A Sneak Peek...
And this time, on the day when the world's top artists pay tribute to one of the great singers in the history of music.
On April 20, 1992, a tribute concert was held in memory of Freddie Mercury and to raise awareness for AIDS - "The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness".
The show was held at Wembley Stadium in front of 72,000 spectators and was broadcast live to 76 countries, including Israel.
It is estimated that over a billion viewers watched the concert live !!! This is an insane number!!!
About one-fifth of the world's population watched this show live!
Judging by the number of viewers alone, Freddie is without a doubt the greatest singer in the world, period!
If "50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong" was said about Elvis, then now multiply that by 20 and you've got your answer about the greatest singer in the world, especially when there were no streaming broadcasts back then !!!!
This show marks the last time bassist John Deacon will appear on stage as a full member of "Queen".
The list of artists who came to pay tribute to Freddie Mercury was amazing. The top of the music world in those years. Metallica, Extreme, "Def Leppard", "Guns N' Roses", "U2", Elton John, David Bowie, Robert Plant, Roger Daltrey, Tony Iommi, George Michael, Seal, Annie Lennox, Paul Young, Bob Geldof, and more and more ...
The tribute show was decided by members of "Queen" on the day of Freddie's death. It was clear to them that this was the most beautiful way to say goodbye to him.
Brian May noted that the band had a very difficult time both preparing for the show and organizing all the artists at the same time. There were many more artists left outside and yet the show lasted over three hours. "Queen" members tried to select the artists who eventually appeared based on relevance and friendships with Freddie and the band.
This show had very interesting collaborations between the various artists who came to pay homage to Freddie. For example, members of "Queen" along with singer Joe Elliott and Slash, performed the song "Tie Your Mother Down". Guitarist Tony Iommi accompanied singer Gary Cherone on "Hammer to Fall", James Hetfield on "Stone Cold Crazy" and Elton John on "The Show Must Go On" and more.
It is interesting to note that Queen's friends made counter gestures to the artists who played with them. For example, singer Roger Daltrey and guitarist Tony Iommi performed the song "I Want It All" with "Queen", after an intro that included "Black Sabbath's" "Heaven and Hell" and "The Who's" "Pinball Wizard". Similarly, Robert Plant who performed with "Queen" two songs" "Innuendo" and "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" enjoys a short tribute with excerpts from "Kashmir" and "Thank You".
Two interesting facts about the show.
1. "Scorpions" band members Rudolf Schenker and Klaus Meine were on the set. Rumor has it that they were brought as a backup in case "Guns N' Roses" will not show up. The fear was of an incident between Axl Rose and "Queen" fans because Axl was known as a homophobe. Things have support in interviews with Slash who noted that the decision to perform was made at the last minute. "Scorpions" members are seen in the final track performs - "We Are The Champions" and this is a confirmation of the rumors.
2. A second fact is also related to the attitude of Axl Rose. He had a duet with Elton John on the song "Bohemian Rhapsody". Elton came to his room behind the scenes a few hours before the show to ask him to rehearse. Whoever opened the door was his bodyguard who said Axl was asleep. Elton told the guard he understood but there was a performance in just a few more hours and the bodyguard just closed the door in his face.