1992 Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert 20th April – UK, London, Wembley Stadium

The tribute concert was conceived on the night that Freddie lost his fight for life, on November 24, 1991. The three remaining members of Queen assembled at Roger’s house in Surrey, and eventually decided to organise some kind of tribute to their colleague - though at the time they did not know exactly what form it should take.

It was decided that a massive open air concert was to be held to raise money and awareness about Aids, celebrate Freddie's life and give him a send off to remember, and that the venue would be quite appropriate at London's Wembley Stadium.

Roger formally announced the event at the Brit Awards ceremony on February 12, 1992, after he and Brian collected an award on Queen’s behalf for their Outstanding Contribution To Music. During his acceptance speech, Brian became very emotional and had to pause for a moment to compose himself. It was equally emotional for the many fans watching the event at home, as well as an immensely proud one. The award was presented to them in fond memory of Freddie. The two received a standing ovation.

The tickets went on sale the next day, with no other artists announced apart from the remaining members of Queen, and all 72,000 tickets sold out in just six hours.

On Easter Monday, April 20th 1992, many of the world's top stars joined Brian, Roger and John on stage at Wembley to pay an emotional tribute to Freddie. The stadium was packed to capacity and it was broadcast on radio and televised live to over one billion people in 76 countries around the world, from far afield as the USA and Russia. All the proceeds, then and now, go to the Mercury Phoenix Trust, a charity formed at the time whose charter is the relief of suffering from AIDS throughout the world. The show was also released on home video and many years later on DVD.

Text taken from the forthcoming revised and updated edition of Queen Live: A Concert Documentary.