“I missed a couple of things which I would have loved to get better”: Brian May suggests that he wasn’t completely satisfied with his Bohemian Rhapsody guitar playing at The Last Night of the Proms

When they leave the stage, even the greatest musicians have a habit of focusing on what they could have done better rather than what went well, and so it was for Queen guitarist Brian May over the weekend when he and Roger Taylor guested at the Last Night of the Proms during a special orchestral version of Bohemian Rhapsody at London’s Albert Hall.

The headline-grabbing turn at the traditional end-of-season bash came in honour of the song’s 50th anniversary, with tenor Sam Oladeinde having the honour of taking Freddie Mercury’s place on lead vocals.

We also heard from the National Youth Choir, the BBC Singers and soprano Louise Alder, who made her mark during Bohemian Rhapsody’s famous ‘opera’ section.

Roger Taylor, meanwhile, ended the song by hitting what BBC News says was “Britain’s biggest gong”.

It was a show-stopping moment amidst the usual pomp and circumstance, but speaking afterwards, Brian May admitted that he wasn’t completely happy with his own performance.

After describing it as “very emotional,” he added: "A little too emotional for me. I missed a couple of things which I would have loved to get better. But the overall feeling was great."

We’re guessing May is referring to the moment when he missed his cue for the final guitar solo prior to the ‘nothing really matters’ coda and could be seen shaking his head in annoyance. Not that the assembled flag-waving hordes didn’t seem to mind: the song got a rapturous reception.

Ever the perfectionist, this isn’t the first time May has been critical of his own playing at a big gig.

Discussing Queen’s set at Live Aid recently - which has come to be regarded as one of the greatest live rock performances in history - he said. “At the end, I came off thinking ‘that went OK’ but also very aware of the places where it nearly fell apart. It came off the rails quite significantly at the end of Hammer to Fall. If you look at it, you might think that was on purpose, but it wasn’t. I came off very conscious of the flaws in our performance, but I also knew Freddie had been great.”

As for what Mercury would have made of Queen’s Last Night of the Proms showing, May said: "[Freddie] would have loved to be here. He'd have been on that stage, lapping it up."