Tribute to Freddie Mercury

24/11/1991 the end of a myth
The lead singer of Queen , Freddie Mercury , died at his London home, consumed by AIDS
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in eternal remembrance

Time to revisit this Thread I think. Now this post is with regards to the Freddie Mercury Tribute concert which was broadcast live on BBC2 back on Monday 20th April 1992. I remember watching the whole show and at the time never realised the magnitude of the event at the time. On VHS I had partially recorded some the 1st half of the concert but that's as far as it went. Up until today all I have had has been the official Queen productions release which aswell as missing out a huge chunk of some of the songs and even Spinal Tap were omitted from the official release. Many theories are around about why this was the case, one of them was not being able to obtain copy right for the VHS/DVD release, another theory is that apparently Queen had to drop one of their songs for the 2nd half of the show due to the time spent wasted when this happened and Queen were not best pleased with this or the fact that they tried to make a mockery of the event. See for yourself.



I have searched high and wide, I have even phoned the BBC and emailed them for a hard copy of the concert but to no avail and finally I came across these links the other day on one of the Queen forums - [hidden link - please register]

Since watching it back what is interesting is the fact that this concert is completely different from the official Queen productions release which is very very polished and almost flawless. Seal who absolutely nails Who Wants To Live Forever on the VHS/DVD version really didn't and Brian May also butchered his guitar solo too in the process. It's amazing what happens when you are able to overdub a concert. This raw version is very interesting and really does highlight just how incredibly gifted Freddie Mercury was when you see just how many of the rock/pop stars really did struggle on the day and which ones rose to the occasion with an honourable mention going to the late George Michael. Mind you, with over a billion people watching the concert live worldwide I suspect that nerves also got the better of some of them!

I must be getting old when I remember where I was and when I heard the news that Freddie Mercury had lost his long battle with aids. he died from AIDS-related bronchial pneumonia on this day back in 1991. Queen's absence from touring had long been noted at this point as it had now been over 5 years since the Magic Tour with the final gig with Freddie taking place at Knebworth Park on the 9th August 1986 with an audience of over 120,000 so he bowed out from his live performances in a blaze of glory at the height of the band's success.

Many people will argue they were just one tour away from world domination and reconquering the USA. Sadly this wasn't to be and Queen's material from the Miracle Album (1989) and Innuendo (1991) reflected this as lyrically a lot of the songs harked back to this halcyon period. Queen's music also grew darker in tone as a consequence of this. The following year on the 20th April 1992 the late Freddie Mercury would be honoured with a tribute concert taking place in his memory at no other than Wembley Stadium which was arguably where Freddie's finest performance took place when Queen stole the show on the 13th July 1985 at Live Aid in a performance in my opinion which has never been matched or bettered.

Today we salute Freddie Mercury and celebrate the benchmark which he laid down for so many entertainers to come. 25 years on from the day is still sadly remembered for what if he hadn't got sick, what kind of impact would Queen had had in the 1990's when up against the new styles of Brit Pop and the Indie scene. My opinion is that just like the Punk Movement of the late 70's and New Age disco era of the 1980's they have survived and continued as they were without bucking the trend to go with the others and no doubt would have continued to stick 2 fingers right up to the critics. I can just imagine a battle right now with Freddie and the Gallagher brothers. That would have been priceless no doubt

Freddie you were the greatest and your legacy still lives on to this day

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I have just noticed this Thread and I may as well come clean now and admit that I am a huge fan of Queen and was of the original line up. The 2 main players in the band in my opinion being Freddie Mercury and Brian May. I really got into Queen in a big way in 1989 after I heard the opening track on Now 15 which was I want it all. It blew me away and after that I decided to buy all their earlier albums. I always knew they were the band that played Bohemian Rhapsody but up until that point it was all I really knew.

One track that always leaves me with a slight tear in my eye is Mother Love, the lyrics are so brutally honest and in general it is so haunting such was the seriousness of his illness at the time and well impending death as he sang this with only weeks remaining not many songs leave me with a chill down my spine after listening to it but this one certainly did, and was the last track that Freddie ever sang, so weak was he that he didn't even manage to sing the last verse as Brian had to go back into the studio 4 years later and finish the track off.



Some happier moments, back in 1989 Queen ran a competition as to see who could best impersonate the band live on stage and the end result was this 4 with a quite extraordinary Freddie Mercury impersonation, Freddie joked at the time I think we'll send them out on tour instead of us, it was a joke but was also a very honest statement as Queen never ever toured beyond 1986 with the Magic Tour being their last



Gone but never forgotten - 5th September 1946 - 24th November 1991

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November 24

04/02/1991 - The Queen publish Innuendo , the last album before the death of Freddie Mercury

dedicate to this forum

a real tribute

20 years ago today the world lost one of it's biggest musical geniuses !!!
Rest in peace Freddie!! today, the world remember you .
Thanks for all the music you have brought/made






We still love you Freddie, even after 20 years
no matter how I'm feeling, that spoken "I still love you" at the end gets the tears flowing every time


Freddie was a very strong person. Freddie never complained that he knew he would die soon, he was always positive and lived for the music. This shows that Freddie Mercury was a very very very strong man and person. Thanks Freddie- thank you for your work, and you live for ever in our hearts with your music!!

Its not fair the world only got 45 years worth of this man. God bless Freddie Mercury. R.I.P.

Kind Regards
Shaky

to bad and sad he died so early, being a very exemptional artist. and I'm still a very very big, even biggest, fan of Queen and Freddy Mercury as basically have grown up with their music.

well remember when 'Bohamian Rapsody' and 'Killer Queen' first time hit the charts.

on the other hand what would have been of him. it is as well sad to see such a one of a kind fading, loosing popularity and strength.

he left us all in the peak of his life, creativity and work.

Freddy you were 'Made in Heaven'

still shed a tear for you once in a while.

slow


P.S.: thanks to brudgon, sir, for the reminder