Conference mr1pst::music

    *sigh* the ONLY time I wished for MTV...
    
    I saw the chopped, cut, sliced and diced version on FOX last Monday
    night.  With the exception of Axl (loved his skirt!), I found the
    entire concert to be positively wow.
    
    You could tell when his mates missed him most, tho.
    
    The thing that I really loved was not any of the acts, but the
    AUDIENCE.  There were times (most notably during "Radio Ga Ga" and "We
    Will Rock You") when they were all as one - it was something to see!
    
    K.C.

    
    I was very impressed by Extreme's performance of Queen's songs.  I also
    think they spent some time watch footage of old Queen concerts.  Some
    of the stuff they did was very evocative of Queen on stage.
    
    DFW

    
      I taped the concert from MTV.  All in all it was the best concert
     I've ever seen.  The highlight for me was EXTREME.  Seeing them play
     in front of a crowd of 70k+ was a high for me.  They performed a medly
     that's been picked up and played by all the local stations.  Acts
     ranging from G + R to Elton john to Liza Minelli.  It was great to 
     see how many excellent musicians were affected by one bands contri-
     bution to music.  The remainder of Queen picked up there instruments
     by mid-show and jammed with several lead singers from other bands. 
     I.E. Gary Cherone(Extreme), Elton John, Axle Rose(who sucked as usual,
     why they allowed him to sing Rock You I'll never know), Goerge Micheal,
     Seal, Paul Young and more.  I'm sure within a few weeks you could
     probably purchase a video or the album to support AIDS.  I will
     definately buy both of them.  Most of all the thrill of seeing all
     kinds of people getting together for a good cause makes the music
     seem all the more enjoyable.
    
    
    Gun
     

    
    	I have some mixed feelings about the tribute. First of all there
    were WAY TOO MANY commercials on both the FOX and MTV (which by the way 
    is really not worth watching except late in the evening)!! 
    
    	It really amazes me how the so-called sponsors of such a worthwhile
    event manage to capitalize on such a mankind annihilator as AIDS!
    
    	I mean the moment was suppose to be to honor and pay tribute to one
    of rock's legendary vocalist and to raise $$$ for the cause.....NOT to
    sell jeans, beer, sailboards, cosmetics ...etc.......
    
    	But yet, we had to put up with the sponsor's crap JUST to witness
    one of the most famous concerts of all! I realize they have their
    bills,
    payrolls, and financial obligations....BUT do they always have to get
    their plugs during rebroadcasts of live shows..I mean I timed some of
    the commercial breaks and some whent as far as 3.5 minutes...And in
    that time you were hit with 13 different ads/vendors/?? What a joke???
    Do they really call that effective advertising???
    
    All in all, the concert was great, the sound quality wasn't the best
    and
    I don't think the soundmen were on the ball all the time. Case in
    point,
    when Robert Plant began singing, the first 15-20 seconds you saw his
    lips moving but you heard no vocal...then somebody turn his volume UP!
    Great for a worldwide telecast huh???
    
    The FOX edited version blatanlty sucked! They have no appreciation of
    music and what we the fans of QUEEN and the other acts expect at such
    a venue! They only did it to boost their ratings for a Monday evening!
    The MTV version was edited also....And the sound quality was better BUT
    far from what it should have been!
    Also, the should have shown the ENTIRE concert not just the tidbits
    they deeemed necessary! They should have had more interviews with the
    stars backstage and with the concert audience then plugging products,
    MTV broadcast shows, etc.... I think it would have been a much better
    concert if there had been only a few commercials and ALOT MORE camera
    shots of the people and stars! The concert was for FREDDIE and AIDS
    and that's what the sponsors should have focused on instead of their
    concern for the $$$$! Besides I'd like to know just how much (if any)
    money the sponsors donated to the cause?????
    
    The show:
    		Metallica was alright...I certainly wouldn't have expected
    		them to play thier own tunes as much as they did...And
    		in my opinion the gtr/singer can't sing worth sh*t!
    
    		Def Leppard's opening song "Animal" was terrible. vocals
    really lacking the strong multi-parted harmonies that are on the
    record! Joe Elliot was good and the band did much better with their
    new song "Let's get rocked" Their version of "tie your mother down
    was sad at best!...I've heard high school bands sound mmore authentic!
    
    		Robert Plant(when they turned him up)was very good! He
    still conducts himself as the legendary rocker he is and except for
    the female looking scarf.. I thought he gave freddie a great tribute!
    
