The Story Of Queen At Live Aid - Why Was It So Perfect?

why was the queen live-aid concert the best ever throughout history there's been countless concerts all around the world but among all the bands in musical styles one show still stands as one of the greatest shows of all time let's explore why queen's performance at live aid is widely remembered as the greatest concert of all time one of the most famous rock bands in history the british rock group queen stunned the world when they performed on july 13th 1985 at the live aid venue together the glory days of queen featured roger taylor brian may john deacon and the legendary freddie mercury queen's music has been featured in movies [Music] [Applause] received numerous covers from other artists they've sold close to 300 million albums since their start in the 70s and they're one of the elite groups inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame while other rock shows have made history including elton john's performance of candle in the wind at princess diana's funeral your candles burned out long before no concert before or since can live up to the magic of queen's live age show almost half of the planet tuned in to watch the concert with various broadcasts collectively ranking in some 2 billion live views so what was a live aid and what made this performance so spectacular and unforgettable live aid unlike traditional concerts live aid was a benefit show designed to raise funds to help out in the wake of the ethiopian famine the venue was spearheaded by bob geldof and midge europe who pulled together a spectacular lineup filled with memorable performances the event was a follow-up to bob and midge's successful charity single do they know it's christmas the two were inspired by bbc news coverage documenting the ethiopian famine who described it as a biblical famine in the 20th century and the closest thing to hell on earth more than 85 000 people were affected and staff and supplies were simply not enough to support the population first-hand activists and support staff were left traumatized by the conditions they worked in and it was clear that everyone involved needed help together bob and midge pulled strings in the music industry to get a super group together which they dubbed band-aid who released a single titled do they know it's christmas which managed to reach number one on the uk charts and it even stayed there for five weeks straight it was the fastest selling single in britain's history raising eight million pounds and shattering their goal of a mere seventy thousand bob and midge immediately began planning live aid to raise even more for relief efforts the pair planned to have two stages at wembley and madison garden with live audience members at each venue and each venue televised globally with two locations more artists could attend with less travel and the event could swap between each location after each set so there would be as little down time as possible however despite their success bob had to use a few tricks to get bands interested he called elton and lied that queen and bowie were already planning on attending and he went through the rest of the artists promising the same story his bluff paid off though as he assembled one of the biggest star-studded venues in history that became home to the greatest musical performance of all time the concert was a landmark for television as well it quickly became clear that their plan would be the most complex live event ever broadcast to make it all happen the european team was supported by the bbc with nine different interviewers hired to feel any gaps in the performances this marathon broadcast the biggest challenge fundraising event that's ever been organized anywhere in the world some 13 million pounds by the end of tonight the show queen wasn't the only music powerhouse to perform that day other acts included sir elton john the late david bowie u2 led zeppelin the who rick springfield madonna dire straits sting phil collins and even the beatles own paul mccartney all showed up to the gig to give their own amazing performances queen's performance marked the comeback of freddie whose electric energy perfect vocals and passion resonated with fans all around the world [Music] leading up to the show queen was in a slump after the commercial and critical flop hot space that came out three years prior in 1982 the release was so disastrous that the band went on hiatus from recording mercury went on to release his own solo album mr bad guy which also underperformed when interviewed about their turbulent time in the mid 80s freddy said we were all forming a sort of a rut i wanted to get out of this last 10 years of what we were doing it was so routine it was like go to the studio do an album go out on the road go around the world and flog it to death and by the time you came back it was time to do another album after a while it's like a painter you know you paint away and then you stand back and look at it in perspective that's exactly what we needed we just needed to be away from each other otherwise you just keep going in that routine and you don't even know if you're going down when it was showtime freddy who became a fashion icon known for his flamboyant style took a different approach for the show and showed up in a white tank top skinny jeans and a studded armband belt combo the look resonated with a wider audience of rock fans to keep fans focused on their performance and their music queen also had to cut out their normal light show special effects smoke and pyrotechnics since the show had a fast turnaround between artists to keep live viewers glued to their tvs the event was a huge pr boosting moment so the band took the opportunity to rehearse their performance to perfection and pack their set list with their biggest hits to take listeners on an emotional roller coaster filled with spectacular theatrics queen performed in front of a crowd of 72 000 people at london's wembley stadium that day and billions of people on television their performance lasted 22 minutes starting with bohemian rhapsody followed by radio gaga hammer to fall crazy little thing called love we will rock you and queen capped off their set with their epic finale we are the champions unlike other artists who might play their latest singles to drive record sales queen only included one current single hammer to fall and opted to pack the rest of their show with their greatest hits to win back fans and win the hearts of countless new fans to add to the craziness mercury was reportedly not feeling well on the day of the concert and doctors advised him not to perform however he rejected their pleas and chugged some tall shots of vodka and headed out on stage the singer was diagnosed with hiv in 1987 but he started to show symptoms back in 1982 in spite of his declining health freddy faced the challenge head-on and still put on an incredible show which only added to the memory of queen's live aid concert however even with their jam-packed set list queen faced an uphill battle since their spot was in between groups that were unquestionably more popular at the time you two blew the lid off the place with their performance right before queen and fans were itching to see david bowie perform after they were finished so how did they win fans over the set list but it was freddy who stole the show and cemented queen as one of the greatest rock bands in history with his performance at live aid mercury was dynamic and engaging he started off playing