The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness was a 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 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 the life of Queen lead vocalist, Freddie Mercury, with proceeds going to AIDS research. The show marked bassist John Deacon's final full-length concert with Queen (save a short live appearance with Brian May, Roger Taylor and Elton John in 1997). 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 (John Deacon, Brian May and Roger Taylor) came together with their manager Jim Beach to organise 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 bands that were influenced by the music of Queen, including Metallica, Extreme (playing a Queen medley), Def Leppard (who brought Brian May onstage for a version of "Now I'm Here"), 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.
The second half of the concert featured the three remaining Queen members – John Deacon (on bass), Brian May (on guitar) and Roger Taylor (on drums) – along with guest singers and guitarists, including Elton John, Roger Daltrey (of The Who), Tony Iommi (of Black Sabbath), David Bowie, Mick Ronson (of Spiders from Mars), James Hetfield (of Metallica), George Michael, Seal, Paul Young, Annie Lennox, Lisa Stansfield, Robert Plant (of Led Zeppelin), Joe Elliott and Phil Collen (of Def Leppard), Axl Rose and Slash (of Guns N' Roses), Liza Minnelli, and others. Via satellite from Tacoma, Washington, U2 dedicated a live performance of "Until the End of the World" to Mercury.
Home releases
The concert was originally released in VHS form (usually in two tape releases worldwide), 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 in 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 featuring the performances by the surviving members of Queen was released on DVD and entered the UK charts at number 1. "Innuendo" was not included on the DVD, at the request of Robert Plant. 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", Spinal Tap, U2 and Mango Groove from the opening acts segment of the show, and Robert Plant's "Innuendo" from the Queen+ segment of the show.
Several songs from the concert have also been released in audio-only format. 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. Metallica's 3-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. Additionally, the Guns N' Roses performance of "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" was released in August 1992 as a double A-side with the original Guns N' Roses studio recording of the song; it was also later featured on the band's Live Era '87–'93 album. The single entered the UK singles chart at No. 2. Def Leppard released their version of "Now I'm here" with Brian May from the concert as a B-side to their "Tonight" single.
Performances
Without Queen
- Metallica – "Enter Sandman", "Sad but True", "Nothing Else Matters"
- Extreme – Queen Medley, "Love of My Life" (Gary Cherone & Nuno Bettencourt), "More Than Words" (Gary Cherone & Nuno Bettencourt)
- Def Leppard – "Animal", "Let's Get Rocked", "Now I'm Here" (with Brian May)
- Bob Geldof – "Too Late God"
- Spinal Tap – "The Majesty of Rock"
- U2 – "Until the End of the World" – played via satellite from Tacoma, Washington
- Guns N' Roses – "Paradise City", "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
- Queen + Joe Elliott & Slash – "Tie Your Mother Down", Brian May on lead vocals for verse 1, then Roger Taylor joining in on 1st chorus, with Joe Elliott taking over leading vocals verse 2 onwards with Queen on backing vocals for the rest of the song
- Queen + Roger Daltrey & Tony Iommi – "Heaven and Hell" (intro), "Pinball Wizard" (intro), "I Want It All"
- Queen + Zucchero – "Las Palabras de Amor"
- Queen + Gary Cherone & Tony Iommi – "Hammer to Fall"
- Queen + James Hetfield & Tony Iommi – "Stone Cold Crazy "
- Queen + Robert Plant – "Innuendo (including parts of "Kashmir"), "Thank You" (intro), "Crazy Little Thing Called Love"
- Brian May with 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 & Annie Lennox – "Under Pressure" extra co-lead vocals provided on the chorus parts by Roger Taylor as a trio with Bowie and Lennox.
- Queen + Ian Hunter, David Bowie, Mick Ronson, Joe Elliot & Phil Collen – "All the Young Dudes"
- Queen + David Bowie & Mick Ronson – "Heroes"
- David Bowie – "Lord's Prayer"
- Queen + George Michael – "'39"
- Queen + George Michael & Lisa Stansfield – "These Are the Days of Our Lives"
- Queen + George Michael – "Somebody to Love"
- Queen + Elton John & 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 1970's studio recording featuring Freddie Mercury.
- Queen + Elton John & 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" (taped outro)
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