October 8th was the last time Freddie Mercury performed on stage. At the time, he was terribly ill with AIDS, although he didn’t want people to know about it. He announced that fact the day before he died. Being ill he continued to compose and record songs and even took part in making videos.
The footage shows the flamboyant singer, painfully thin from the effects of the HIV virus which would kill him just months later, determined to complete his final video shoot. Mercury is shown applying make-up and checking his image and performance on screen monitors before stepping carefully onto the stage and delivering a solo performance of the band's 1991 single “These Are The Days Of Our Lives.” He exits the frame after whispering the final line “I still love you.”
Brian May, Queen’s guitarist, said of Mercury’s final scenes: “At this time, Freddie’s becoming weakened by this horrible disease, but he’d throw a couple of vodkas down and prop himself up on the mixing desk and go for it.
“He spent hours and hours in make-up sorting himself out so it’d be OK,” May added. “He actually says a kind of goodbye in the video.”
The footage shows the flamboyant singer, painfully thin from the effects of the HIV virus which would kill him just months later, determined to complete his final video shoot. Mercury is shown applying make-up and checking his image and performance on screen monitors before stepping carefully onto the stage and delivering a solo performance of the band's 1991 single “These Are The Days Of Our Lives.” He exits the frame after whispering the final line “I still love you.”
Brian May, Queen’s guitarist, said of Mercury’s final scenes: “At this time, Freddie’s becoming weakened by this horrible disease, but he’d throw a couple of vodkas down and prop himself up on the mixing desk and go for it.
“He spent hours and hours in make-up sorting himself out so it’d be OK,” May added. “He actually says a kind of goodbye in the video.”
