His first words were: Thank God thatʼs over!ʼ Joe ripped his wet clothes from him and dressed him. In his memoir Freddie And Me he described the aftermath of Queenʼs all-conquering Live Aid performance on that historic day at Wembley Stadium: “When he came off, he rushed to his trailer and I tottered behind like a puppy. How perfect could it get?”įreddieʼs long-term lover, Jim Hutton, had never been to a gig before Live Aid. And he could ponce about on stage doing We Are The Champions. It was the perfect stage for Freddie: the whole world. They just went and smashed one hit after another. They understood the idea exactly, that it was a global jukebox. “They played the best, had the best sound, used their time to the full. “Queen were absolutely the best band of the day,” he remembered. It was Geldof who best summed up the mood of Live Aid 1985 and Queenʼs impact on it. Itʼs not a promotional thing, itʼs a thing where you just have sit back and think what you can do.” Queen - Radio Gaga at Live Aid 1985 Weʼre going to do bits of Bohemian Rhapsody basically, youʼre not trying to put across your new material or anything like that, youʼre playing songs that people identify with, and just make it a happy occasion. And it is like a driving force, to get us all to come together. Iʼm sure we all had it in us to do that, but it took someone like him to actually drive. “I think Bob Geldof has done a wonderful thing, because he actually sparked it off. Legend has it that Bob Geldofʼs invitation to Queen to play at Live Aid ran along the lines of: “Tell the old faggot itʼs going to be the biggest thing ever…” Freddie, naturally, found that irresistible. Thatʼs whatʼs magical, and I think thatʼs going to probably bring tears to my eyes, I tell you, when I do it.” To actually sing something thatʼs an integral part of whatʼs going on, you know, and the song seems to convey that anyway, without us thinking about it. "Iʼm actually in with all the biggies and I can do something worthwhile. In a day filled with memorable performances – here's looking at you, Led Zeppelin – Queen's Live Aid performance truly stole the show. A benefit show pulled together by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in aid of the Ethiopian famine, the concert – dubbed by the organising parties as "the day music changed the world" – brought together some of rock's biggest stars over two venues in London and Philadelphia. We just needed to be away from each other, otherwise you just keep going in that routine and you donʼt even know if youʼre going down.” After a while itʼs like a painter… you know, you paint away, and then you stand back and look at it in perspective. It was like, go to the studio, do an album, go out on the road, go round the world and flog it to death, and by the time you came back it was time to do another album. "I wanted to get out of this last 10 years of what we were doing. It deserves to be enjoyed for many years yet.“We were all forming a sort of a rut," Mercury said at the time. His spectacular performance at Live Aid, which not only resurrected Queen, but established them as one of the most successful acts of all time, is just one part of his generous legacy. He greeted the world on his own terms and did whatever he loved, as and when he chose to. For a man whose death is so focal in the history of HIV/AIDS, Mercury remains undefined by it. It has rippled through every viewing thereafter. The brilliance of that set didn’t only reverberate around the world that summer. He took nothing for granted, his remarkable vocals flawless till the end, even as he basked in his indisputable victory at the edge of the stage. Mercury, having flown across the stage for the entire show, returned to the piano for the start of the song, echoing the set’s opening, but then came back to the crowd for the climax. They closed their set with “We Are The Champions,” an anthem built to amplify with the size of its audience. Queen consciously wrote their songs as vehicles for theatrics, and that day, it set them apart. Mercury, at center in the red shirt, is joined by George Michael, Bono, Paul McCartney and others during the Live Aid show at Wembley Stadium.