“Live Aid and Beyond: How Freddie Mercury Redefined world Best Redefined Performance”

There’s no right way to prepare to play to millions of people. Most performers spend years cutting their teeth before finding their calling playing to the back of a stadium, but being able to engage with a crowd of that size is something that you’re either born with or you have to wait years to be comfortable with. But for someone as reserved as Freddie Mercury was off the stage, he never seemed to find any musical platform he didn’t feel comfortable on when performing with Queen.

Aside from the fantastic music that he made, Mercury will forever be known as the one who taught a clinic on how to work an audience at Live Aid. From his massive vocal runs onstage to moving between piano and guitar during the show, Mercury was like a fish in water when most of us would be shaking in our boots, to the point where it seemed awkward when he gave interviews and was very introverted.

But that’s because Mercury never saw the pre-emptive fear that everyone has when working on his music. Whether it was the musical masterstroke of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ or giving his final performances on Made in Heaven, Mercury was an entertainer in every sense of the word, and if it meant having to face some of the most challenging vocal runs imaginable, he was more than up for the challenge.