Queen guitarist Sir Brian May was visibly moved to tears after hearing a powerful tribute to Freddie Mercury during the 2025 Polar Music Prize ceremony.
The rock legend attended the prestigious event in Stockholm in June alongside drummer Roger Taylor, where they accepted the Polar Music Prize on behalf of Queen.
During the ceremony, Swedish artist Miriam Bryant delivered a breathtaking performance of Queen’s anthemic track ‘The Show Must Go On’, leaving Brian May overwhelmed with emotion.
The song holds extraordinary meaning for the band, marking Queen’s final single before Freddie Mercury’s death in 1991. Written in 1990, The Show Must Go On was co-created by Brian May and Mercury as a dramatic statement of Freddie’s determination to keep performing, even as he privately battled AIDS.
Miriam Bryant’s heartfelt interpretation of the song clearly struck a chord with Brian, who interrupted a live TV interview after the performance to personally thank her.
“That was such a beautiful interpretation,” he told Miriam. “I feel very honoured. She’s amazing – you’re amazing! We’re all like hearts in our mouth, [it was] beautiful… I was just so moved, that was perfect, just perfect. Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
Brian, now 77, has often spoken about how The Show Must Go On captured Freddie’s courage and spirit during the band’s most painful period.
In a 2023 interview with Guitar World, Brian remembered writing the song’s challenging vocals, and how Freddie insisted on singing them despite his failing health.
“By that time he was suffering a lot. He could hardly stand,” Brian explained. “I played him some of the demo, with me singing, which went incredibly high and was very difficult. In the past, Freddie was always shouting at me, like, ‘It’s too f****** high! You’re making me ruin my beautiful voice!’ So I thought he was going to shout at me this time.
But he just heard it and said, ‘I’ll f****** do that. Don’t worry,’” Brian recalled. “So he downed a couple of vodkas, neat, then propped himself up on the desk and worked his way through singing all of that song. He absolutely smashed that vocal. It’s like he reached into a place that even he’d never got to before. It was beautiful. I think it’s one of his finest performances of all time.”
First released in October 1991 as the closing track on Queen’s Innuendo album, The Show Must Go On has become one of the band’s most powerful songs.
The song has since been covered by numerous artists and featured in films, television, and live tribute concerts. Brian’s iconic guitar parts and Freddie’s fearless vocal delivery together make it a striking reminder of the band’s artistry, even in the darkest moments of their career.
The Polar Music Prize, sometimes called the “Nobel Prize of music,” was awarded this year to Queen for their monumental contribution to popular music. Both Brian and Roger accepted the award in Freddie’s honour, celebrating his enduring legacy as one of rock’s greatest frontmen.