The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert
The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness was a benefit concert held on Easter Monday, 20 April 1992 at Wembley Stadium in London, England for an audience of 72,000. The concert was produced for television by Ray Burdis, directed by David Mallet and broadcast live on television and radio to 76 countries around the world, with an audience of up to one billion. The concert was a tribute to Queen's lead vocalist, Freddie Mercury, who died of AIDS on 24 November 1991. The show marked bassist John Deacon's final full-length concert with Queen. The profits from the concert were used to launch The Mercury Phoenix Trust, an AIDS charity organisation.
History
Following Freddie Mercury's death on 24 November 1991 from bronchopneumonia brought on by AIDS, the remaining members of Queen came together with their manager Jim Beach to organize a concert to celebrate the life and legacy of Mercury, and to raise money for AIDS research and spread awareness about the disease. In February 1992, at the annual BRIT Awards ceremony, May and Taylor announced plans for the concert. When tickets finally went on sale, all 72,000 tickets sold out in just three hours, even though no performers were announced apart from remaining members of Queen.Concert
The concert opened with a message from the three remaining members of Queen in tribute to Mercury. The music then commenced with short sets from artists that were influenced by the music of Queen, including Metallica, Extreme, Def Leppard, and Guns N' Roses. Between bands, several video clips honouring Freddie Mercury were shown while roadies changed the stage for the following act's performance. Elizabeth Taylor then gave an AIDS prevention speech, which was followed by a compilation of Mercury's various interactions with audiences.The second half of the concert featured the three remaining Queen members – John Deacon, Brian May and Roger Taylor – along with guest singers and guitarists, including Elton John, Roger Daltrey, Tony Iommi, David Bowie, Mick Ronson, James Hetfield, George Michael, Seal, Paul Young, Annie Lennox, Lisa Stansfield, Robert Plant, Joe Elliott and Phil Collen, Axl Rose and Slash, Liza Minnelli, and others. Via satellite from Sacramento, California, U2 dedicated a live performance of "Until the End of the World" to Mercury.
Home releases
The concert was originally released in VHS form, but due to time limitations, "Love of My Life" and "More Than Words" by Extreme, "Animal" and "Let's Get Rocked" by Def Leppard, Spinal Tap's "The Majesty of Rock", U2's "Until The End of the World", Mango Groove's "Special Star" and Robert Plant's version of "Innuendo" were removed from the original release. The US release also omitted Bob Geldof's performance of "Too Late God", and Zucchero Fornaciari's performance of "Las Palabras de Amor".In April 2002, for the 10th anniversary of the Mercury Phoenix Trust, the second half of the concert was released on DVD and entered the UK charts at No. 1. "Innuendo" was not included on the DVD, at Plant's request. In addition, the original 4:3 footage had been cropped down to widescreen.
On 24 June 2013, Queen announced on their Facebook page that a new remastered version of the concert would be released in late 2013 on DVD and Blu-ray. The DVD and Blu-ray was released on 2 September 2013. Like the earlier VHS release, this version excludes Extreme's "Love of My Life" and "More Than Words", Def Leppard's "Animal" and "Let's Get Rocked", performance by Spinal Tap, U2 and Mango Groove from the opening acts segment, and Plant's "Innuendo" from the Queen+ segment.
Clips of rehearsals and of Metallica's set were featured in the 1992 documentary A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica.
In May 2020, Queen announced that they would be premiering the concert on YouTube to raise money for the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund. It was available for 48 hours.
Several songs from the concert have also been released in audio-only format:
- Metallica's three-song performance was made into a UK tour edition single for "Nothing Else Matters", entitled Live at Wembley Stadium and released in Europe just one week after the concert, on 27 April 1992.
- Guns N' Roses' performance of "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" was released in August 1992 as a double A-side, with the band's original studio recording of the song; it was also featured on their album Live Era '87–'93. The single entered the UK charts at No. 2.
- Def Leppard released their version of "Now I'm Here" from the concert, as a B-side to their single "Tonight".
- an EP of the George Michael performances with Queen was released as Five Live in April 1993. It entered the UK singles chart at No. 1.
