“Bohemian Rhapsody” What are the two turning points of Queen who became a “legend”? ?

18 minutes that instantly captured the hearts of the Wembley crowd.

Then, in 1984, when the band was past its peak and its popularity was beginning to decline, an even bigger crisis arose. It's a concert in South Africa. At the time, due to apartheid, the United Nations had agreed to boycott all cultural exchanges with South Africa, but Queen held a concert at Sun City, South Africa's largest resort, and received attention from all over the world. bashed by "target".

Bonds that were about to break apart, the trust of fans, and popularity that was about to decline. The second turning point was the Live Aid concert at Wembley Stadium in London on July 13, 1985, which dramatically restored the situation. The concert, which was organized by Bob Geldof to benefit Ethiopian famine relief charity, was held simultaneously at Wembley and John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, USA, and was broadcast live to 150 countries around the world. Many artists such as Paul McCartney , Bob Dylan , and Stevie Wonder participated, but many saw it as a charity event and were not motivated to give their all. Some performers performed new songs that were unfamiliar to the audience within the allotted time, and in short, the performance was notable for its ``kaomise'' style.

“Bohemian Rhapsody” © 2018 Twentieth Century Fox

Then Queen appeared, trying to make a comeback. Starting with "Bohemian Rhapsody," Queen has poured their hearts and souls into hit songs that everyone knows. The 18-minute stage, which was clearly different from other artists' stance, immediately captured the hearts of the Wembley audience. During "Radio Ga Ga," everyone in the audience spontaneously performed the famous clapping action, and even the members of Queen were moved by the act. It seems that just before Queen's performance, the sound engineer turned up the limiter and made it louder (this part is also clearly depicted in the movie).

"Radio Ga Ga" MV

In the movie Bohemian Rhapsody, the number of calls for charity increases as Queen's performance progresses at Live Aid, but viewers of the live TV broadcast were also most moved by Queen's performance on that day. I was doing it. Organizer Bob Geldof says Queen gave the best performance at Live Aid. It was also the moment when Queen, who did not rely on equipment such as lights or props and took on the challenge purely as a ``live'' event, achieved victory.

The year after Live Aid (1986), Queen held a solo performance at Wembley Stadium, attracting 150,000 people over two days. It was hailed as the largest and best performance in Queen's history. After this performance, Freddie Mercury's AIDS condition worsened, and Wembley became part of his final tour. Wembley, a ``sacred place'' for Queen, was also the venue for the world premiere of the movie ``Bohemian Rhapsody'' in October 2018.

Although this is a coincidence, the recording of ``Bohemian Rhapsody'' and the final decision to perform at Live Aid came after the Japan tour.According to John Deacon, ``I was sitting in a hotel after finishing the previous Japan tour.'' "While I was eating," he said. Japan was the place where Queen's turning point was made...It may be an exaggeration to say that Japan was where many fans were born earlier than their home country of England, and Queen and Freddie Mercury were in Japan. It is an unshakable fact that I loved him very much.

Text: Hiroaki Saito

Became freelance in 1997, contributing movie reviews and interview articles to various media such as movie magazines, theater pamphlets, and movie sites. The column is constantly updated on Yahoo! News. Star Channel's program "GO! Theater" introduces the latest released works.

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"Bohemian Rhapsody"

Distributor: 20th Century Fox Movies

© 2018 Twentieth Century Fox

*Information at the time of article publication in November 2018.