The Freddie Mercury Tribute: Concert for AIDS Awareness

Musical Avengers... Except the main guy's not on stage with them anymore, but he's still there. It's hard to pick the best moment of the concert, because “Under Pressure” performed by David Bowie and Annie Lennox was downright mesmerizing, but Elton John did equally well with “The Show Must Go On” and “Bohemian Rhapsody” (with the help of crazy Axl), while Seal's version of “Who Wants To Live Forever” should be mentioned in the same breath, the angelic Lisa Stansfield (solo in “I Want To Break Free” and in the perfect “These Are The Days Of Our Lives” with George Michael), Robert Plant singing “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” (and it suits him terribly, unlike the ironically very Zeppelin-esque “Innuendo”, which really failed; he knew all too well why he didn't want it on the recordings). And I almost forgot that Brian May and Slash play together on “Tie Your Mother Down”, and so on, and so on. The atmosphere is very strong and strange, it's both a mournful and a dignifiedly funny send-off, you probably can't resist a tear or a smile. The most touching shots are of John Deacon, who is obviously very sad, while Brian May and Roger Taylor somehow hold their own, but even they wipe an eye occasionally. No wonder. (07/08/2019)