Editing Freddie Mercury (section)

===Live performer===
[[File:Queen 1984 0009.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Mercury performing live in September 1984]]

Mercury was noted for his live performances, which were often delivered to stadium audiences around the world. He displayed a highly theatrical style that often evoked a great deal of participation from the crowd.<ref name="Hince">{{cite news |title=What Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury Was Really Like: An Insider's Story |url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/what-freddie-mercury-was-really-like-an-insider-s-story |access-date=29 March 2020 |work=Louder Sound |archive-date=29 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200329103836/https://www.loudersound.com/features/what-freddie-mercury-was-really-like-an-insider-s-story |url-status=live }}</ref> A writer for ''[[The Spectator]]'' described him as "a performer out to tease, shock and ultimately charm his audience with various extravagant versions of himself."<ref name="Blaikie_1996"/> [[David Bowie]], who performed at the [[Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert]] and recorded the song "[[Under Pressure]]" with Queen, praised Mercury's performance style, saying: "Of all the more theatrical rock performers, Freddie took it further than the rest&nbsp;... he took it over the edge. And of course, I always admired a man who wears tights. I only saw him in concert once and as they say, he was definitely a man who could hold an audience in the palm of his hand."<ref name=Ressner/> Queen guitarist Brian May wrote that Mercury could make "the last person at the back of the furthest stand in a stadium feel that he was connected".<ref>{{cite web |author1=May, Brian |url=http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/happy-birthday-freddie-mercury.html |title=Happy birthday, Freddie Mercury |publisher=Googleblog.blogspot.com |date=4 September 2011 |access-date=9 February 2014 |archive-date=23 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150323161820/http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/happy-birthday-freddie-mercury.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Mercury's main prop on stage was a broken [[microphone stand#Bottomless microphone stand|microphone stand]]; after accidentally snapping it off the heavy base during an early performance, he realised it could be used in endless ways.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lenig |first=Stuart |date=2010 |title=The Twisted Tale of Glam Rock |location=Santa Barbara CA |publisher=Praeger |isbn= 978-0313379864 |page=81}}</ref>

One of Mercury's most notable performances with Queen took place at [[Live Aid]] in 1985.<ref name="Encyclopædia Britannica2"/> Queen's performance at the event has since been voted by a group of music executives as the greatest live performance in the history of rock music. The results were aired on a television program called "The World's Greatest Gigs".<ref name="Minchin_2005"/><ref name="BBC_2005b"/> Mercury's powerful, sustained note during the [[a cappella]] section came to be known as "The Note Heard Round the World".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.digitalspy.com/music/feature/a658048/30-fun-facts-for-the-30th-birthday-of-live-aid/|title=30 fun facts for the 30th birthday of Live Aid|last=McKee|first=Briony|date=13 July 2015|website=[[Digital Spy]]|access-date=26 February 2016|archive-date=11 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160211085443/http://www.digitalspy.com/music/feature/a658048/30-fun-facts-for-the-30th-birthday-of-live-aid/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2018/11/opinions/queen-live-aid-cnnphotos/|title=33 years later, Queen's Live Aid performance is still pure magic|last=Thomas|first=Holly|date=6 November 2018|publisher=CNN|access-date=18 November 2018|archive-date=18 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181118081506/https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2018/11/opinions/queen-live-aid-cnnphotos/|url-status=live}}</ref> In reviewing Live Aid in 2005, one critic wrote, "Those who compile lists of Great Rock Frontmen and award the top spots to [[Mick Jagger]], [[Robert Plant]], etc. all are guilty of a terrible oversight. Freddie, as evidenced by his [[Dionysian]] Live Aid performance, was easily the most godlike of them all."<ref name="Harris_2005"/> Photographer [[Denis O'Regan]], who captured a definitive pose of Mercury on stage—arched back, knee bent and facing toward the sky—during his final tour with Queen in 1986, commented "Freddie was a once-in-a-lifetime showman".<ref>{{cite news |first=Dave |last=Simpson |title=Freddie Mercury in his definitive pose – Denis O'Regan's best photograph |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/nov/16/freddie-mercury-queen-denis-o-regan-my-best-photograph-manchester |date=16 November 2022 |access-date=19 November 2022 |work=The Guardian |archive-date=10 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240910064138/https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/nov/16/freddie-mercury-queen-denis-o-regan-my-best-photograph-manchester |url-status=live }}</ref> Queen roadie Peter Hince states, "It wasn't just about his voice but the way he commanded the stage. For him it was all about interacting with the audience and knowing how to get them on his side. And he gave everything in every show."<ref name="Hince"/>

Throughout his career, Mercury performed an estimated 700 concerts in countries around the world with Queen. A notable aspect of Queen concerts was the large scale involved.<ref name = "Wenner_2001"/> He once explained, "We're the [[Cecil B. DeMille]] of rock and roll, always wanting to do things bigger and better."<ref name="Wenner_2001"/> The band was the first ever to play in South American stadiums, breaking worldwide records for concert attendance in the [[Morumbi Stadium]] in São Paulo in 1981.<ref name="Bret_1996_91">{{harvnb|Bret|1996|p=91}}.</ref> In 1986, Queen also played behind the [[Iron Curtain]] when they performed to a crowd of 80,000 in [[Budapest]], in what was one of the biggest rock concerts ever held in Eastern Europe.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4SQEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT85|title=Queen Plays For 80,000 Rock Fans In Budapest|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|access-date=27 September 2014|date=16 August 1986|archive-date=10 September 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240910064147/https://books.google.com/books?id=4SQEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT85#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> Mercury's [[Knebworth Festival|final live performance]] with Queen took place on 9 August 1986 at [[Knebworth House|Knebworth Park]] in England and drew an attendance estimated as high as 200,000.{{sfn|Blake|2016}} A week prior to Knebworth, May recalled Mercury saying "I'm not going to be doing this forever. This is probably the last time."{{sfn|Blake|2016}} With the British national anthem "[[God Save the Queen]]" playing at the end of the concert, Mercury's final act on stage saw him draped in a robe, holding a golden crown aloft, bidding farewell to the crowd.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Grech|first1=Herman|title=Mercury's magic lives forever|url=http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20111120/local/Mercury-s-magic-lives-forever.394705|issue=8 February 2015|newspaper=[[The Times (Malta)]]|date=20 November 2011|access-date=8 February 2015|archive-date=30 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150330025604/http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20111120/local/Mercury-s-magic-lives-forever.394705|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=knebworth/>