The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert - reportage from "La Stampa", April 1992

The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert - reportage from "La Stampa", April 1992 Mar 11, 2022 8:06:57 GMT leo82br and Chopin1995 like this

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Post by fabiogminero on Mar 11, 2022 8:06:57 GMT

Hi.

I present to you a series of articles from the Italian newspaper La Stampa regarding the "Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert". The media coverage of the event was enormous and, of course, the Italian press and media also decided to advertise the charity event. Enjoy your reading!

1) the first article is titled Tutti insieme per Mercury (translated as All together for Freddie) and was published in the April 13th, 1992 issue of the newspaper. The concert and the artists who will take part are presented, as well as providing some details on the broadcast in Italy: in the country, the concert was broadcast live on television on a programme called 'Videomusic' and on radio by Stereorai, a radio station (owned by RAI) dedicated to live music.
NOTE: I corrected Mercury's date of death, incorrectly reported as November 25th, 1991.

Here are the article and the scan:

The concert for Mercury, former leader of Queen, on TV and radio
All together for Freddie
Today on Rock Cafè (Raidue) the Italian special correspondent speaks: Zucchero
The exclusive is from Stereorai and Videomusic, five episodes on Top Venti

ROME. Dedicated to Freddie Mercury. The world of music is mobilizing for the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for Aids Awareness to be held next Monday at the Wembley Stadium in London: a concert born as a greeting and homage to the great leader of Queen, who died at 45 of Aids on the last November 24th. And also Italian radio and television are preparing for the event. The television exclusive for Italy is from Videomusic, the radio one from Stereorai. "Top Venti", the Italia Uno musical broadcast, started on Saturday and will go on for another four episodes with a special on the rock star and his artistic parable. And “Rock Cafè” in today's episode (5.55pm and 12.05am Raidue) presents a preview of the concert with interviews with Zucchero, Annie Lennox, Mick Ronson, Sea, Robert Plant and Metallica.
«Given the importance of the concert, what I hope and what we all hope isn’t so much to solve the problem of AIDS, which is bigger than us, but rather to be able to sensitize people to this problem that isn’t so many felt for many, but remains a sort of abstract threat, while in reality it’s something that touches us all very closely»: these are the first words that Zucchero, the only Italian artist present at Wembley, says at "Rock Cafè".
Attendees that day will include David Bowie, Roger Daltrey, Def Leppard, Extreme, Guns ‘n’ Roses, Ian Hunter, Elton John, Annie Lennox, London Community Gospel Choir, Metallica, George Michael, Robert Plant, Mick Ronson, Seal, Spinal Tap, U2, Paul Young. Together with them the three members of Queen John Deacon, Brian May and Roger Taylor. Tickets for the concert were sold out in just six hours of presale, and it will be broadcast worldwide in all countries including South Africa, thus officially marking the end of a musical boycott that had lasted for years.
The exclusive right, it has been said, is by Videomusic and Stereorai, it’ll be broadcast from 06.30pm to 11pm. The musical event contains Mercury's desire to succeed, thanks to music, an international and interracial communication vehicle, to obtain an ever greater awareness of the disease: the causes, the risks, the possible remedies. The concert should also serve to increase financial contributions for scientific research. The former leader of Queen has in fact left a substantial fortune for this purpose, to which will be added the funds raised with the mega-show, set up at Wembley Stadium in London. The 24,000 dollars spent by Rai - the company announced - to acquire the radio broadcasting rights, represent a direct economic contribution that the company offered for the humanitarian purposes of the event.
“The Show Must Go On”, Freddie Mercury's spiritual testament song, was interpreted to the letter by the other members of the group who for the occasion summoned a team of sound specialists supervised by the production manager David Richards, flanked by David Mallet, artistic director, and Patrick Woodroffe at the lights, hundreds of technicians will participate in the preparation of the set, which will take five days of work. New technologies will be used for sound transmission. The audio signal will in fact be wired with optical fibers to ensure better listening quality.

