Watch Brian May and Andrea Bocelli perform one of Queen’s most heartbreaking songs
1 August 2025, 17:50
The Queen guitarist joined forces with the Italian tenor for an emotive live performance.
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Sir Brian May has appeared once more with Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli to perform another of Queen’s songs.
The musical pair last partnered up in July 2024, when they performed a rendition of ‘Who Wants to Live Forever’ together.
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Last Saturday (July 26), Brian appeared again at Andrea’s annual Teatro del Silenzio show, where the pair sang ‘Too Much Love Will Kill You’.
Watch Sir Brian and Andrea's performance below:
While the pairing of rock and opera legends might not automatically sound like something which would work, as the clip above shows – the duo proved (just as they did last year) that their different genres can mix to great effect.
And it’s a pairing Brian has made work before with ‘Too Much Love Will Kill You’.
In 2003, he appeared with Roger Taylor at a charity concert held by Luciano Pavarotti, and sang the same song with the famous tenor.
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‘Too Much Love Will Kill You’ is a very personal track for Brian, who penned the song for Queen in the late 80s.
The song dwells on the tricky real-life heartache he experienced when he found himself in love with both his wife Chrissie Mullen and his future-wife-to-be Anita Dobson at the same time.
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“Can't you see that it's impossible to choose / No, there's no making sense of it, every way I go I'm bound to lose” some of the song's lyrics share.
While ‘Too Much Love Will Kill You’ was originally written for Queen and recorded with Freddie Mercury singing its vocals, it was dropped from the band’s 1989 album The Miracle.
Queen - Too Much Love Will Kill You (Official Video)
In a bittersweet turn of events, it may never have seen the light of day had it not been for Freddie’s death in 1991.
Brian arranged a solo version of the track to perform at Queen’s Freddie Mercury Tribute concert in 1992, and later released the song on his solo album Back to the Light.
When Queen made the decision to return to some of their unfinished tracks for their final record, 1995’s Made In Heaven, they also decided to include their finished ‘Too Much Love Will Kill You’ recording.
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Finally, ‘Too Much Love Will Kill You’ was the Queen song it was always meant to be.
But, it’s safe to say the track was always Brian’s first, owing to the personal story he first told in its lyrics.
Who Wants to live Forever - Andrea Bocelli & Brian May no Teatro del Silenzio, Toscana, 2024.
