 |
|
|
.-') _ .-') _ |
|
( OO ) ) ( OO ) ) |
|
.-----. ,--./ ,--,' ,--./ ,--,' |
|
' .--./ | \ | |\ | \ | |\ |
|
| |('-. | \| | )| \| | ) |
|
/_) |OO )| . |/ | . |/ |
|
|| |`-'| | |\ | | |\ | |
|
(_' '--'\ | | \ | | | \ | |
|
`-----' `--' `--' `--' `--' |
|
lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial |
|
|
|
|
|
ARTICLE VIEW: |
|
|
|
Queen’s Live Aid performance nearly didn’t go ahead, band recalls |
|
|
|
By Jack Guy, CNN |
|
|
|
Updated: |
|
|
|
4:09 PM EDT, Tue July 1, 2025 |
|
|
|
Source: CNN |
|
|
|
British band Queen’s performance at has gone down in the history |
|
books, but it almost didn’t happen, according to members Brian May |
|
and Roger Taylor. |
|
|
|
Speaking to UK media outlet , the pair recall that the band, |
|
particularly lead singer Freddie Mercury, were initially nonplussed |
|
when they were approached by Live Aid organizer Bob Geldof. |
|
|
|
“We weren’t touring or playing, and it seemed like a crazy idea, |
|
this talk of having 50 bands on the same bill,” guitarist May told |
|
the Radio Times in an interview published Tuesday. |
|
|
|
“We thought it was going to be a disaster. Freddie, in particular, |
|
said, ‘I haven’t got the right feeling for this.’ He wasn’t the |
|
leader of the band, but if he dug his heels in there was no dragging |
|
him, so we parked it.” |
|
|
|
However, Geldof came back to ask again, May recalls, and with |
|
excitement building around the show, Queen decided to get involved. |
|
|
|
“I said to Freddie, ‘If we wake up on the day after this Live Aid |
|
show and we haven’t been there, we’re going to be pretty sad.’ He |
|
said, ‘Oh, f**k it, we’ll do it,’” said May. |
|
|
|
Geldof told the group that they would have a strict 17-minute slot, |
|
which made putting a set together a challenge. |
|
|
|
The band was also feeling nervous, said drummer Taylor. |
|
|
|
“We hadn’t been on the Band Aid single, and we felt relatively |
|
senior compared with a lot of the younger acts. It wasn’t necessarily |
|
our audience because we were a very late addition,” he said. |
|
|
|
“And it was daylight, which we don’t like because the stage lights |
|
have no effect. Plus it was so thrown together on the stage, we just |
|
had to hope all the elements would come together,” added Taylor. |
|
|
|
“I wouldn’t say we doubted our own skills, but we had… technical |
|
apprehension,” he said. |
|
|
|
The band went on to give one of its most memorable performances. |
|
|
|
Mercury also inspired one of the most incredible images of Live Aid, |
|
clapping in time to “Radio Ga Ga” in front of a 72,000-strong |
|
Wembley crowd, the vast majority of whom also had their arms in the |
|
air. |
|
|
|
“It wasn’t a Queen audience,” May said. “So we went on not |
|
knowing if they’d even know what to do.” |
|
|
|
“They didn’t think about it, they just did it,” he added. |
|
“Every single hand seemed to be in the air.” |
|
|
 |
<- back to index |
