In 2019, the renowned Canadian singer Marc Martel was invited to attend the Golden Wave Award ceremony in Georgia. This is the country’s leading music award show at the lavish Tbilisi Opera and Ballet State Theater. For the 2019 show, the organisers decided to pay homage to the band Queen. With that in mind, there was no one better to invite along to play a short set at the ceremony than Martel, whose voice is eerily similar to that of Queen’s deceased singer, Freddie Mercury.

Martel, the Christian rock musician, who was once in the band Downhere, performed an astonishing set of Queen covers for the ceremony. The set’s highlight was the penultimate song, his version of the classic track “Bohemian Rhapsody”. This would have been special enough, but the Tbilisi Children’s Capella choir joined him to sing backing vocals. The combination of Martel’s powerhouse delivery and the children’s angelic voices created a unique sound for the lucky audience members.

Martel performed in a shirt and tie, though by this point in the set the shirt had been pulled open while his face dripped with sweat. In contrast, the Tbilsi Children’s Capella choir, founded in Georgia’s capital city, looked pristine in their traditional white military outfits. And while Martel sat at the piano, the choir danced in orchestrated moves that added a great spectacle to the performance.

Martel played a thirty-minute set, performing Queen’s biggest hits, including “Radio Ga Ga”, “Don’t Stop Me Now”, “I Want To Break Free”, and “We Will Rock You”. He collaborated with different choirs and musicians throughout the set before bringing on the Tbilisi Children’s Capella choir for the finale. After playing “Bohemian Rhapsody”, they then finished on a stirring version of the classic “We Are the Champions”.

In the absence of Freddie Mercury, Marc Martel gives renditions as close as many audiences are likely to get of Queen performing in their heyday. His collaboration with younger performers, such as the Tbilsi Children’s Capella choir, demonstrates how Queen’s songs will continue to live on with each new generation.