Queen is a band in a class of its own. Their mixture of progressive rock and pop music, the guitar mastery of Brian May, and, of course, the undeniable energy and talent of late frontman Freddie Mercury, fueled the quartet to become arguably the best touring rock band on the planet by the early 1980s.
Queen was a juggernaut, playing to massive crowds around the world, and few bands rival their level of success at that time. Of course, as we know now, things quickly took a turn for the worse as Mercury was diagnosed with AIDS in the mid-80s, and the band was forced to stop touring. Mercury ultimately died from the disease on November 24th, 1991, and fans around the world continue to mourn the loss of one of rock music’s most influential icons.
Today, on the anniversary of Freddie Mercury’s tragic passing, we take a look back at his final show with the band, on August 9th, 1986 in Knebworth, England.
Related: Celebrating Vocal Virtuoso & Cultural Icon Freddie Mercury Of Queen [Video]
In 1986, the band brought their massive summer tour—and final tour with Mercury—to a close with a remarkable 120,000+ person concert at the famed Knebworth Park Cricket stadium. Queen was at the peak of their powers, and the energy they show throughout the performance proved their greatness.
Opening with “One Vision”, the band hit the stage and never looked back, turning in high-energy performances of “Tie Your Mother Down” and “Tear It Up” before busting out some of their mega-hits in “Under Pressure” and “Another One Bites The Dust”. In between hits, the band worked in a few improv moments, with Mercury performing a vocal jam early in the show, with the full band taking three minutes to let loose later in the show. Classic Queen songs “I Want To Break Free” and “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” made the set, and of course, no Queen show would be complete without the multi-part classic “Bohemian Rhapsody”.
The band brought things to a close with an epic double encore. Up first, Queen played a lone encore of “Radio Ga Ga”, before returning to the stage one last time to deliver a quartet of classic songs. Starting with “We Will Rock You”, the band then performed “Friends Will Be Friends”, followed by a triumphant “We Are The Champions”. They then walked off to their traditional “God Save The Queen” outro, as that band’s rabid fans unknowingly said goodbye for the last time.
See below for a full video from the performance, and check out the full setlist below. Queen was legendary, and Freddie Mercury was truly unique, and it’s still amazing to watch him perform all these years later. Enjoy the show!
Queen – 8/9/1986 – Knebworth – Full Video
[Video: RhythmChild 2002]
[Originally published 11/24/17]