2) on April 19th, 1992, La Stampa published another article titled Anche Liz per la sera di Freddie (translated as Liz too for Freddie's night), in which the presence on stage of actress Elizabeth Taylor and singer Bob Geldof is announced. A snippet of Taylor's speech is also premiered, with the news that David Bowie and Annie Lennox are sure to sing 'Under Pressure' together. Further details are provided on the broadcast of the concert in Italy (thanks also to a dedicated announcement).

Below the article and the two scans:

Concert in London

Liz too for Freddie's night

LONDON. Tomorrow at 6.45 pm, live from Wembley Stadium, Videomusic will broadcast the 'Freddie Mercury Tribute', a megaconcert for the fight against AIDS that the Superchannel broadcaster offers exclusively and that is broadcast for Italy by the Tuscan broadcaster. While the rehearsals are in full swing (in two different places for the heavy metal groups and for the other singers) the presence of the two guests of honor is confirmed: Bob Geldof and Liz Taylor.

The American actress announced the text of her speech: «We are here to celebrate the life of Freddie Mercury, an extraordinary rock star who appeared as a comet. But we are also here to tell the whole world that he died prematurely, as well as many others that we have lost to AIDS. Every day 5,000 people around the world are infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Please don't let this happen to you».

To remember the singer who lost his battle against AIDS last November, there will be all the best of rock: David Bowie, Paul Young, Elton John, Annie Lennox, Guns 'n' Roses, Seal, just to name. some. The only Italian will be Zucchero. Many people offered their free participation, even too many for only three and a half hours of show. The organizers were forced to turn down someone. The show, the proceeds of which will be donated entirely to the fight against AIDS, promises to be the concert of the year and to equal, if not surpass, the success of Live Aid, the first major rock charity concert held in 1985 at Wembley. The 72,000 tickets for the evening were sold in just six hours and the show will be broadcast, live or pre-recorded, on 70 televisions around the world. At least half a billion people will see it.

The setlist is still top secret, but it is known that Freddie Mercury's biggest hits will be sung by other artists. David Bowie with Annie Lennox will present "Under Pressure" and Elton John will be at the keyboard and will sing with the three Queen.

Meanwhile Brian May, John Deacon and Roger Taylor, have kept faith with a commitment made immediately after the death of Freddie Mercury and have handed over to the Terrence Higgins fund for the fight against AIDS, the copyrights collected with the new edition of " Bohemian Rhapsody". One million pounds, 2 billion and 200 million pounds, which will be used to build a new headquarters for the association.

3) the third article was published on the April 21st, 1992 issue of the newspaper. Titled Freddie Mercury: delirio a dimensione mondiale (translated as Freddie Mercury: delirium on a global state) and written by journalist Marinella Venegoni, is a wonderful review of the previous day's megaconcert. The journalist also dedicates a space to Zucchero and his performance on the Wembley stage.

Here are the article and the scan:

Half a billion people for live and deferred TV of the concert-event in memory of the leader of Queen
Freddie Mercury: delirium on a global scale

