Brian May Attends the 2024 U.K. Red Special Meetup/Convention

This video contains a selection of video clips filmed on my iPhone of Brian’s three hour visit to our 2024 Red Special enthusiast meet-up (or convention as he referred to it) at the Holiday Inn Reading West which is close to Aldermaston in Berkshire. This is the first part of a two part highlights package of this event. Part two is here:

   • Brian May Red Special Meetup/Convention U....  

Brian was still recovering from his recent stroke and did not confirm that he would attend until the morning of the meet-up. He lost some mobility in his arm as you might have read on social media and had not played guitar for about two months until today. Please bear this in mind when judging his playing.

Steve Prior is on guitar technician duties because Pete Malandrone is still recovering from an injury and is not expected back at work for some time.

The clips are not presented in chronological order that they occurred.

Chapters and Time Indexes

00:00 - Introduction - Brian enters the room.
00:28 - Brian’s introductory chat.
01:58 - Brian gets his commemorative pass to the event.
03:12 - Brian gets a Star Wars themed Red Special meet-up goodie box.
03:54 - The original Red Special makes an entrance.
06:25 - Brian explains about the Red Special's electronics and pickups.
07:23 - Brian plays an impromptu version of We Will Rock You through Supreme Queen tribute band guitarist Luke Timmins' stage rig.
09:15 - Guitar technician Steve Prior shows off the original Red Special.
10:00 - Carlos Mario Solares Lopez de Llergo from Mexico presents a custom made Red Special replica to Brian.
11:17 - Julian Hemingway presents his Red Special replica fitted with Eclipse magnet pickups to Brian.
15:25 - Jon Underhill of The Red Special Guitar Podcast and Brian present Red Special enthusiast community awards.
16:14 - Ulrich (Ulli) Hunger from Germany is presented with an award for documenting all the meet-ups with photographs.
16:48 - Steve McCulla is presented with an award for his behind-the-scenes events logistics support.
17:10 - Bill McCairns raffle prize presentation (KAT Studio-One to be presented at a later date).
17:39 - Signed BMG ukulele raffle prize presentation.
18:11 - Josef Camilleri from Malta receives his raffle prize.
18:32 - Joe Maisey is presented with a piece of Sarah Rugg signed artwork.
18:59 - Josh Cottrill is presented with a set of Adeson Brian May specification Tri-Sonic pickups.
19:31 - Classical guitarist Rosie Bennet gets Rob Maguire’s recently completed Red Special replica signed by Brian.
20:09 - Outro.

Please check out my other YouTube videos which cover a wide range of topics related to Brian May’s guitars and musical equipment. Further information on all my guitar related projects is available on my website, dsgb.net.

#BrianMay #RedSpecial