the piano at the start of bohemian rhapsody danced and marched around the stage with a sawed-off mic during radio gaga leading the crowd to clap along with the beat mercury and the rest of the band didn't just stun the crowd backstage even elton john remarked that queen stole the show but mercury wasn't finished yet after the last set walked off stage mercury and queen's guitarist brian may came back on stage for the show's grand finale with your acoustic version of is this the world we created it was a perfect fit for the show highlighting the tragedies throughout the world and the importance of coming together to help one another and to be kind to each other despite fitting perfectly with the event queen had written the song well before the show was ever dreamed of showing their forward thinking mindset and cementing them as the perfect group for live aid freddy even said it looks as if we wrote is this the world we created for this event but we didn't although it seems to fit the bill queen was the only band to figure a way to play all their hits during their limited time window but even though they were catapulted into even bigger fame after the event they were excluded from performing on the next band-aid supergroup album band-aid was run by the same founders of live-aid which hit a sore spot for queen but things worked out for them even though they got left out when asked about band-aid freddie had this to say i would have loved to have been on the band-aid record but i only heard about it when i was in germany i don't know if they would have had me on the record anyway because i'm a bit old make no mistake none of the groups had to perform for live aid the lineup was all filled with incredibly sensational musicians who all had plenty of fans while the pr boost for queen was undeniable they didn't perform for the clout when asked about why queen chose to play the show freddy had this to say i'm not doing it out of guilt even if i didn't do it the poverty would still be there it's something that will always be there to be honest when you think about it all we can do to help is wonderful things i'm doing it out of pride pride that i've been asked as well as that i can actually do something like that and so basically i'm doing it out of feeling that one way all the hard work that i've actually done over the years has paid off because they're actually asking me to do something to be proud of i'm actually in with all the biggies and i could do something worthwhile to actually sing something that's an integral part of what's going on you know in the song we are the champions [Music] seems to convey that anyway without us thinking about it that's what's magical and i think that's going to probably bring tears to my eyes i tell you when i do it i think bob gildoff has done a wonderful thing because he actually sparked it off i'm sure we all had it in us to do that but it took someone like him to actually drive and it is like a driving force to get us all to come together we're going to do bits of bohemian rhapsody but basically you're not trying to put across your new material or anything like that you're playing songs that people identify with and just make it a happy occasion it's not a promotional thing it's a thing where you just have to sit back and think what you can do the aftermath off the back of their successful performance from this show queen booked touring venues the following year in 1986. while sales were booming this would be the last year the band would perform globally with freddie's health beginning to decline rapidly in the following years as he began losing his battle with aids queen went on to produce three albums with freddie at the helm a kind of magic released in 1986 [Music] an innuendo released in 1991 the same year freddy passed away the event had a lasting impact on freddie's personal life as well in the years before live aid freddy was fostering a long-term relationship with jim hutton despite being lovers jim never attended one of queen's live shows that is until live aid hutton wrote about the historic moment in his memoir freddy and me when freddy came off he rushed to his trailer and i tottered behind like a puppy his first words were thank god that's over joe ripped his wet clothes from him and dressed him adrenaline still overflowing pretty knocked back a large vodka to calm himself then his face lit up as we stepped out of the caravan we met a grinning elton john that's when elton delivered his praise for their performance freddie huge praise from a fellow supporter of the lgbtq movement and fellow musical star after the show the band named after royalty was honored by british royal mail who put mercury front and center on a commemorative stamp along with band mates roger taylor and peter blake behind him this wasn't just a passing nod either up till that point only historical figures were depicted on the stamps and mercury and company were the first englishman to be featured on a stamp while still alive the event's co-organizer geldof had his own praise for queen's performance and their lasting impact on their fundraising venues queen were absolutely the best band of the day they played the best had the best sound used their time to the full they understood the idea exactly that it was a global jukebox they just went and smashed one hit after another it was the perfect stage for freddy the whole world he could pounce about on stage to we are the champions how perfect could it get like many great musicians freddie's genius wasn't fully appreciated during his lifetime yes the band saw great success in their second coming following live aid but they never fully commanded the magic they hold in their hearts and minds of fans today many music fans and publications still heap praise on mercury calling him the best rock front man of all time the lead singer of the foo fighters dave grohl praised the moment as a turning point in rock history saying every band should study queen at live aid if you really feel like that barrier is gone you become freddie mercury i consider him the greatest front man of all time although he passed away much too soon mercury had an undeniable impact on rock culture from inspiring countless new vocalists and in 2018 an oscar-winning film titled bohemian rhapsody was made to commemorate the life of queen's own front man the stars truly aligned for queen's triumphant comeback at live aid they overcame all odds put on an incredible performance and won the hearts of fans to this day with their concert on july 13th 1985 and their concert will go down as the best of all time make sure to tell me down below what you think of queen and their live aid concert and if you guys enjoyed this video make sure you hit the like button and don't forget to hit the subscribe button for more related content thanks for watching i'll see you in the next one

Channel: MusiXion - All Things Music

Views: 3,662,773

Keywords: queen at live aid, queen performance live aid, queen at live aid reaction, queen wembley, queen at wembley live, queen wembley reaction, freddie mercury live aid, queen reaction, queen live aid reaction, history of band queen, queen live aid comparison, story of queen live aid, freddie mercury best moments, queen reaction by foreigners, live aid reaction, queen song reaction, queen live aid, live aid queen, live aid, queen live, freddie mercury reaction, freddie mercury

Id: aaPfTjd6q10

Length: 14min 47sec (887 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 03 2020