by Georg Purvis
Repertoire, first part: Metallica: ‘Enter Sandman’, ‘Sad But True’, ‘Nothing Else Matters’; Extreme: Queen Medley (’Bohemian Rhapsody’ / ‘Keep Yourself Alive’ / ‘I Want To Break Free’ / ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’ / ‘Bicycle Race’ / ‘Another One Bites The Dust’ / ‘We Will Rock You’ / ‘Stone Cold Crazy’ / ‘Radio Ga Ga’ / ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’), ‘Love Of My Life’, ‘More Than Words’; Def Leppard: ‘Animal’, ‘Let’s Get Rocked’, ‘Now I’m Here’ (with Brian); Bob Geldof: ‘Too Late God’; Spinal Tap: ‘Majesties Of Rock’; U2 (via satellite): ‘Till The End Of The World’; Guns n’Roses: ‘Paradise City’, ‘Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door’; Mango Groove: ‘Special Star’.
Repertoire, 2nd part: ‘Tie Your Mother Down’ (vocals: Joe Elliot), ‘Pinball Wizard’ (intro), ‘I Want It All’ (vocals: Roger Daltrey), ‘Las Palabras De Amor (The Words Of Love)’ (vocals: Zucchero), ‘Hammer To Fall’ (vocals: Gary Cherone), ‘Stone Cold Crazy’ (vocals: James Hetfield), ‘Innuendo’ (vocals: Robert Plant), ‘Thank You’ (intro) (vocals: Robert Plant), ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ (vocals: Robert Plant), ‘Too Much Love Will Kill You’, ‘Radio Ga Ga’ (vocals: Paul Young), ‘Who Wants To Live Forever’ (vocals: Seal), ‘I Want To Break Free’ (vocals: Lisa Stansfield), ‘Under Pressure’ (vocals: David Bowie and Annie Lennox), ‘All The Young Dudes’ (vocals: Ian Hunter), ‘“Heroes”’ (vocals: David Bowie), ‘’39’ (vocals: George Michael), ‘These Are The Days Of Our Lives’ (vocals: George Michael and Lisa Stansfield), ‘Somebody To Love’ (vocals: George Michael), ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ (vocals: Elton John and Axl Rose), ‘The Show Must Go On’ (vocals: Elton John), ‘We Will Rock You’ (vocals: Axl Rose), ‘We Are The Champions’ (vocals: Liza Minnelli), ‘God Save The Queen’
The day after Freddie Mercury lost his battle against AIDS, Roger Taylor, Brian May and John Deacon held a meeting with Jim Beach to discuss plans for a tribute event. Many ideas were suggested, though nothing concrete was decided at the time; there were other matters to attend to first. The week after Freddie’s death, a visibly distraught Roger and Brian appeared on ITV’s TV-AM to talk about their friend’s brave fight. “We are thinking of doing something next year, some kind of event in his name, that will be positive and raise a lot of money [for AIDS],” Roger said.
In February 1992, Roger and Brian attended a ceremony at the Hammersmith Odeon to accept a British Music Industry Rock and Pop Award (’Brit’ Award) for ‘These Are The Days Of Our Lives’, voted the best single of 1991. Both gave short speeches, with Brian speaking warmly of Freddie and Roger then mentioning there would be “a concert that would be a tribute to Freddie’s life at Wembley Stadium on April the 20th.” Shortly afterwards, offers to take part came in from many of rock’s finest vocalists – from Roger Daltrey, Joe Elliot, Robert Plant, David Bowie and Elton John to Seal, George Michael, Gary Cherone and James Hetfield. Also touted were Madonna and Eric Clapton, though both had prior obligations and were unable to attend.
