The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert

An open air concert on Easter Monday, April 20 1992 at London's Wembley Stadium, televised live to over one billion people. The profit of the concert was used to launch The Mercury Phoenix Trust.

Criticisms and Controversies

Similar to other big events such as Live Aid, the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert has been considered by some to be a self-promotion gimmick by the remaining band members (especially guitarist Brian May). It has been suggested that it wasn't a genuine tribute to Freddie?since more of May's songs were performed, which is perhaps strange considering Mercury was the main songwriter in the band. Also, it has been noted that only few of the artists (Elton John, Robert Plant, George Michael, David Bowie, Liza Minelli, Ian Hunter, Annie Lennox) were friends or influences to Freddie. The sceptics believe that others (Iommi, Rose, Hetfield, Seal, Daltrey, Elliot) were brought in simply because of Brian May's musical preferences or in order to increase the audience. The huge prominence of Guns 'n' Roses and Metallica at the time could be seen to support this argument.

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External Links

• Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert on imdb