Freddie Mercury Online

“He was my big childhood hero along with Paul McCartney, but Queen’s ‘Jazz’ was my first real LP! Through my brother I got in touch with Queen and it became a love that would never go away.

And as it was then at a young age, a room full of Queen posters. My highlight was meeting Freddie and that actually happened twice!

I thought it was strange that this outspoken and energetic man on the stage backstage was such a shy and restrained man. I had no idea at the time that it would count for many big pop stars. Freddie patiently signed the pictures I had taken of him the day before and we had the picture together.

For years I had a very small discolored print of that photo because I had no more negatives, yesterday I found the two images. A photo with eyes closed and this one ….

We are now 35 years later, but Freddie will never be forgotten. And in those 35 years I have already captured many other icons.
But this was perhaps the greatest of all! “

William Rutten photographer

Courtesy Instagram Willian Rutten

Freddie Mercury

The pictures: Queen at a tea ceremony on the grass of the Tokyo Prince Hotel’s garden in April 1975. This was their first tour of Japan 🇯🇵 Photos by Koh Hasebe.

He was the most kind and generous man I ever met. He taught me so much about so many things. Art … appreciation, creating, creativity … Even patience although he himself was always so impatient. As far as I’m concerned, Freddie was the teacher and when he died, school was out forever and it was then up to us to go out and make use of what we’d learned, what he’d taught us.

He was that rare being, a man who had impeccable taste and yet also the wherewithal to effect that taste. He was in private life exactly as he was when working in the studio. He didn’t care how much anything cost in terms of money or time or effort provided that the end result was as perfect as the idea he had first had in his mind. Quite simply, he got things done and those things were always done the way he wanted them done.

Peter Freestone

A beautiful portrait of Freddie by Simon Fowler

29 April 1979, Queen are off to Fukuoka, Japan 🇯🇵for two shows, April 30th and May 1, 1979

“Live Killers Tour” The bands biggest tour in Japan, beginning on 13 April through 6 May 1979

On the morning of the 29th, the lobby of the hotel is packed with girls and women. Queen’s staff is taken aback, they think they are all waiting for the band, but then they are relieved to learn that some of the people are here to attend a wedding ceremony, while others were fans of singer-songwriter Shinji Harada, who was also staying at this hotel.

The band flies out of Nagoya Airport to Fukuoka.

At the Crowne Plaza Fukuoka Hotel, Freddie Mercury has an interview with Music Life. Mary Austin is also present. Although Freddie is known to hate the press overseas, Music Life is special to him, and on this day the interview starts at 8 pm and goes for nearly 2 hours.

June 6th, 1977 – Queen Story!
London, UK, Earls Court Exhibition Centre
‘A Day At The Races Tour’

This pre-show picture was taken in front of the newly-built crown lighting rig.

The band dropped £50,000 on a new lighting rig for these shows, which was a giant crown – 25 feet tall by 54 feet wide, weighing two tons. Queen were pioneers of many rock concert spectacles, including this very first mobile lighting rig.

The proceeds from this show went to the HRH Queen’s Silver Jubilee Appeal
⏩ Source queenlive.ca website

29 April 1985, Queen performed their final evening @ Entertainment Centre in Sydney, Australia 🇦🇺
“The Works Tour”

This is the band’s final performance in Australia with Freddie Mercury.

A fan recalls: “Brian played part of Waltzing Matilda again during his guitar solo. Also, at one point of the show Freddie’s mic died, and apparently it was while he was up on top of the stage behind Roger’s drum kit. And at the end of the show, Roger trashed his drum kit.”