Rehearsals for the show began in the middle of March in Shepherd’s Bush, with Brian, Roger and eventually John deciding which songs to perform themselves and which to delegate to others. (The bassist, who had been hit the hardest by Freddie’s death, was hesitant to partake at first, and Neil Murray deputized on bass for a good portion of the rehearsals in case John decided against performing.) In addition to the guest vocalists, the band was augmented for the occasion by Spike Edney on keyboards, Tony Iommi on guitar, and a handful of backing vocalists. The rehearsals moved to Bray Studios in April, amid fears that the poor weather would cause the event to be cancelled. Thankfully, the weather cleared up and the show went ahead as planned.
On 20 April, Brian, Roger and John strode out onto the stage of Wembley Stadium to a deafening roar from the audience. “We are here today to celebrate the life and work and dreams of one Freddie Mercury,” announced Brian. “We’re gonna give him the biggest send-off in history!” The first half of the show was devoted to other artists performing their own hits. Highlights included a Queen medley from Extreme, Brian joining Def Leppard on ‘Now I’m Here’, spoof metal band Spinal Tap (Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer, and Michael McKean) performing ‘Majesties Of Rock’ and paring their set from twenty-five songs to one (“Because Freddie would have wanted it that way”), Bob Geldof performing a song he announced as having been co-written with Freddie (’Too Late God’), and a concluding speech about safe sex from Elizabeth Taylor.
Video footage of Freddie performing the intro to ‘Somebody To Love’ from Milton Keynes in 1982 linked the two halves, and after he bellowed “Are you ready, brothers and sisters?!” the opening strains of ‘Tie Your Mother Down’ echoed through the stadium as Brian, Roger and John – plus supporting musicians – provided a lengthy intro to one of the band’s best-loved songs. The intro was apparently unintentional; Joe Elliot, who was providing lead vocals, was delayed in making the stage, forcing Brian to sing the first verse. Roger Daltrey then performed ‘I Want It All’, Zucchero followed with the first ever live airing of ‘Las Palabras De Amor (The Words Of Love)’, Gary Cherone hammed things up for ‘Hammer To Fall’ and James Hetfield came out to sing ‘Stone Cold Crazy’; the last two were perhaps the weakest performances thus far. Robert Plant had the opportunity to redeem things with the mighty ‘Innuendo’ but botched the lyrics terribly; thankfully, his take on ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ went far better, with a brief snatch of Led Zeppelin’s 1969 track ‘Thank You’ as an introduction.
Brian then came out front for a highly emotional reading of ‘Too Much Love Will Kill You’, soon to be released as the first single from his debut solo album, and Paul Young’s ‘Radio Ga Ga’ vied with the aforementioned Cherone and Hetfield renditions as the weakest performance of the night. Lisa Stansfield performed ‘I Want To Break Free’, David Bowie duetted with Annie Lennox on a moving rendition of ‘Under Pressure’, then introduced former Mott the Hoople vocalist Ian Hunter and former Bowie alumnus Mick Ronson for a glam reunion on ‘All The Young Dudes’. The song, complete with inaudible saxophone from Bowie and camped-up vocals from Hunter, was an obvious highlight but paled in comparison to the following number, an anthemic rendition of Bowie’s 1977 ‘“Heroes”’ which must remain the song’s definitive live performance. The song was cut short when Bowie dropped to one knee to awkwardly deliver the Lord’s Prayer, which caught everyone off guard – especially the ever-diplomatic Brian, who remarked, “I remember thinking it would have been nice if he’d warned me about that.”
After this, George Michael’s ‘’39’ marked the song’s first live performance since 1979, while his gorgeous duet with Lisa Stansfield on ‘These Are The Days Of Our Lives’ was followed by a soulful solo rendition of ‘Somebody To Love’ – easily the highlight of the night. (Michael’s performance was so strong it started rumours that Brian, Roger, and John would perform with him as Queen.) Elton John then croaked his way through ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ (with Axl Rose joining in for the rock section) and ‘The Show Must Go On’, which Elton introduced as his personal favourite from Innuendo, a fact reinforced by the song’s inclusion in his 1992 solo set. Axl then came back for ‘We Will Rock You’ and Liza Minelli offered a camped-up reading of ‘We Are The Champions’ that Freddie would have loved.
