First Gig

Actually this memory involves Queen, Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott and the top hat loving Slash, but this version from 1986 rocks just as much.

A glorious Easter Monday in 1992 marked a seminal moment in my musical education; my first gig.

And as first gigs go, they probably don’t get much bigger. Or better.

The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness was an open-air concert held on Easter Monday, April 20, 1992 at London's Wembley Stadium, and televised live worldwide to an estimated audience of one billion viewers. The concert was a tribute to the life of the late Queen frontman, Freddie Mercury, with all proceeds going to AIDS  chairities.

In February 1992, at the annual BRIT Awards ceremony, Queen guitarist Brian May and Roger Taylor (the Queen drummer and not to be mistaken for the drummer in Duran Duran of the same name,) announced plans for the concert at the Brit Awards (the UK equivalent of the Grammy’s). I tried getting tickets, but the phone lines were jammed, and before you knew it all 72,000 tickets had gone.

Fortunately I managed to get three tickets through the bands Fan Club and my Mum, brother and I drove up to Wembley not knowing what to expect, as the bill hadn't really been announced.

We need not to have worried, after a first half featuring some of the pickest heavy rock acts of the early 90s (Metallica, Extreme, Def Leppard  and Guns & Roses) the sun set and just as it had got dark (and a bit nippy in the air) on came Brian, John and Roger accompanied by amazing lights, explosions and simply the best stadium sound I have EVER heard.

The other bands were good, but the songs and the musicianship from Queen and their Guests was just awesome.

I’ve never tied anyone’s mother down, but with riffs like this, I’m sorely tempted…