I was on holiday in Majorca one year, we’ve been to the same little town six or seven times and we usually stay at the same hotel, a cheaper one on the outskirts of the town with a small pool and no entertainment. The food is alright, and it’s quiet – no queuing for food or the bar. One year however we pushed the boat out and spent our holiday at one of the premium hotels, bang in the centre of the town, massive pool, amazing food, but busy. The kind of busy where if you don’t get to the poolside at five to eight in the morning, you aren’t getting a sun bed until late afternoon.

One of the perks of this place was the entertainment. It was fun, there were the usual drinking games for the adults, kids hour, reptile shows, all the usual stuff.

So, one night there was a Queen tribute act. There were a few other tribute acts over the fortnight we were there, the usual bland, slightly washed-up, more about fun than talent type of acts, highly dependent on whether you liked the band they were covering, usually passable once you’ve had a few beers. But this was Queen. I wouldn’t say I was a massive fan of Queen, but I grew up in the 80’s/90’s so was familiar with and liked at lot of their more popular stuff. I was hopeful.

Turns out it wasn’t Queen, it was just Freddie, but hot damn this guy was good. He looked like Freddie, like Band Aid Freddie with the white vest. He had the hair, the moustache, this guy even had the teeth. He sounded like Freddie, he walked like Freddie. And he acted like Freddie, to a T. He worked the stage, he worked the floor, he strutted, and spun, and owned the show. And the mannerisms! It was like watching Freddie.

My daughter was around 3 or 4 at the time I think, and spent most of the evening in her push chair, but at one point in the night, she was roaming around close to the table. Freddie was on the floor at this point, just in front of the stage, and somehow my daughter escaped our clutches and ran towards him. He didn’t bat an eyelid, at a natural break in singing, he looked down at her, blew a kiss and winked, and then carried right on singing as if nothing had happened. He got back up on stage at that point, and cracked a joke about female groupies in between songs. It was hilarious, and highly professional in a “the show must go on” kind of way.

He did all the hits, everyone sang along, and by the end of the night, everyone was up dancing. It was wild. At the end of show, everyone screamed for more and he generously belted out another classic hit. But we wanted even more. There were 5 adults in our group, and as the guy left and made his way through the crowd we grabbed him and begged him to do another, just one more, pleeeeease! He started singing the bit in Bohemian Rhapsody where the lyrics are like “I’m just a poor boy, from a poor family” but with different words, something like “I’ve got to now, I’ve got another show!” So we let him go. But he was so friendly and good natured about the whole thing.

I have no idea what this guy was called, and we never saw him again in that little town. But for one night only, it was the closest I ever got to experiencing Freddie, and probably the best musical experience of my life.