Benson Boone at Coachella evoked the Queen (with Brian May), but the public did not notice

On the stage of the Coachellabetween raised and twenty -year -old phones in crop top, BENSON BOONE He did a decidedly out of fashion: he tried to evoke the myth. Not his, who is still under construction and already promises well, but that of a time when music was listened to without scrolling. To do this he chose the most theatrical path possible: Bohemian Rhapsodycloak on the shoulders, Pathos in Gogò. And, as a grand finale, a mystical apparition: Brian May, Queen legend, with his guitar and his silver hair, climbed on stage as a Greek god who came down from Olympus.

Except that the gods, you know, must be recognized. And the frost has dropped here.

Born in 2002, a powerful voice, natural talent from frontman of the past, Benson Boone exploded on the global pop scene becoming viral thanks to its acrobat jumps and the planetary success of Beautiful Things. And now he has felt the need to turn back, a way of indicating the artistic fathers.

So, during his set to Coachella, Boone wanted to pay homage to an icon: Bohemian Rhapsody Dei Queen, performed with extreme theatricality, fluttering cloaks, play of light worthy of Broadway and a scenic direction that squeezed the eye to Freddie Mercury. But the real surprise had yet to arrive.

At the time of the famous guitar solo, between fumes and spotlights, a guest of honor appeared on stage: Brian Maythe historical guitarist of Queen, living legend of rock music. An apparition that, at least in theory, should have triggered an ovation. And instead: silence.

In the crowd of very young fans who came to Boone, almost nobody recognized the man by white curls and red guitar. No roar, no mad cell phone to immortalize the unexpected. The effect was surreal, almost alienating. As if the story, which came on the scene, had gone unnoticed.

The next day, Boone tried to remedy with irony: a video on Instagram, shot at home, in which the highlight simulates branding a banana like microphone and mimicking the amazement for the general misunderstanding: “Guys, but do you realize who was with me on that stage?”. No, obviously not.

The curtain has triggered a transversal reflection: Is it possible that a new generation no longer know who Queen are? A question that knows of provocation but that, perhaps, is not so absurd. However iconic, the name of the English band may not say much to those who grew up without CDs, without MTV, without even Bohemian Rhapsody Biopic version. The collective memory is shortened, the myths crumble in real time.

But if on the one hand the fans of the Queen ask who this boone is who dared to touch a sacred masterpiece, on the other the fans of Boone discover – perhaps for the first time – the sound from which everything originated. Who wants to live forever?“Who wants to live forever?”, As the Queen sang.