10 Most Iconic Live Music Performances Of All Time

Freddie Mercury is often cited as the greatest front-man in musical history, he was a born entertainer and he knew how to work a crowd like no other. The 21-minute set him and the rest of Queen delivered at Live Aid in 1985 completely, and somewhat unexpectedly, stole the whole show. Playing at 7pm amongst megastars such as David Bowie and Elton John, Queen were playing off the back of a number of poorly received shows in South Africa the previous year, and on-going speculation regarding Mercury’s sexuality had accordingly prevented the band from breaking America.

Stripped down to a white tank top, white jeans, trainers and a studded band, Mercury flamboyantly took to the stage and welcomed the crowd with open arms, before sitting down at a piano and playing the opening notes of Bohemian Rhapsody. The crowd and the estimated 1.9 billion watching worldwide were in his hands from that moment onwards, as he mesmerisingly danced across the stage delivering Queen hits such as Radio Ga Ga, We Will Rock You and closing with We Are The Champions. He even managed to squeeze in a 30 second call and response with the crowd as he often liked to do, which would later be christened ‘the note heard around the world’.

Bob Geldof was later interviewed and echoed the views of everybody else present on the day: ‘Queen were absolutely the best band of the day, they played the best, had the best sound, used their time to the full. They understood the idea exactly, that it was a global jukebox.’