Queen's Brian May has said that the 40th anniversary of Live Aid is "bittersweet" without his late bandmate Freddie Mercury.
The band were part of a hugely star studded line up who performed at the two venue benefit on 13 July 1985, aimed at raising funds for the Ethiopian famine.
The festival, which followed the huge success of 'Do They Know Its Christmas?' that previous December, Live Aid saw live performances at both Wembley Stadium, and John F Kennedy, which also included U2, David Bowie, Queen and more. It went on to raise $245 million, thanks to ticket sales and donations. More on this here.
Speaking ahead of a special gala performance of Just For One Day: The Live Aid Musical, May said: “We don’t have Freddie anymore, but in a sense, he’s still with us, because every day we refer to him and think about him, you wonder what he would be thinking".
He continued: “This is special. Of course, it was very much Freddie’s day. He shone, he just became interstellar at that moment".
“Yes, it is bittersweet, but mainly sweet because this is good vibes in a world which seems to be going off into a terrible place and becoming more and more selfish and more corrupt, more cruel", he added. “This is important to emphasise, this wonderful endeavour to feed the world".
“You know, it’s still there. Still needs doing".
Freddie Mercury, the charismatic and much loved frontman of Queen, passed away after suffering bronchial pneumonia resulting from Aids. He was 45 years old.
This is not the first time that May has used the word "bittersweet" to describe celebrating a huge milestone without Freddie Mercury, having spoken about marking Queen's 50th anniversary without the great man in 2023. More on this here.
Prior to that, May also said that Mercury would be still playing in Queen today if he was still alive. More on this report from Nova here.
