THERE was just ‘no stopping’ the crowd from enjoying themselves at the BSO’s Rock and Symphonic Queen Spectacular last night.

The combination of blue skies, sunshine and the chance to enjoy live music from Queen’s extensive back catalogue was a cue for a big party.

In the case of Meyrick Park on Saturday night, a very big party attended by many thousands of people – possibly one of the biggest audiences ever - on the second day of Proms in the Park.

Under the baton of the ever enthusiastic Pete Harrison, the world class Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra rocked the place with help from the West End.

Stars from the smash hit Queen inspired musical We Will Rock You, Jenna Lee James, Alex Gaumond, Julie Stark and Peter Eldridge, did an outstanding job of recreating some of the Freddie Mercury magic.

No one can ever emulate the band’s flamboyant front man of course, and unlike last year’s Abba Symphonic, this wasn’t a tribute act.

This was a celebration of one of the most iconic bands in British history.

The audience played its part too as the evening went on, singing and dancing, a few dressing up for the occasion, as did some members of the orchestra.

Kicking off with the not so well known song Seven Seas of Rhye, followed by the classic I Want to Break Free, the hits flowed all night.

Particularly outstanding was, Don’t Stop Me Now and Somebody to Love and in the second half the singers and orchestra ramped things up saving the very best to last with Bohemian Rhapsody which had everyone on their feet singing along to every word.

What is usually the big finish with fireworks and lasers wasn’t quite as spectacular as last year and featured a random array of music like Clubbed to Death by Rob Dougan, Heaven and Hell by Vangelis and even Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells.

But by this stage, no one seemed to mind. Everyone was still on a high from what had been an evening of sheer unadulterated fun and nostalgia.

One of those perfect, unforgettable nights, which I guess you could say was, ‘A Kind of Magic’.