Brian May

A first rehearsal at the École de ballet

When Queen first arrived in Montreux in 1978, they needed somewhere to rehearse before moving into Mountain Studios. The choice fell on a small École de ballet closed for the summer, whose use was granted only on the understanding that this was “a quartet of musicians doing a little practice”. It was there that Brian May cranked his Red Special through a Mesa Boogie amp and his trusted AC30s. The photographer Peter Hince, who captured the scene, remembers: “Fred’s Steinway piano, weighing in at over a tonne in its enormous flight case, badly damaged an antique parquet floor.”

Seven albums, from the Casino to Mountain Studios

The little rehearsal at the École de ballet was only a prelude. Queen then moved into Mountain Studios, inside the Casino de Montreux, to finish “Jazz”, and the band bought the studio the following year. Brian May laid down his Red Special on seven albums recorded there between 1978 and 1995: “Jazz” (1978), “Hot Space” (1982), “The Works” (1984), “A Kind of Magic” (1986), “The Miracle” (1989), “Innuendo” (1991) and “Made in Heaven” (1995).

Since 2013, the original studio has housed the exhibition Queen: The Studio Experience, while the wall and door covered in fan messages next door form the Queen Tribute Wall.

“Under Pressure”, his guitar left out of the mix

In September 1981, David Bowie, then living on the Riviera, dropped by Mountain Studios where Queen were working. The visit turned into a collective improvisation, producing “Under Pressure”, released on 26 October 1981 and a UK number one. Brian May played the main riff on electric guitar, in an arpeggiated style he still plays live today.

At mixing time, though, it was the acoustic version, first recorded as a simple demo, that Bowie insisted on, all but erasing Brian May’s electric guitar. He recalls it half-laughing: “I remember saying to David, ‘Oh, it sounds like The Who, doesn’t it?’ Yeah, well it’s not going to sound like The Who by the time I’ve finished with it!” (MusicRadar ↗)

Brian May long regretted the choice: “I never liked it, to be honest, the way it was mixed. But I do recognise that it works.” On stage, though, Queen have always played the song much heavier, Brian May’s guitar out front.

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Two appearances at the Golden Rose

On 12 May 1984, at the Petit Palais, Queen performed in public in Montreux for the first time, as part of the Golden Rose festival’s rock strand, a television event that no longer exists today. The band mimed four tracks from “The Works”, including “Tear It Up”, written by Brian May.

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They returned two years later, on 11 May 1986, this time at the Casino de Montreux, to perform “One Vision”, “A Kind of Magic”, “Friends Will Be Friends” and “Hammer to Fall”, the last of these written by Brian May and carried on stage by his riff and guitar solo.

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“Made in Heaven”, finished without Freddie

In 1993, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon returned to Mountain Studios to complete the takes Freddie Mercury had recorded in early 1991, before his death. Brian May has admitted he was reluctant to take it on at first: “I think I was reluctant to get back into opening those boxes and dealing with Freddie’s voice there” (brianmay.com ↗, January 2022). It was Roger Taylor who restarted the work from his own studio, before Brian took charge of certain tracks, patiently reconstructing vocal parts to recreate the illusion of a band recording together.

Released in November 1995, “Made in Heaven” became Queen’s fastest-selling album on release.

The Mercury Phoenix Trust and the Freddie Mercury statue

In April 1992, Brian May co-founded the Mercury Phoenix Trust with Roger Taylor and manager Jim Beach, an AIDS charity launched thanks to the Wembley tribute concert. It is this foundation that now runs the Queen: The Studio Experience exhibition in Montreux.

On 25 November 1996, Brian May attended the unveiling of Freddie Mercury’s bronze statue on the market square, alongside Roger Taylor, Montserrat Caballé and the singer’s parents. Moved by the ceremony, he would later write “No-One But You”, which he first performed live years afterwards, in Montreux itself.

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Five appearances at the Montreux Jazz Festival

Beyond that 1978 rehearsal, Brian May returned to the Montreux Jazz Festival several times over the decades, first as a guest of other headliners before becoming a headline act himself. Five appearances are recorded:

• 18 July 1990, at the Casino de Montreux, alongside B.B. King.
• 6 July 1994, at the Auditorium Stravinski, with “Paul Rodgers and Friends”.
• 6 July 2001, at the Auditorium Stravinski, with Steve Lukather and Larry Carlton.
• 7 July 2001, at the Auditorium Stravinski, for a tribute to Sun Records.
• 19 July 2013, at the Auditorium Stravinski, headlining with Kerry Ellis, on his birthday.

The Candlelight Concerts, in duet with Kerry Ellis

On 19 July 2013, his birthday, Brian May took the stage at the Auditorium Stravinski with singer Kerry Ellis, for the penultimate date of their “Acoustic by Candlelight” tour. Surrounded by candles and accompanied on keyboards by Jeff Leach, the duo delivered a largely acoustic set blending Queen classics (“We Will Rock You”, “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”, “Somebody to Love”), covers and original songs (brianmay.com ↗, April 2014).

That evening also saw the very first live performance of “No-One But You (Only the Good Die Young)”, a song Brian May had written after being moved by the unveiling of the Freddie Mercury statue in Montreux, in 1996.

The concert was released the following year as “The Candlelight Concerts – Live at Montreux 2013”, on CD, DVD and Blu-ray.

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Glion, a balcony over the lake

More than forty years after recording “A Kind of Magic” in Montreux, Brian May remains attached to the Riviera. In March 2025 he was still sharing a photo of a sunset taken from Glion, above Montreux — “just another sunset over the lake” —, right by the Hôtel Victoria. The upper lake and its panorama are, for him as for Queen, part of the scenery.

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