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THE LEGEND
‘The Show Must Go On’:
In
April 1992, the surviving members of Queen organized a tribute concert for
Mercury at Wembley Stadium (with all proceeds going to the newly founded AIDS
fund ‘The Mercury Phoenix Trust’) featuring such Queen/Mercury admirers and
‘Queen-related people’ as Elton John, Guns n’ Roses, Seal, Metallica, David
Bowie, Robert Plant, George Michael, Liza Minnelli and as special guest
Elizabeth Taylor, one of Freddie’s favourite film stars.
Meanwhile, Queen had sold hundreds of millions albums worldwide and in
the summer of 2005 they were even first above The Beatles with the highest
number of weeks in the music charts. They have
opened their own musical “We Will Rock You” and finished their successful tour
with Paul Rodgers billed as Queen + Paul
Rodgers, offering a fusion of Queen Classics and Rodgers hits from his
days leading the bands “Free” and “Bad Company”. Anyway, fans continue feeling
sad about the death of Mercury and keep stating in discussion forums on the
internet (such as http://queenzone.com) that no one can replace Freddie
Mercury.
Still,
there are rumours circulating about Freddie Mercury’s life which are trying to degrade
his persona and his art (and which are not concentrating on his music but only
on his affairs) so that it is difficult to identify the truth from the lies.
‘Real’
artists are often misunderstood by ordinary people; they are sensible, they
often are ‘suffering’ about the world and can easily fall into a life between
two extremes. They literally ‘burn out’ and tragically die too soon – they life
resembling a chain reaction…
The most important fact is that
Freddie Mercury made so many people happy throughout his life and with his
music and that the key message in his songs was always ‘love’.
“I
think in the end being natural … being actually genuine is what heightens at
the end all the mistakes and all the excuses …”
“If
had to do this all over again, yes why not, I’d do it slightly differently”
“I’ve paid my dues
Time after time
I’ve done my sentence
But committed no crime
And bad mistakes
I’ve made a few
I’ve had my share of sand
Kicked in my face
But I’ve come through
And I need to go on and on
and on and on
We are the champions – my
friend
And we’ll keep on fighting
till the end
We are the champions
We are the champions
No time for losers
‘Cause we are the
champions of the world
I’ve taken my bows
And my curtain calls
You’ve brought me fame and
fortune
And everything that goes
with it
I thank you all
But it’s been no bed of
roses
No pleasure cruise
I consider it a challenge
before the whole human race
And I ain’t gonna lose
And I need to go on and on
and on and on
We are the champions – my
friend
And we’ll keep on fighting
till the end
We are the champions
We are the champions
No time for losers
‘Cause we are the
champions of the world
We are the champions – my
friend
And we’ll keep on fighting
till the end
We are the champions
We are the champions
No time for losers
‘Cause we are the
champions”
“But the image of
every true act, the strength of every true feeling, belongs to eternity just as
much, even though no one knows of it or sees it or records it or hands it down
to posterity. In eternity there is no posterity.”
Hermann Hesse,
Steppenwolf
+++
read an article reporting about the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert:
CIRCUS, date: probably short after the Tribute Concert (April 1992) +++
(Source:
from my own collection)
QUEEN FOR A DAY:
BACKSTAGE AT THE FREDDIE TRIBUTE
by
Corey Levitan
THE
IRISH ARE THE ONES famous for wakes, gatherings that celebrate rather than
mourn the passing of a loved one. Today the English are having a go at one for Freddie
Mercury, a beloved countryman who died of AIDS last November at the age of
45. They come not to bury the frontman but to sing his praises. Their five-hour
send-off, which sold out before any participants were announced, is fit only
for the king of Queen.
“We’re
here tonight to celebrate the life, work and dreams of one Freddie Mercury,”
Queen guitarist Brian May’s announcement christens the benefit. “You
can cry as much as you like,” Roger Taylor, Queen’s drummer, adds.
Many fans and artists do just that, as Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Extreme,
Def Leppard, David Bowie, Robert Plant, Tony
Iommi, Elton John, Roger Daltrey, Spinal Tap and 98
other musicians perform, some alone, some backed by the surviving members of
Queen.
The
performances caught by MTV’s cameras are captivating, but the goings-on behind
the scenes are even more so.
It’s
Easter Sunday afternoon, one day before the show. The sun beats away a morning
shower, but nothing soothes the nerves of four groups running through their
sets to the empty cavern called Wembley Stadium.
