Given 20 minutes, Mercury’s band did everything possible to cram a full concert into it.
“Money for Nothing” was the song of the summer, and Dire Straits had just played it with Sting before wrapping up with “Sultans of Swing.” Their set was preceded by U2, who absolutely destroyed the place with a two-song set that culminated with a 12-minute version of “Bad.” Queen also knew they were to be immediately followed by David Bowie, the first Who performance in three years and Elton John with special guest Wham!Ĭhasteness, Soda Pop, and Show Tunes: The Lost Story of the Young Americans and the Choircore Movement How could they possibly stand out? Freddie Mercury insisted to the press that the show wasn’t any kind of competition, yet they slyly requested to go onstage at Wembley Stadium at 6:00 p.m., knowing viewership in England was likely to begin peaking around then. This was arguably the biggest concert in rock history, featuring reunions of Led Zeppelin, the Who, Black Sabbath and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young in addition to performances from pretty much every big name in rock. Queen had a pretty tough task when they took the stage at Live Aid in July of 1985.