All in all, the concert raised £12 million for the Terence Higgins Trust. Some fans criticised the Live Aid-derived ‘global jukebox’ style of the event; most would have preferred a more intimate tribute with Freddie’s vocalist friends, like Billy Squier or Montserrat Caballé, performing the songs. More suitable tributes would be performed later, but the Concert for Life remains unrivalled for its combination of sincerity and a star-studded line-up.
BÉJART BALLET LAUSANNE
17 JANUARY 1997
Musicians: John Deacon (bass guitar), Brian May (guitar, vocals), Roger Taylor (drums, vocals), Elton John (vocals), Spike Edney (keyboards)
Repertoire: ‘The Show Must Go On’
1997 saw the Paris premiere
of a ballet, directed and choreographed by Maurice Béjart, by the name of Le Presbytère n’a rien perdu de son charme ni le jardin de son éclat – ‘The presbytery lost nothing of its charm nor the garden its gleam’, a line from Gaston Leroux’s The Haunted Armchair.
The ballet was inspired by the life of Freddie Mercury and the music of Queen; the full repertoire comprised ‘It’s A Beautiful Day’, ‘Time’, ‘Let Me Live’, ‘Brighton Rock’, ‘Heaven For Everyone’, ‘I Was Born To Love You’, ‘Cosi fan tutte’, ‘A Kind Of Magic’, ‘Thamos’, ‘Get Down, Make Love’, ‘Concerto pour piano’, ‘Seaside Rendezvous’, ‘You Take My Breath Away’, ‘Musique funèbre maçonnique’, ‘Radio Ga Ga’, ‘A Winter’s Tale’, ‘Interlude’, ‘The Millionaire Waltz’, ‘Love Of My Life’, ‘Brighton Rock’, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, ‘I Want To Break Free’ and ‘It’s A Beautiful Day (reprise)’. It was also a powerful work about AIDS, not only as a tribute to Freddie but to Béjart’s former principal dancer Jorge Donn, who had died of the disease almost a year after Freddie.
In hindsight, it seems obvious that a Queen performance would be forthcoming, but it was certainly a surprise at the time. In the press release, it was revealed that Brian, Roger and John would close the show with ‘The Show Must Go On’, Elton John providing lead vocals. It would become the final time that John appeared in public with Brian and Roger; though the performance inspired Brian to write ‘No-One But You (Only The Good Die Young)’, which featured John on bass, John himself decided that Queen without Freddie wasn’t a possibility and therefore retired from the music industry for good.
The performance was a definite show-stopper, an emotional reading of Freddie’s swan song that was later included on both Greatest Hits III and Greatest Flix III.
HALL OF FAME INDUCTION
11 NOVEMBER 2004
Musicians: Brian May (guitar), Roger Taylor (drums), Paul Rodgers (vocals), Spike Edney (keyboards), Jamie Moses (guitar), Pino Palladino (bass guitar), Treana Morris (backing vocals), Polyphonic Spree (backing vocals, ‘All Right Now’)
Repertoire: ‘We Will Rock You’, ‘We Are The Champions’, ‘All Right Now’
This was the event that initiated the Queen + Paul Rodgers tour. Queen were being inducted into the UK Hall Of Fame and were asked to close the event in person. Not feeling up to the task of singing vocals, Brian and Roger asked Paul Rodgers to help them out (as a token of their appreciation, they agreed to perform one of Paul’s songs); he did so dutifully, despite messing up a few of the words on both ‘We Will Rock You’ and ‘We Are The Champions’. The assembled band blazed through these and Paul’s own ‘All Right Now’, and the vibe afterwards was a positive one. Brian addressed the situation the next day on his website, remarking that a collaboration with Paul in the future would not be out of the question. A month later, dates for the first Queen tour in nearly twenty years were announced.
