Freddie Mercury Tribute, 24/11/01

Wow...it's only two days ago, but already the events of 24th November 2001 are becoming a huge blur of wonderfulness, so apologies in advance for anything I've remembered wrong! I want to write this all down before I forget the details totally - the feelings, though, are something I will never forget.
I arrived in London at about midday on Saturday with my friend Marie (to whom I am SO grateful for coming along, and humouring a hopeless fanatic - thank you!!). Contrary to the weather forecast of a cold and wet day, it was absolutely beautiful. The sky was bright blue and the sun was shining. First of all we visited Freddie's house, Garden Lodge. I'd never been there before, and when I got there there were about 20-30 others, talking quietly, reading the messages and looking at the flowers, or just standing and thinking and paying their own private respects. There were some lovely flowers and some candles against the wall, and touching messages had been left by people from all over the world. A couple of policemen were there, and a camera - I think it was a tv camera - had been set up, but the atmosphere was one of peace and respect. It was strange and quite surreal to stand there and think of all the wonderful times Freddie must have had behind that wall, and some of the sadder times too...
Having paid my respects, we headed off to spend the afternoon shopping in Oxford Street. It was absolutely packed, and I ended up buying nothing! Had something to eat too, and amused myself by spotting other Queen t-shirted people.
When we got to Hackney, I was amazed at the size of the queue outside the Ocean...I walked round one corner....and then another...! As soon as we'd joined the queue a load of people came and stretched it even further behind us. The wait probably wasn't that long at all, but it seemed like forever (cue someone commenting that we'd all be sleeping on the sidewalk...then rollin' down the road....which I thought was quite funny as the road behind the Ocean is on a slight incline. Oh dear...sorry...!). Finally we got in, and by the time I'd escaped the bloodthirsty, ruthless crush for the merchandise stall (erm...I'm only half-joking here!!) and the inevitably long queue for the bar, the show was just starting.
The Champions certainly lived up to their name. The huge amount of hard work and thought that they must have put into their show was very evident. A lengthy and totally rockin' Great King Rat was one of the best highlights for me. Man, I love that song! The vocalists were excellent and very brave to sing the songs that Freddie sung - they did them justice. In My Defence and The Great Pretender were absolutely belted out. Nathan, the guitarist from the tribute band MayBe?, did a wonderful Somebody To Love, even hitting that high note! Spread Your Wings was deservedly very well received as well. There was a minute's silence for Freddie at the time it would have been ten years since he left us. It was very moving, and there were many tears. I thought of Freddie, and all the wonderful music he gave us, and of what an inspiration he is to me. I thought of how much I wished he were still here, and I cried. Afterwards, we sang Love Of My Life for him - again, very very moving. The set ended with a huge singalong to Bohemian Rhapsody, opera section included! A wonderful group of musicians...they all did themselves proud.
Treana Morris was on next, singing and playing acoustic guitar with another guy. She played some of her own songs, as well as '39 and Sleeping On The Sidewalk. She has an effortlessly stunning voice. Then came the main act of the night...The SAS Band, with a line-up of the wonderful Spike Edney on the organ, Eric Singer on drums - who'd had no sleep after flying over from touring with Alice Cooper - Jamie Moses on guitar (Brilliant! And hey, what a cutie!), Steve Stroud on bass, and the Fabba Girls on backing vocals. They warmed up with a little song in which Jamie introduced the band, and then on came Chris Thompson. His voice is absolutely brilliant - very powerful and with a great range. Paul Young also came on and sang a couple of songs during this first set, which lasted about 45 minutes, and the Fabba Girls did Waterloo and Dancing Queen, which got everyone singing and dancing along. I've got to admit I didn't know a few of the songs in this part of the show - hey, I'm young, I can't help it! But it didn't ruin the enjoyment a bit - I soon picked them up and sang along. This first part was rounded off with a rousing rendition of The Mighty Quinn, and Spike promised us that what was to follow, we would really love...
In the interval, amusement was provided by five brave/insane souls from the audience, who had volunteered their services to entertain us with a bit of virtuoso air guitar in the interval to the strains of Tie Your Mother Down. Excellent fun - the girl who won it destroyed her 'guitar' at the end, a la Pete Townshend!
Then came the Queen set from the SAS band. Chris Thompson again led the way on vocals, with Neil Murray joining the band on bass. The first surprise was very unexpected - Spike told us that this guy had rang him up and said he'd like to come along and sing this, and had never sung it live before. Enter Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden, singing I Want To Break Free! He did a pretty cool version of it, only messing up the end as it wasn't written down on the bit of paper he was reading off ("Is that it?!"). We had a rocking version of Hammer To Fall, and then came the opening of Radio Ga Ga... What happened next is hard to describe, to give the moment full justice. When Roger Taylor and Brian May appeared from the wings, the crowd went absolutely wild. I think it had been in the back of most people's heads that they might just be there, but I'd tried (probably rather unsuccessfully) not to get my hopes up too much about it. The noise from the audience was unbelievable, the reception rapturous. Roger looked great in shades (what else?) and a black suit, and Brian wore a red velvet waistcoat. Roger sang Radio Ga Ga, and it was simply amazing to be a part of the crowd, hand-clapping in unison to the chorus, and at times just staring in awe, trying to take it all in. The feeling of total elation...it is the biggest emotional high I have ever experienced. I kept thinking to myself, you've got to try and remember this feeling, try and hold on to it! It was truly a dream come true for me to finally see two of my biggest heroes playing live. Brian then sang Since You've Been Gone, saying beforehand that if you really thought about the words, it summed up a lot of the feelings of the night. He was wonderful, and the crowd irrepressible, singing along to every word. Roger performed a brilliant version of Strange Frontier - he was really in excellent voice - Brian sang Tie Your Mother Down, and Treana Morris came back on stage to sing Under Pressure with Roger. The final song they did was "a first", Brian said, as it had never been done live before. There was not a dry eye in the house as Brian and Roger sang No-One But You. It was beautiful, and very emotional for both them and us. I feel so privileged to have seen them play live together, and especially to sing that song - it was the perfect tribute to Freddie. I am immensely grateful to them for coming along and making it one of the most special and unforgettable nights of my life, on what must be such a difficult day for them (Spike said they had only decided to play a couple of days before).
Our heroes went off to thunderous applause, and Spike told us we still had three songs left - yay! Chris Thompson sang a breathtaking The Show Must Go On. He was so impressive, and showed his great range on a song that few can sing. Bruce Dickinson came back on stage for We Will Rock You (I bet thousands of tootsies in the audience were glad that we did the "clap, clap, hands out" rather than the traditional "stomp, stomp, clap"), and everyone except Brian and Roger came back on stage for We Are The Champions. It all made sense why those final two songs have become such anthems, hearing them played live. I sang my throat sore, and the finale was a sea of waving arms. The atmosphere in the crowd was truly amazing. It lifted me up to a higher level (my head's still buzzing around up there somewhere). It was just a melting pot of so many emotions...tears mingled with laughter, ecstatic cheering with hushed thoughtfulness. Fittingly, the tribute ended with an immortal image of Freddie projected onto the screen, which received applause and cheers, and cries of "Thank you Freddie". It had been an unforgettable night, and the best way to celebrate the life of a man who lived life to the full, and gave us all so much joy, and still continues to. Fairytales of yesterday will grow but never die...

We still love you too, Freddie.