LONDON. From our reporter.
Freddie Mercury, voice and face of Queen, died of AIDS at the age of 45 on 24th November. Last night, at Wembley Stadium, 98 artists remembered him; it’s estimated that the live TV and the deferred program of the concert event was seen by 500 million people worldwide (in Italy, on Videomusic and Raistereouno).
The organizers wanted not only to make a show and raise funds for research against the evil of the end of the century, but also to raise awareness among the youngest, all music consumers, against a disease whose deadly embrace can affect anyone; not just drug addicts, not just homosexuals as it was said at the beginning. Even Liz Taylor arrived in London for the occasion, in a sparkling pillette jacket that reproduced her face, she mingled for the first time with the rock troops, to send out her cry of alarm: «There are 72,000 people in this stadium tonight - she said -. Look at each other, see how many you are. In just two short weeks, there will be as many new infections as there are people here tonight. Don't let this happen to you». Then, in a shocking silence, she added: «Please whatever love you make whether you're gay, bisexual, or straight, always use a condom; And if you take drugs, don't swap syringes». And it was greeted by a roar of .
Introduced and presented by the other members of Queen, the evening took place in the usual atmosphere of general joy, with balloons flying over people's heads and rivers of beer flowing to beat the temperature. It was spectacularly exhilarating, noisy and longer hours than expected. Due to time problems, the project to make each of the guests sing their own success has been skipped. Queen's songs were favored, in unpublished versions of various styles; only Bowie survived, who dedicated the emblematic “Heroes” to Mercury and then dabbled with Annie Lennox in “Under Pressure”.
The cast of the evening was very well matched: for the more traditional, surprisingly, Liza Minnelli; then veterans Bowie to Roger Daltrey, metalheads Metallica (who opened the show regardless of watts), Guns 'N' Roses and Def Leppard, pop heroes George Michael and Elton John, established diva Annie Lennox and the emerging model Cindy Crawford. Not to mention U2, the most charismatic band in the world, connected via satellite from the United States where they are on tour. There are few examples, but the names say a lot about the sophistication of choices now achieved in the production of benefit shows. It was understood that a mixture of styles is vital for attention and the TV audience: for the first time, even heavy metal has been incorporated into the program, and has brought a significant increase in attention (of course, however, hearing the Extreme massacre "Radio Ga Ga" made a bit of an impression).
Here we are well beyond Live Aid, which pioneered this kind of events in 1985; and even beyond the voluntary work of the organization of Mandela Day, which took place on another Easter Monday two years ago. Yesterday's event also involved Thorn Emi, the Queen record company which, after Mercury's death, saw the group's "Greatest Hits" climb to the top of the charts; and we never had any impression of improvisation, on the contrary: it was charity, but there was also industrial efficiency behind the 10 kilometers of orderly lines of children and adults (many in their fifties) who patiently waited in the afternoon to enter. The mega-events machine is now perfectly oiled, ready to devour every good cause to make it aware, show and above all money.
It's been a hectic three months of work, with two leaders, promoter Harvey Goldsmith and forty-year-old Kevin Wall, president of Radio Vision, who claims to have 80 percent of the world market for television concerts in their hands. Wall, who already participated in the organization of Live Aid and negotiated the airing of the Amnesty concerts, built his plots from an office in Los Angeles on the Hollywood Boulevard; in this case, he was contacted by Queen Productions, the production company of the glam rock group. He estimates that the TV will receive 250 thousand dollars in rights, about 300 million Italian lire, and while for normal events his office gets 25 percent, here he will be satisfied with 10 or 15: "to cover the costs." But then he confesses that one must also take into account the non-payment of the rights of the former Communist countries: «Russia also broadcast the concert: they don't have a lira but they have 100 millions of televisions». On the other hand, the television stations of every country were encouraged to open an account into which viewers can send money against AIDS.
There was, immediately after the initial performance of Metanica, a moment of silence impressive collective, when Freddie Mercury's voice started singing "You Take My Breath Away" and his figure appeared on the giant screens on either side of the huge empty stage. He also sang and talked, several times, even if he’s no longer there, always followed by a mountain of . Not a bad ploy to cover the downtime for changing instruments between one group and another.
Curiously, all the biggest names in music business yesterday and today were missing. No Mick Jagger or Keith Richards, no Madonna or Michael Jackson. Sooner or later we will find out why. On the other hand, it was the first concert ever broadcast via satellite also in South Africa: because Mandela is free and not just him in South Africa. And at least a little thanks to old rock.

