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| An open air concert on Easter Monday, April 20, 1992 at London's Wembley Stadium, televised live to over one billion people. The profit of the concert was used to launch The Mercury Phoenix Trust.
In February 1992 at the annual BRIT awards ceremony, Brian May and Roger Taylor announced plans for an open air concert to celebrate Freddie Mercury's life. The tickets went on sale the next day and all 72,000 tickets sold out in just six hours, even though nobody knew who would play apart from remaining members of Queen. This show marked bassist John Deacon's final concert with the band, except for one live appearance in 1997 with May, Taylor and Elton John. In April 2002 the concert was released on DVD and entered the UK charts at number 1. The DVD release was strongly criticised for omitting the whole first half of the concert. During the first part of the concert, several videoclips were shown, while the roadies changed the stage for the following act's performance. � Note: "Innuendo" was not included on the DVD, at request of Robert Plant, explaining that his voice was in very poor condition, and most agree it was off. Also, when the concert aired on MTV, U2 dedicated a live performance via satellite from California of "Until The End Of The World" to Freddie. Criticisms and Controversies Similar to other big events such as Live Aid, the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert has been considered by some to be a self-promotion gimmick by the remaining band members (especially guitarist Brian May). It has been suggested that it wasn't a genuine tribute to Freddie�since more of May's songs were performed, which is perhaps strange considering Mercury was the main songwriter in the band. Also, it has been noted that only few of the artists (Elton John, Robert Plant, George Michael, David Bowie, Liza Minelli, Ian Hunter, Annie Lennox) were friends or influences to Freddie. The sceptics believe that others (Iommi, Rose, Hetfield, Seal, Daltrey, Elliot) were brought in simply because of Brian May's musical preferences or in order to increase the audience. The huge prominence of Guns 'n' Roses and Metallica at the time could be seen to support this argument. The Mercury Phoenix Trust A charity organization that fights AIDS worldwide. After the death of Freddie Mercury from AIDS-related causes in London in 1991, the remaining members of Queen and Jim Beach, their manager, organized The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness. The profit of which was used to launch The Mercury Phoenix Trust. The organization has been active ever since. |
| Wembley Stadium A football stadium in Wembley, London, England, which is currently being rebuilt. It stands opposite Wembley Arena, at grid reference TQ193854. Wembley Stadium is one of the world's most famous football stadiums, being the English national football ground since 1923. Originally known as the Empire Stadium, it was built for the British Empire Exhibition of 1924, on the former site of Watkins' Tower. Sir John Simpson and Maxwell Ayrton were the architects and Sir Owen Williams was the Head Engineer. The stadium's distinctive Twin Towers became its trademark. Also well-known were the thirty nine steps needed to be climbed to reach the Royal box and collect a trophy (and winners/losers medals). The Stadium's first turf was cut by King George V and it was first opened to the public on 28 April 1923. In 1934 the Empire Pool was built. Music Wembley Stadium became a musical venue in 1972 with an all-star rock 'n' roll concert. The British leg of Live Aid was held there on 13 July 1985 which featured such acts as U2, Queen and Paul McCartney. Queen held 2 huge concerts in 1986 and the Freddie Mercury Tribute was also held there in 1992. The band Genesis also held huge shows in July 1987. The Nelson Mandela tribute concert was performed in 1988. The last Rock band to play Wembley stadium were New Jersey Rockers Bon Jovi. They played 3 consecutive nights in August 2000 before the gates were closed for the last time, and are scheduled to be the first band to play at the new Wembley with a concert on June 11th 2006. |
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