "We Will Rock You" has shed its skin countless times. In last week's episode of Queen The Greatest Live, Brian explained how the Queen crowd claimed ownership of the song's addictive beat ("It's become a drum extravaganza... the audience sing it and the physicality is there").

Now, rare archive footage reveals how the band reimagined "We Will Rock You" through the eras, toying with tempo, instrumentation and many other variables. Opening with the famous show at Budapest's Népstadion on 27 July 1986, we watch the performance that cleaves closest to the studio original, with Roger Taylor driving the iconic rhythm at a leisurely pace on his floor toms and snare.

Watch footage of speedier versions of "We Will Rock You" from multiple tours on the latest episode here.