In preparation for their massive, and ultimately final, stadium tour of Europe with Freddie Mercury, Queen embarked on a series of full production rehearsals to test all elements of their show; some of those rehearsals were captured on a home movie camera, giving a rare insight into the amount of preparation that went into these Magic shows.
The 1986 series saw Queen perform 26 dates across Europe, wrapping the run up before 120,000 fans at the UK’s Knebworth Park, which would turn out to be the band’s final performance with Mercury; the iconic singer died five years later of complications from AIDS at the age of 45.
A portion of Queen’s history was presented in the 2018 biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody”; directed by Dexter Fletcher, the film – which followed the group from their formation in 1970 through to their legendary 1985 Live Aid appearance – won four Academy Awards including Best Actor to Rami Malek for his portrayal of Mercury, and earned more than $900 million dollars at the box office to become the highest-grossing music biopic in history.
See also:
Queen revisit Live Aid rehearsals on The Greatest
Queen launch second season of weekly video series The Greatest
Queen guitarist Brian May knighted by King Charles III
Queen smash Bohemian Rhapsody tops 2 billion Spotify streams
Search Queen at hennemusic
