Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert (10th Anniversary Edition) (DVD)

...DVDs comprise a tribute to Freddie Mercury, who died in 1991 after succumbing to AIDS. All the artists involved gave their time for free - and those included reads like a Who's Who of British rock music, in addition to artists from overseas such as Metallica and Liza Minelli.

There is an array of "extras" on the 2 DVDs, including rehearsal footage for each act (press enter when you see the "i" box at the corner ...
...the immense task of emulating Freddie Mercury and his voice was reedy and thin.

Also rather strangely Zucchero (who??) were included performing Las Palabras Del Amor (what? - maybe a more dedicated Queen fan could point out where this song came from - is it anything to do with Barcelona?)

Spinal Tap's performance was also left out, along with Def Leppard. I would much rather have seen the mighty Tap than Paul Young or ... more

These two DVDs comprise a tribute to Freddie Mercury, who died in 1991 after succumbing to AIDS. All the artists involved gave their time for free - and those included reads like a Who's Who of British rock music, in addition to artists from overseas such as Metallica and Liza Minelli.

There is an array of "extras" on the 2 DVDs, including rehearsal footage for each act (press enter when you see the "i" box at the corner of your screen), a documentary on the great Freddie Mercury and press photos from the event itself.

---Why should I bother listening to something that is over 10 years old?----

Because Queen were a seminal rock group; because buying the video will help AIDS charities fight the disease; because it is a moving and uplifting event; because the atmosphere is captured brilliantly in the film; because it contains deliver heartfelt and sincere performances from all concerned; because it represents some of the higlights of Queen's music, involving artists spanning a whole generation.

--Are there any drawbacks?--

Well, the footage was originally on ordinary television (4:3) format, but has been squeezed into a widescreen format for the DVD - resulting in a loss of some areas of the picture.

Some of the songs from the concert are also missing - Robert Plant complained that his voice was not in the best of shape during the live performance, and listening to him sing on the tracks that are present on the DVD, I would have to agree. This resulted in one of his songs, "Innuendo" (one of Queen's finest tracks in my opinion) being deleted from the disc.

The inclusion of 80s crooner Paul Young also mystified me. His vocal range was simply inadequate to the immense task of emulating Freddie Mercury and his voice was reedy and thin.

Also rather strangely Zucchero (who??) were included performing Las Palabras Del Amor (what? - maybe a more dedicated Queen fan could point out where this song came from - is it anything to do with Barcelona?)

Spinal Tap's performance was also left out, along with Def Leppard. I would much rather have seen the mighty Tap than Paul Young or Zucchini any day! On DVD, surely some of the second disc could have shown the remaining footage of the concert, rather than be filled up with extras.

--- Despite all these shortcomings, is it still worth buying? --

Definitely. The two disk set spans the length of Queen's career - from the seventies to the nineties. It is a rare showcase of musical talent and it is very well produced.

Parts are also very moving - a speech by George Michael,on homophobia reminded me of how far we have coming in combatting such prejudices, and of how far there is still to go. He gives an estimate that there would be 40,000,000 people with AIDS wordlwide by the year 2000 - given the AIDS epidemic in South Africa which is still raging, I think his estimate was probably on the low side if anything.

--- And the music - can the artists replace Freddie Mercury? ---

Well, no - but that is a bit of a tall order. The only person who did justice to the vocals was probably George Michael, although Elton John, Annie Lennox and Lisa Stansfield's performances were also excellent. For the most part, artists like James Hetfield of Metallica chose to give their own interpretation of the song (wisely) rather than trying to match the vocal range of Mercury note for note. And it will probably be the only chance you have to see Elton John singing alongside W. Axl Rose of Guns n' Roses fame, on 'Bohemian Rhapsody'.

--- Did it capture the atmosphere of Wembley Stadium? --

One of the best things about the disc was seeing a massive crowd clapping in unison to tracks like We Will Rock You. There is also a lot of audience participation and you get a real sense of what the event was like. However, the cutting down of the format into widescreen could not have helped here, as some of the picture would have been lost.  

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