Drum
sets are lined up behind the stage curtain in soundchecking order – Metallica
at 2:00, Extreme at 3:15, Def Leppard at 4:30 and Guns N’ Roses at 5:45.
Metallica trapsman Lars Ulrich, donning a Circus T-shirt,
approaches the third kit in and sits himself before Rick Allen’s Acupad
drum heads. “F*ck!” he screams, eyeing the DW foot pedals marked
“snare”, “tom” and “kick” designed to let Allen compensate for his missing left
arm. “How do you play this?”
Kirk
Hammett notes that this will be Metallica’s first benefit
performance. Behind him at stage front, James Hetfield, the first
Metallican plugged in, picks the opening licks of “Enter Sandman”. His audience
is 72,000 empty red velour seats and a road crew, and he’s not happy with his
guitar sound.
“I
thought I was over getting so nervous like this,” Extreme drummer
and Circus Drum Beat columnist Paul Geary confesses as he waits
on deck. “It’s not even the billion people who’ll be watching; it’s that
Queen will be standing behind us while we play!”
Half-full
tea cups rattle atop rented speakers as Extreme executes a soulful medley of
“Fat Bottomed Girls”, “Bicycle Race” and seven other Queen Classics.
Dismounting the stage, singer Gary Cherone explains the set’s Extreme
dearth: “Well, we put the Queen songs and Extreme songs on a scale,” he
says, imitating a scale by holding up his left palm, then his right. “Then
it went boom!”
Phil
Collen moves in from the wings to set up. He informs Circus
of his band’s debt to Queen: “The sound of Def Leppard is very influenced by
them – the multitrack vocals and guitars are a kind of tribute.” Soon
Collen and Co. are rehearsing “Let’s Get Rocked”. Joe Elliott’s voice is
scratchy, but he’s into it. So is new recruit Vivian Campbell, who
contorts his face to sing the words even when he’s not near a backup
microphone.
Guns
are up next for their 45 minutes, which begins with “Knockin’ On Heavens Door”.
Slash, Gilby, Clarke and Duff McKagan work their strings
and Marlboros as lyrics slowly scroll down two 30-inch teleprompter monitors.
The computer behind Matt Sorum’s drum set offers a menu of lyrical
programs including “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “We Are The Champions”, in addition
to staples like “Bad Apples”, “Don’t Damn Me” and “You Ain’t The First”.
“God,
I sound like sh*t,” Duff says, dead-halting his
rendition of “
Half
the artists have arrived this morning, half have been rehearsing with Queen for
two days at Bray, a former film studio 30 minutes east of
Flash
to Monday afternoon, concert day. Axl is backstage early, looking congenial as
he sips from an Evian bottle and schmoozes an MTV talent coordinator. He wears
shorts, Timberland boots with white socks, and a fluorescent green “Kill Your
Idols” Jesus shirt, which a billion viewers will be able to read two hours
later. Holders of various backstage passes – there are no less than ten
varieties – pretend they’re too cool to care who he is.
By
the crew toilets, Gilby Clarke chats with his personal guest, Bam,
former drummer for defunct band Dogs D’Amour. Clarke calls the “Illinois
thing with Axl” unfair, referring to orders to extradite Rose to St. Louis
following a Chicago concert, which Axl cancelled to avoid arrest.
A
tremor shakes the stadium by its foundation as Freddie Mercury appears on two
20-by-30-foot video screens bookending the stage. “Are you ready brothers
and sisters?” his recorded voice queries. The audience, most of which dons
the red ribbons symbolizing AIDS awareness, is as responsive as any in
Mercury’s lifetime.
Metallica
tastes what it will be like opening for GN’R this summer, as the band offers
solid readings of “Enter Sandman”, “Sad But True” and “Nothing Else Matters”.
Lars is superanimated, his drum strokes threatening low-flying aircraft, and
Hetfield rises above a Clair Bros. sound system riddled with mic and level
snafus.
Next
Brian May introduces Extreme as “the band that understands Queen and Freddie
best”. During the group’s abbreviated performance of “Radio Gaga”, nearly every
hand in the arena claps to imitate Queen’s video for the song. This sea of
palms moves in waves, beginning at the stage and proceeding backwards, due to
the added time it takes for the sound of the beats to arrive at the rear of the
audience.
