Freddie Mercury shows off his spine-tingling acapella voice in backstage video from last Queen concert
12 April 2021, 16:56
An incredible video has emerged of Freddie Mercury singing unaccompanied backstage minutes before his last ever Queen concert at Knebworth Park.
Freddie Mercury is seen showcasing his vocal range in his dressing room ahead of his last live concert with Queen and is even joined by Roger Taylor on camera for the impromptu performance.
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The Queen frontman is seen wearing his now iconic yellow "Champion" tank top and slim fitting white trousers while pacing his dressing room in the minutes leading-up to going on stage at the huge concert.
The footage, shot on a hot summer's day on August 9, 1986, is the last known video of Freddie Mercury performing in peak condition before his health deteriorated and he died from AIDS-related pneumonia in November 1991.
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The 30-second clip starts with Freddie speaking to a member of Queen's production team off camera.
"How long have we got?" Freddie asks, swinging his arms and clapping his hands in front of him in nervous excitement.
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"Five, five ten minutes?" He confirms with the person just out of shot as he turns away to pace his dressing room.
Accepting the offer of a drink from an assistant's outstretched hand, Freddie takes the cup and then launches into warming up his vocal chords.
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The singer's famously powerful voice is then heard as he recites various scales, showing off the unbelievable strength of his voice when performing totally unaccompanied.
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Freddie is showcasing his amazing vocal range when Roger Taylor, dressed in a black and white striped t-shirt and black sunglasses, jumps into frame to join Freddie in a duet.
Singing back and forth to one another Freddie Mercury starts to laugh as Roger struggles to hit the same high note as the Queen singer.
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The amazing footage comes in after the emergence of the last footage of Queen together in concert.
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Performing in front of an crowd of 120,000, the August 9 concert at Knebworth Park was the final date of the band's highly successful Magic Tour and the last time the band would ever play with live with Freddie Mercury at the helm.
The 1986 gig featured Queen's four original band members - Brian May, John Deacon, Freddie Mercury and Roger Taylor - six years before Freddie's untimely death from AIDS and eleven years before John Deacon would quit the band.
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The Knebworth Park concert had a setlist of the band's greatest hits including 'One Vision', 'Radio Ga Ga', 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love', 'We Will Rock You', 'I Want To Break Free', various guitar solos and a rousing final rendition of 'God Save The Queen'.