Zucchero
An Italian among many big names

LONDON. Zucchero Sugar Fornaciari, or the extraordinary adventure of an Italian in international showbusiness: yesterday at Wembley he was the only non-English-speaking interpreter to sing on the coveted stage of the Freddie Mercury Memorial. Not that he wasn't agitated, far from it: «It's been three weeks since I chose the song to sing, "Las Palabras de Amor", one of the most unknown of Queen's immense repertoire. But a ballad suited to my vocal style». At the Mayfair Hotel, on the eve of the big moment, he was all dressed in black velvet like the Little Lord Fauntleroy, with his hair tousled and looking rather tired. But also satisfied. Very satisfied: «What pleased me most is that I was chosen by them. I didn't do anything to come here». His musical passport is called Paul Young. With the participation of Paul, “Senza una Donna” became an international hit that allowed the record to enter the English charts. Brian May of Queen heard him on that song, while the director of Radio Vision saw one of the concerts in which he was a supporter of Clapton: «They mentioned my name to each other, and they agreed», adds Zucchero. He spoke about the rehearsals of Easter Day: «What surprises me and weighs me is that everyone thinks I have a great voice or who knows who. Elton John patted me on the back and said “You’re good”». Will he end up like Tracy Chapman, who arrived unknown at Mandela's concert and became a star in one day? «No, because I don't have a new record out, like she had. However, I finished the Italian version of the new album and I hope it’ll be released in September».

4) on April 22nd, 1992, La Stampa published another article (again written by Marinella Venegoni) dedicated to the event: titled Padre Nostro che sei anche nel rock (translated as Holy Father, who are also in rock), it speaks for the most part of the prayer recited by David Bowie on the Wembley stage, also reflecting on the world of contemporary music and some of the artists' performances. On the same page of the newspaper there were also two other short articles in which the opinions on Bowie's gesture by some Italian artists and a priest were expounded, but I didn't consider them relevant and I decided to omit them.

Wembley, David Bowie on his knees on stage prayed for dead friend

Holy Father who are also in rock

A personal but significant gesture Is the «music of the devil» redeemed?

LONDON. From our reporter. They suddenly became silent, the 72,000 who had been standing for hours the other night at Wembley Stadium. They had just listened to David Bowie sing his "Heroes", dressed in an elegant pea green dress, a hymn to the real stars of the event, the heroes of 70s glam rock, people of reckless life, bisexual, homosexual and without a net: to Roxy Music, Mercury and Queen, why not even to himself. Astonished, the 72,000 (they had just listened to Liz Taylor begging them to use a condom) saw the singer kneel and recite the "Holy Father" with folded hands. It had never happened in the history of rock, often referred to as the devil's music: but the prayer that the musician pronounced, articulating the words loudly and slowly, sounded like a collective afterthought.

Still, it was a purely personal act. «My friend Craig just died of AIDS too. Craig, I know you're here, and I don't know any other way to remember you» Bowie had said before kneeling.

The magnificent, yet sincere, theatrical coup was greeted with enthusiastic screams just like any song. But he marked the evening in a strange way: it was like a definitive gesture of breaking with the past, by the surviving heroes and now consigned to a healthier lifestyle and in keeping with the times and age; it was like a passing of the baton to other protagonists of the youth scene not necessarily as rigorous. First of all, the representatives of heavy metal, a genre born in the '70s and always considered second class, often mentioned, not only by Queen and here risen to a new dignity; and first among the metalheads, the Queen survivors crowned Guns ‘n' Roses, whose leaders Axl Rose and Slash held the stage for much of the evening.

The very good old Brian May and Slash duet on guitar in "We Will Rock You"; Rose, in his (lucid?) interpretative madness, shared a grandiose "Bohemian Rapsody" with Elton John, almost unrecognizable with the copious transplant of reddish hair that cost him 35 million. In rock, symbolism matters a lot. He counted at Wembley for the whole Easter Monday evening: many songs also sounded as allusions to the evil that Mercury took away: "Too Late God", strummed Bob Geldof on the guitar; "Crazy Little Thing Called Love”, roared Robert Plant with charisma; "Who Wants To Live Forever", set the rhythm of the acclaimed black Seal; «These Are The Days Of Our Lives», George Michael and Lisa Stansfield duet.