* * *
46664 – LONG WALK TO FREEDOM
In March 2003 Brian and Roger flew to South Africa for a week to record with former Eurythmics founder Dave Stewart and local African musicians. The sessions took place between 5 and 8 March at Milestone Studios in Cape Town, and were immediately productive: the trio recorded a slew of ideas, with the germ of an idea (presumably ‘Amandla’) being completed so quickly that no one had time to switch on the machines. Thankfully, one of the singers, Muddy, captured the groove (with Dave on acoustic guitar and Brian on piano) on mini-cassette, using the recording as a sample while Roger overdubbed drums and Dave keyboards, with Brian adding some finishing touches with The Red Special.
Four known tracks were recorded during these sessions – ‘Invincible Hope’, written by Roger; ‘46664 – The Call’, written by Brian; the aforementioned Amandla’; Roger’s acoustic ballad ‘Say It’s Not True’, which became a concert favourite. A fifth song was mentioned by Brian on his website under the title ‘Under African Skies’, but no other information was revealed. It’s likely that these songs won’t be released as part of any Queen-related project; a 46664 studio album was planned at one time, but has now been shelved indefinitely.
A series of concerts was also performed between 2003 and 2006: the inaugural concert was on 29 November 2003 in Cape Town, and Brian and Roger (under the name Queen) were the stars of the show. The next such concert came in March 2005, again in South Africa, and marked the live debut of Queen + Paul Rodgers, while Brian performed a set in June 2006 in Norway as a solo artist. Queen + Paul Rodgers returned in June 2008 in Hyde Park, three months before the official start of their Rock The Cosmos tour.
GREEN POINT STADIUM, CAPE TOWN, SOUTH
AFRICA
29 NOVEMBER 2003
Musicians: Brian May (guitars, vocals, lead vocal on ‘46664 – The Call’, acoustic guitar on ‘Say It’s Not True’ and ‘Is This The World We Created...?’), Roger Taylor (drums, vocals, lead vocal on ‘Say It’s Not True’ and ‘Radio Ga Ga’), Dave Stewart (acoustic guitar on ‘Say It’s Not True’, guitar on ‘Amandla’), Andrea Corr (lead vocal on ‘Is This The World We Created...?’), Zucchero (lead vocal on ‘Everybody’s Got To Learn Sometime’ and ‘I Want It All’), Thandiswa ‘Tandy’ Mazwai (lead vocal on ‘I Want To Break Free’), Soweto Gospel Choir (gospel vocals on ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’), Anastacia (lead vocal on ‘We Will Rock You’ and ‘We Are The Champions’), Spike Edney (keyboards, vocals), Jamie Moses (guitars, vocals), Steve Stroud (bass guitar, vocals), Eric Singer (drums), Chris Thompson (backing vocals, lead vocal on ‘The Show Must Go On’), Treana Morris (backing vocals), Zoe Nicholas (backing vocals)
Repertoire: ‘Say It’s Not True’, ‘Invincible Hope’, ‘46664 – The Call’, ‘The Show Must Go On’, ‘Is This The World We Created...?’, ‘Everybody’s Got To Learn Sometime’, ‘Amandla’, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ / ‘I Want It All’ / ‘I Want To Break Free’ / ‘Radio Ga Ga’, ‘We Will Rock You’, ‘We Are The Champions’
The inaugural 46664 concert in Cape Town was a star-studded event. Along with Brian and Roger appearing as Queen, Beyoncé, Bob Geldof, Paul Oakenfold, Shifty Shellshock, TC, Amampondo Drummers, Baaba Maal, Youssou N’Dour, Yusuf Islam (formerly known as Cat Stevens), Peter Gabriel, Angelique Kidjo, Bono, The Edge, Dave Stewart, Annie Lennox, Abdel Wright, Yvonne Chaka Chaka, Bongo Maffin, Johnny Clegg, Jimmy Cliff, The Corrs, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Abdel Wright, Danny K, Watershed, Zucchero, Ms Dynamite, Anastacia, Andrews Bonsu, Thandiswa Mazwai, and the Soweto Gospel Choir and Cast made up a day that fused rock with traditional African and world music.
Staged as a variant of Live Aid in a packed stadium of 40,000, the concert was atypical in that no full band (except The Corrs) was featured. Instead, a host of musicians, usually from other bands, would back up the highlighted artist; for instance, Bono and The Edge from U2 performed with Brian, Roger, Dave Stewart, Anastacia and Andrews Bonsu on ‘Amandla’, and Roger provided drums on The Corrs’ ‘Toss The Feathers’.
Queen’s set started with one of several new songs of the night, ‘Say It’s Not True’, and was performed on a catwalk (during a set change) by Brian and Dave Stewart on acoustic guitars, with Roger providing lead vocals. The band then appeared later in the night after a speech by Nelson Mandela, performing a medley of ‘Invincible Hope’ (sung by backing vocalists Treana Morris, Zoe Nicholas and Chris Thompson), ‘46664 – The Call’ (sung by Brian) and ‘The Show Must Go On’ (again, sung by the backing vocalists).
Brian and Roger would appear throughout the night on several other artists’ performances: as mentioned, Roger played drums on ‘Toss The Feathers’, and Brian and Andrea Corr performed ‘Is This The World We Created...?’ Unsurprisingly, the show ended with a lengthy Queen medley of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, ‘I Want It All’, ‘I Want To Break Free’, ‘Radio Ga Ga’, ‘We Will Rock You’ and ‘We Are The Champions’ (the latter pair with Anastacia singing lead vocals).
The concert was a success, and Brian enthused about it on his website afterwards. The performance was released on both CD and DVD
in 2004, with all proceeds donated to AIDS charities worldwide.
FANCOURT, GEORGE, SOUTH AFRICA
19 MARCH 2005
Musicians: Brian May (guitars, vocals, lead vocal intro on ‘Hammer To Fall’), Roger Taylor (drums, vocals, lead vocal on ‘Say It’s Not True’ and ‘Radio Ga Ga’), Paul Rodgers (vocals), Spike Edney (piano, keyboards, vocals), Danny Miranda (bass guitar), Jamie Moses (rhythm guitar), Katie Melua (lead vocal on ‘Too Much Love Will Kill You’), African Children’s Choir (backing vocals on ‘We Will Rock You’ and ‘We Are The Champions’)
Repertoire: ‘Tie Your Mother Down’, ‘Can’t Get Enough’, ‘I Want To Break Free’, ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’, ‘Say It’s Not True’, ‘Too Much Love Will Kill You’, ‘Hammer To Fall’, ‘A Kind Of Magic’, ‘Feel Like Making Love’, ‘Radio Ga Ga’, ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’, ‘The Show Must Go On’, ‘All Right Now’, ‘We Will Rock You’, ‘We Are The Champions’
Along with the confirmation of a European and UK tour for the spring of 2005, a second 46664 concert to be performed at Fancourt Country Club Resort was announced to draw attention to Nelson Mandela’s AIDS awareness charities. After the controversy attached to their 1984 concerts, there was some trepidation as to the response, but times had clearly changed: apartheid legislation had been removed in the early 1990s, though most of the population still lived in poverty. The new band flew into George, South Africa on 17 March 2005, with final preparations taking place the following day (the band had rehearsed throughout most of February).
Fan response was generally positive, though many were quick to note that Paul was nervous and forgot more than a few lines; considering that only three songs of the fifteen performed – ‘Can’t Get Enough’, ‘Feel Like Making Love’ and ‘All Right Now’ – were from either Bad Company or Free, the odd flub was understandable and forgivable. A guest vocal on ‘Too Much Love Will Kill You’ from Katie Melua, who topped the British charts in 2003 with Call Off The Search, was a welcome surprise.