The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert

Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury died from AIDS-related complications on 24 November 1991. Mercury had kept his AIDS diagnosis private until the week of his death, and he later was revealed to have donated substantial amounts to AIDS charities that year. The surviving members of Queen (John Deacon, Brian May, and Roger Taylor) resolved to continue raising money for charity to honour Mercury's legacy. A wishlist of performers was created by the band, with Elton John and Elizabeth Taylor recruited, since they were already publicly involved with AIDS charities. May and Taylor publicly announced the event at the Brit Awards on 12 February 1992. ==Production==

Harvey Goldsmith promoted the concert, which was held on 20 April 1992 at London's Wembley Stadium. Queen had previously played their famous Live Aid set at the venue in 1985 and sold out two nights at the stadium for their Magic Tour the following year. Rehearsals were held at Nomis Studios in London, Bray Film Studios in Water Oakley, and Wembley Stadium on the eve of the concert. A live television broadcast was produced by Queen, Jim Beach, Dominic Anciano, and Ray Burdis, directed by David Mallet, and broadcast to 70 countries. One billion people were estimated to have watched the concert live on television. The event raised £20 million for the Mercury Phoenix Trust, although the donation was presumed to be less after deducting production costs and travel accommodations for the talent. ==Concert synopsis==

(pictured in 1991), where 72,000 fans gathered for the event The event lasted four and a half hours, exceeding the planned runtime by one hour, and ended at 22:30 BST. To raise awareness for the cause, 100,000 red ribbons and 40,000 red scarves were distributed to fans entering the venue. An onstage introduction from the surviving members of Queen opened the show. The concert then commenced with opening sets from Metallica, Extreme, Def Leppard, Bob Geldof, Spinal Tap, and Guns N' Roses. Performances The running order and songs performed: • Metallica • "Enter Sandman" • "Sad but True" • "Nothing Else Matters" • Extreme • Queen medley ("Mustapha", "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") • “Love of My Life” • "More Than Words" • Def Leppard • "Animal" • "Let's Get Rocked" • "Now I'm Here" (ft. Brian May) • Bob Geldof • "Too Late God" • Spinal Tap • "The Majesty of Rock" • U2 • "Until the End of the World" – prerecorded • '''Guns N' Roses''' • "Paradise City" • "Only Women Bleed" • "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" • Mango Groove • "Special Star" – prerecorded • Queen (ft. Spike Edney, Josh Macrae, Maggie Ryder, Miriam Stockley, Chris Thompson) • "Tie Your Mother Down" (ft. Joe Elliott, Slash) • "Heaven and Hell" (ft. Tony Iommi) • "Pinball Wizard" (ft. Iommi) • "I Want It All" (ft. Roger Daltrey, Iommi) • "Las Palabras de Amor" (ft. Zucchero Fornaciari) • "Hammer to Fall" (ft. Gary Cherone, Iommi) • "Stone Cold Crazy" (ft. James Hetfield, Iommi) • "Innuendo" (ft. Robert Plant) • "Thank You" (ft. Plant) • "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" (ft. Plant) • "Too Much Love Will Kill You" • "Radio Ga Ga" (ft. Paul Young) • "Who Wants to Live Forever" (ft. Mike Moran, Seal) • "I Want to Break Free" (ft. Lisa Stansfield) • "Under Pressure" (ft. David Bowie, Annie Lennox) • "All the Young Dudes" (ft. Bowie, Phil Collen, Elliott, Ian Hunter, Mick Ronson) • "Heroes" (ft. Bowie, Ronson) • "Lord's Prayer" (ft. Bowie) • "'39" (ft. George Michael) • "These Are the Days of Our Lives" (ft. Michael, Stansfield) • "Somebody to Love" (ft. London Community Gospel Choir, Michael, Moran) • "Bohemian Rhapsody" (ft. Elton John, Axl Rose) • "The Show Must Go On" (ft. Iommi, John) • "We Will Rock You" (ft. Rose) • "We Are the Champions" (ft. John Jones, London Community Gospel Choir, Liza Minnelli) • "God Save the Queen" – prerecorded ==Reception==

, whose rendition of "Somebody to Love" was widely praised The performance of "Somebody to Love" by George Michael and Queen was regarded as the show's highlight. A compilation of Michael's performances from the concert was released as the single "Five Live", which was certified gold in the United Kingdom. Guns N' Roses singer Axl Rose was protested for his involvement with the event by ACT UP, which accused him of spreading AIDS misinformation through homophobic lyrics in "One in a Million". Rose interrupted his band's performance of "Paradise City" to admonish a demonstrator in the crowd holding up a "Piss Off, Axl!" sign. ==Home releases==

Picture Music International released the event to VHS on 23 November 1992, with all proceeds going to the Mercury Phoenix Trust. Eagle Rock Entertainment released the concert to Blu-ray on 22 July 2013. Queen streamed the event to their YouTube channel on 15 May 2020 to raise money for the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund, and again on 20 April 2022 for the show's 30th anniversary to benefit Mercury Phoenix Trust. ==See also==