- the Queen + David Bowie performances of the songs "All the Young Dudes" and "Heroes" were released on the soundtrack album to the 2018 film Beside Bowie: The Mick Ronson Story.
Performances
Without Queen
- Metallica – "Enter Sandman", "Sad but True", "Nothing Else Matters"
- Extreme – Queen Medley, “Love of my Life”, "More Than Words"
- Def Leppard – "Now I'm Here", "Animal", "Let's Get Rocked"
- Bob Geldof – "Too Late God"
- Spinal Tap – "The Majesty of Rock"
- U2 – "Until the End of the World" – played via satellite from Sacramento, California
- Guns N' Roses – "Paradise City", "Only Women Bleed", "Knockin' on Heaven's Door"
- Mango Groove – "Special Star" – played via satellite from Johannesburg, South Africa
- Elizabeth Taylor – AIDS Prevention Speech
- Freddie Mercury – compilation of various interactions with the audience
With Queen
- Queen + Joe Elliott and Slash – "Tie Your Mother Down"
- Queen + Roger Daltrey and Tony Iommi – "Heaven and Hell", "Pinball Wizard", "I Want It All"
- Queen + Zucchero – "Las Palabras de Amor"
- Queen + Gary Cherone and Tony Iommi – "Hammer to Fall"
- Queen + James Hetfield and Tony Iommi – "Stone Cold Crazy"
- Queen + Robert Plant – "Innuendo", "Thank You", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love"
- Brian May + Spike Edney – "Too Much Love Will Kill You"
- Queen + Paul Young – "Radio Ga Ga"
- Queen + Seal – "Who Wants to Live Forever"
- Queen + Lisa Stansfield – "I Want to Break Free"
- Queen + David Bowie and Annie Lennox – "Under Pressure"
- Queen + Ian Hunter, David Bowie, Mick Ronson, Joe Elliott and Phil Collen – "All the Young Dudes"
- Queen + David Bowie and Mick Ronson – "Heroes"
- David Bowie – "Lord's Prayer"
- Queen + George Michael – "'39"
- Queen + George Michael and Lisa Stansfield – "These Are the Days of Our Lives"
- Queen + George Michael – "Somebody to Love"
- Queen + Elton John and Axl Rose – "Bohemian Rhapsody" using the same light show as The Magic Tour from 1986 for the opera section, and vocals played from a tape using the original 1970s’ studio recording featuring Freddie Mercury.
- Queen + Elton John and Tony Iommi – "The Show Must Go On"
- Queen + Axl Rose – "We Will Rock You"
- Queen + Liza Minnelli, supported by everyone else who performed at the concert – "We Are the Champions"
- Queen – "God Save the Queen"
Queen's activity
- Freddie Mercury – pre-recorded piano and vocals and compilation of various interactions with the audience during the section before the Queen + section of the concert.
- Brian May – electric and acoustic guitars, keyboards, lead vocals, co-lead vocals, backing vocals
- Roger Taylor – drums, tambourine, backing vocals, co-lead vocals.
- John Deacon – bass guitars, backing vocals
Guest musicians
- Elton John – piano on "Bohemian Rhapsody"
- Slash – electric guitar on "Tie Your Mother Down"
- Tony Iommi – electric guitar on "Heaven and Hell", "Pinball Wizard", "I Want It All", "Hammer to Fall", "Stone Cold Crazy" and "The Show Must Go On"
- Ian Hunter – electric guitar on "All the Young Dudes"
- Mick Ronson – electric guitar on "All the Young Dudes" and "Heroes"
- David Bowie - alto saxophone on "All the Young Dudes"
- Joe Elliott – backing vocals on "All the Young Dudes"
- Phil Collen – backing vocals on "All the Young Dudes"
Backing musicians
- Spike Edney – keyboards, piano, backing vocals
- Mike Moran – piano on "Who Wants to Live Forever" and "Somebody to Love"
- Josh Macrae – percussion in some Queen tracks
- Chris Thompson – backing vocals, acoustic guitar on "I Want It All", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and "Heroes", additional percussion
- Maggie Ryder – backing vocals
- Miriam Stockley – backing vocals
- London Community Gospel Choir – backing vocals on "Somebody to Love" and "We Are the Champions"
- John Jones – organ and backing vocals on "We Are the Champions"