Brian May and Queen surprise Dunedin musician by showing up at his house to play the piano

A Dunedin man was left wondering if it was real life or just fantasy when he received a late-night email from a rock legend.

When Adrian Mann emailed Queen guitarist Brian May on Sunday night to invite him, or anyone in the band, to play the piano he built, he never expected a response.

He was keen for them to see the piano, which at six metres is believed to be the longest in the world.

Just hours later, his inbox pinged.

He said he found "a whole lot" of email addresses online and so he tried them all but expected them to be fake.

Photo / Otago Daily Times

To his surprise, he received a reply.

"12.33am is when he emailed me back," Mann said.

"I saw it at about 3am and I could not sleep from then on."

May had asked Mr Mann for a photo of the piano.

"I sent him a picture and then I thought I better tell him where it is, so I sent the address and said, 'I will be there from 9am'."

He then received another response from May which said: ''Wow. Amazing! Bri''.

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But the excitement did not stop there.

He believed May forwarded the email to his team because later that day keyboardist Spike Edney, who is touring with Queen, called in.

"He played the piano for 10 minutes," Mann said.

"Then I played for him while a friend walked him around to the good sounding spots of the piano."

During the visit, Edney also gave him two front row tickets and guest passes for the Dunedin concert that night.

"It was a mind-blowing incredible experience, I will never forget."

Edney told Mann to keep him updated on his next piano.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission.