Queen’s Final Concert
On August 9, 1986, over 120,000 people gathered outdoors at Knebworth Park to watch a number of British musical acts. Topping the bill was the rock band Queen, fronted by their charismatic vocalist, Freddie Mercury, and still riding high after their stunning performance at the Live Aid concert at Wembley Stadium (July 13, 1985).
Knebworth was powerful and Queen’s performance was outstanding. What none of us knew at the time, including myself, was that this concert would be the final performance of Freddie Mercury with Queen.
I thought it would be interesting to look back at the concert for people like myself, who were there, and for any Queen fans who missed it.https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/YU9_VZhnN5M?start=0
Other Bands at Knebworth Park
Despite some traffic problems caused by the huge crowd, the atmosphere was generally relaxed and upbeat. The other bands who played that day were Beloius Some, Big Country, and Status Quo.
Beloius Some
Beloius Some, an emerging act from the dance scene, was probably a bad choice for opening a Queen concert and wasn’t received well by the audience.
Status Quo
Status Quo went on next, and their performance went down much better. They were expected to appear just before Queen, but apparently they had to rush off to another gig that they were playing later that day, so they went second.
During the Status Quo set, there was an amusing incident when a roadie climbed on stage and played a cut-out guitar whilst headbanging to the music. The rumour is that Status Quo were so annoyed about being upstaged by the roadie that they fired him!
Big Country
Next up were the Scottish band, Big Country, who were very big in the mid 1980s but have since faded from public memory to some degree. Their lead singer was Stuart Adamson, who tragically died in 2001, taking his own life.
Their music was folk-influenced and their clever trick was to use sound effects to get their guitars to sound like bagpipes. They seemed like an odd choice for a Queen support band to me, but they played a decent set of music and went down reasonably well with the audience.https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/3Up6KwdMeqU?start=110
Queen Lineup at Knebworth
- Freddie Mercury: vocals, piano, guitar
- Brian May: guitar, backing vocals, keyboards
- John Deacon: bass
- Roger Taylor: drums, backing vocals
- Spike Edney: keyboards, piano, guitar, backing vocals
As can be seen in documentary footage of the event, Queen arrived at Knebworth Park by helicopter. Mercury seemed to be in great spirits and full of energy that day. Queen delivered a stunning, two-hour set full of energy to a deliriously enthusiastic audience.
Nobody in the crowd knew at the time that this would be Freddie Mercury’s final performance with Queen. According to Mercury’s partner, Jim Hutton, Freddie wasn’t diagnosed HIV-positive until the following year (1987), and he didn’t announce publicly that he was ill with AIDS until the day before his death on November 24, 1991.
Live Magic Has Knebworth Performances
There is no official film of the concert, but Queen’s official YouTube channel includes excerpts from Knebworth in a pair of live videos—”Radio Gaga” and “We Are The Champions”—and I’ve included links to both here. However, it is worth noting that the audio was captured in high quality and much of it used on 1986’s Live Magic album.https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/bxgCl7jaOVg?start=65
Queen: A Brief History
Queen first got together in 1971 and released their first album in 1973. They had a degree of success in Britain, but they were slow to gain wider recognition. It was their hit song—and its accompanying video—”Bohemian Rhapsody” which really brought them into the international limelight in 1975.
Multiple hits followed, including several that became classic rock radio staples, including “Somebody to Love,” “We Will Rock You,” “We Are the Champions,” “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” “Another One Bites the Dust,” and “Under Pressure” with David Bowie.
All of this success led to the band appearing at the Live Aid concert at Wembley Stadium on July 13, 1985, where they gave one of the greatest performances of all time in many people’s opinion.
I always knew I was a star, and now the rest of the world seems to agree with me.
— Freddie Mercury
Notes About Freddie Mercury
Freddie Mercury was a charismatic entertainer who knew how to work an audience. At times he could camp up his performance, other times he could rock out, and as anyone who’s heard the “Mama, just killed a man” part of “Bohemian Rhapsody” can attest, he could break your heart with a ballad. It’s an ideal mixture for a singer playing big venues.