All the performers were accompanied by the music of Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon, the three Queens who thus remembered not having been pale supporting characters of Mercury. And the curious effect of all those Freddie songs without Freddie, was that of a luxury audition of the group looking for a new singer impossible to find. Mercury's tonality was so high for everyone that even the good George Michael had a hard time; only our Zucchero had been cautiously kept low, and he got along pretty well with "Las Palabras de Amor". It was women who seemed more comfortable in the role that was Mercury, from the irresistible Stansfield who appeared with curlers on her head and vacuum cleaner, as per tradition, for "I Want To Break Free", to the superb Liza Minnelli, who closed as a lioness in "We Are The Champions". The moral of the story seemed clear, the post-forty-year-old generation held the title of champion; but the palm of the champion of ambiguity went to Annie Lennox, who in "Under Pressure" has an enchanting duet with Bowie, as Mercury once did: the head with shiny and pulled hair, the eyes painted with a black mask , the very wide crinoline of the skirt made her an unreal and fantastic creature.

Mercury would have enjoyed the evening, with all those live video clips. Everyone who breathed a very ritual but very sincere atmosphere at Wembley loved it; with the numbers that followed one another as in a perfect script, far removed from the free-range improvisations of Live Aid; with the playful "wave" that underlined the musical participation of South Africa, free from racism. The first accounts say that thanks to the concert, 20 million pounds had already been raised worldwide. A figure that seems overly optimistic to us.

Let's get ready for a wave of new musical theatricality, wild and grotesque rather than ironic, with more or less cultured references, with Brecht's shadow always around the corner. Early Queen's music the other night seemed more current than what is played today; the revival of the '70s was already in the air, but now that style will be revived and reinterpreted much more often. Glam rock is dead, long live glam rock.

5) the last article was instead published in the issue of Thursday April 23rd, 1992 and was entitled Mercury, eroe negativo (translated as Mercury, negative hero). La Stampa reported a harsh article written and published by the British newspaper The Independent the previous day, in which Mercury's lifestyle was condemned.
NOTE: I corrected Wimbledon with Wembley.

The British press condemns the Wimbledon rock event
Mercury, negative hero
There’s the risk that AIDS that has become a spectacle will end up losing all its drama

LONDON. Let's remember Freddie Mercury, but let's not make him a romantic hero. With this kind of call to order and morality, the English newspaper "The Independent" yesterday dealt with the great rock event in Wimbledon. The article is stern. He says: it’s commendable that an initiative like this gathers hundreds of stars, reaches millions of viewers both directly and through television, it’s comforting that it raises millions of pounds to fight a terrible evil. But there is the risk that AIDS, so spectacular, will lose much of its drama. And there is a negative component in an event like this: it’s not said - warns the newspaper - that the figure of Freddie Mercury is the most suitable to create in young people an adequate awareness of the seriousness of evil. Freddie's life and death are negatively exemplary. The singer made no secret of his bisexuality, so «it is legitimate to wonder how many men and how many women he has unknowingly infected»; he lived in "wild promiscuity" and his parties, in other times, would have been called orgies.
That is why, with all due respect for the singer and for his artistic value, “The Independent” urges us not to mythologize his self-destructive life. He adds: The person who, more than the others, came close to this truth was Elizabeth Taylor, who recommended young people to use a condom for every sexual intercourse. «Use it every time, for every kind of sex and wherever you are. And if you take drugs, don't touch the needles of the syringes».
Correct advices, notes the newspaper, but not particularly moral. «Few parents would be happy to know that their children live this way. But it is known that the stars of the show very reluctantly condemn the behavior of their colleagues». Realism, then: we don't remember Freddie Mercury as a tragic hero crushed by a crude fate. Rather it would be more correct to say: if you live like him, you will meet his same end.
The Independent's attack is not isolated. In the aftermath of the concert, the editorial offices of the newspapers were inundated with letters saying: since all these concerts for AIDS have been held, silence has fallen on all the other ailments. Who talks more about heart and kidney diseases? Yesterday the “Evening Standard” published a letter that said: «Being warned about the risks of promiscuity by a galaxy of pop stars is a bit like the Pope urging you not to be Catholic».

The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert - reportage from "La Stampa", April 1992

Post by fabiogminero on Mar 11, 2022 8:06:57 GMT

Post by fabiogminero on Mar 11, 2022 8:22:28 GMT