A
rushed “More Than Words” is tagged onto the Queen song “Love OF My Life”, which
Extreme released as a B-side two days earlier. The unscheduled segue, first
executed at last winter’s Hollywood Rocks festival in
The
backstage area bristles with priceless awkward moments, such as Billy Squier
standing affixed to a monitor watching the next act, Def Leppard, command the
stage. Leppard go its big break opening a Squier tour in 1983; tonight Billy
isn’t even performing. Elizabeth Taylor makes her grand entrance into
the green room just in time to catch Slash peeling off his clothes; he bids
hello. Come time for Axl to trot from his dressing room to the stage, a
windbreakered security guard warns off photographers. He tips Circus
anonymously: “Axl said he’s going back in if he sees a flash bulb.” No
shutters snap.
“Thank
you
The
most anticipated of theses sets, Elton John and Axl Rose singing “Bohemian
Rhapsody”, does not disappoint. Although Elton begins the Queen hit an octave
too low, Axl drives its headbanging second half to heights even Wayne Campbell
couldn’t fathom. When both duet for the final verse – arm in arm – it is at
once the concert’s climax and nadir. Here are arguably the two most magical men
of rock, one epitomizing Freddie at his glitziest, the other Freddie at his
most dangerous. Yet even the best two artists for this job can’t fill
in. It is this moment that most invokes the night’s inevitable realization:
Queen is dead.
Backstage,
Circus asks Joe Elliott for his take on which singers have come closest
to filling the void. “Nobody in the world!” he snaps.
One
hundred thousand dollar’s worth of fireworks erupt over the stage after Liza
Minnelli leads a superstar chorus through “We Are The Champions”, then “God
Save The Queen”, the standard ending for a Queen concert. Mercury adored
Minnelli; in a 1977 Circus interview reprinted last month, he called her
“a total wow”. The screens then flash Freddie, wearing regal robes and a crown,
taking his final bow.
The
action moves to the crew parking area outside, as artists file into limousines
headed back to their hotels, and later to a shindig at a club called Brown’s.
Freddie soothes a platoon of unsuccessful gate crashers through a transistor
radio: “Goodbye everybody, I’ve got to go…”
The
song is, of course, “Bohemian Rhapsody”. Tonight, the next line seems ironic
and macabre: “Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth.” Freddie
faced his truth alone, never publicly announcing he was HIV-positive until
hours before AIDS-related pneumonia did him in. Hopefully, Mercury’s refusal to
associate himself with the AIDS fight in life, coupled with his bisexuality,
won’t cloud the concert’s underlying message.
It
was George Michael, of all people, who delivered the most to-the-point
words on AIDS tonight. He called it a “dangerous comfort” to think of gay
people and drug addicts as the only victims of this merciless disease.
Worldwide, an estimated 10 million are infected with HIV. By the year 2000,
that number will jump to 40 million. Perhaps the best way to remember Freddie
is, borrowing his words, to keep yourself alive.
+++
BRIAN
MAY
Exclusive post-show interview
How
was it playing with all those young hard rockers?
It
was great. They’re all good friends. It’s not the first time I’ve worked with
anyone, except for Metallica and Guns N’ Roses.
How
did you decide on the artists to invite?
We
tried to keep it as close as possible – people that influenced him, and people
that said they were influenced by him.
The
British press and gay activists made a fuss about Guns N’ Roses appearing.
I
think everyone should shut up and appreciate the fact that Guns N’ Roses played
for Freddie and for the cause. I think it was more important that they were
there than almost anyone else because of all the misunderstandings in the past.
Plus, they’re a great band. I think Axl is a totally real and honest person
struggling through his own personal past. And I think as someone who screams
out as he travels along that path, he’s doing a great service.
You
introduced Extreme as the band that best understands Freddie and Queen.
Well,
they sure know every note we ever played – they know it better than I do!
They’re also very good musicians and I think they follow us to the extent that
they don’t know any boundaries.
What
was the most memorable moment of the night for you?
It
was a whirlwind of different feelings. It was very weird and very sad. But there
was one point, as we were going off stage, that Joe Elliott put his arm around
me and said, “Brian, stop. You probably haven’t had a moment to think about it,
but just turn around and look at those kids out there and think what it means.”
And I did. And it was one of the most important moments in my life.
+++
TRIBUTE STATS
·
one billion television viewers in 70
countries, more than Live Aid
·
$7 million raised for AIDS research
Event
employed:
·
1,000 production workers
·
30 tons of scaffolding
·
5,000 stage lights
·
175 microphones
·
400 miles of cable
·
13 satellite linkups
·
50 crew trucks
+++
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Daria Kokozej (Contact Me)