    		Roger Daltrey was hot too!! He had great stage presence and 
    can still belt out the tunes with power and character! 
    
    		Extreme were good at times! Their vocals (when all 3 sang)
    were right on key and the acoustic bit was done well with Nuno and
    Gary.
    		Elton John's version of Bohemian Rhapsody was awful...and
    then AXL came out and really destroyed it! First of all Elton is now
    obviously a client of the "HAir club for men" that hairpiece looked
    like a RUG!!! Then when he ATTEMPTED to sing "Momma, just killed a man"
    I knew the song was destined to be a flop" He sang it one or two
    octaves below the range that freddie did, and he had none of the
    emphasis that freddie delivered...no feeeling ...when freddie sang
    you felt it...he was what i call an emphatic singer...if he was singing
    "Momma just killed a man or I don't wanna die, or Sometimes wish I'd
    never been born at all!!.....He conveyed it to the listener with such
    feeling that you almost believed he was enduring the agony! He had such
    a way with delivering lyrical content ..that no one will ever be able
    to recapture that gift!
    
    I agree with the other noter about AXL, The dude cannot sing and who
    ever thaought that he could do a just rendition and pay tribute to
    freddie with it needs to go back and listen to QUEEN II. The guy is
    a showman for the public BUT certainly NO SINGER!
    
    As for the other acts... theyall bored me except for LIZ MINELLI..she
    was the utmost worst PICK for the finale! Why couldn't they have picked 
    someone who was a ROCK singer!...like McCartney, for example...maybe
    not a good choice either ...but why her??? even if freddie did love her
    ....It just seemed so out of place with the likes of plant, daltrey,
    cherone, nuno, joe elliot, metallica, and yes.........even elton!
    She can sing and can sing well..BUT the venue in my opinion did not fit
    her act! ....
    
    				Freddie was one of the best, versatile,
    emphatic, majestic, kick-ass rock vocalist/songwriters of all of OUR
    times!! I think they could have done better for him BUT who am I to
    judge...it's only my opinion.....
    					...Good Day Folks

    
    I didn't see Fox's show, but I didn't think the commercial time on MTV was
    excessive, considering the time they'd need to change acts.  You don't
    just dump people on stage without a little preparating and alteration
    of the PA.  At least, we couldn't when I set up sound stuff for
    multi-act events.
    
    DFW

    Re: .5
    
    I thought the MTV was a rebroadcast, not live??
    
    						Brian

It was.  The commercial breaks exceeded 5 minutes since my vcr shut down from
pause during the commercial breaks.  Hard to believe they expect people to
watch 5+ minutes of commercials.

Tim

    the live version broadcasted by "premiere" had NO commercials . During
    the breaks between the different acts Queen videos and interviews were
    shown.
    that was ok.
    andrea

    Have to agree with the comments about Liza doing the finale.  I thought
    it was one of the funniest things I had ever seen - I actually laughed
    'til I cried.  It reminded me of the Saturday Night Live skits where
    Joe Piscopo would do an impression of Frank Sinatra singing Rolling
    Stones' songs.
    
    She's got a great voice but not for the rock n' roll genre.
    
    My heart really went out to Brian, John and Roger.  It was pretty
    obvious they were emotionally distraught.  I think it took a lot of
    courage on their part to put this thing together and play such an active
    role in the proceedings.  Freddie was really lucky to have friends like
    them.
    
    Did anyone catch Slash's remark during his interview with Kurt Loder? 
    "This AIDS thing is really cramping my style".  Slash, exactly what
    planet are you on anyway?
    

    Hi folks!
    
         I live and work in Roma-Italy, and unfortunately I have found just 
         now this note relating to the Tribute, I liked to add my opinion
         when the event was still "hot",but I read as well all your comments
         and I would like to add mine.
         
         The entire Tribute was broadcasted "live" on a private italian TV, 
         and I completely saw and recorded it (about 5 hours show).
    
         Next days I had several discussions with some friends of mine on the
         show and the performances of the various singers, and I have to
         say that I have found many similar topics in your replies.
         Basically, I think that the biggest fault in the event interpretation
         is the expectation of much people to "find" another Freddie on the
         stage, or to compare his capacity to be a great performer to the
         way of performing chosen by all the other singers.
         I love live music in every situation, playing my guitar or listening
         for unknown bands in clubs and pubs, or watching great concerts
         "live" or by the TV, and I think that the power that comes from it
         has a close relationship with the ability of the performer to
         "transmit" his feelings and to be on the stage and manage many
         thousands of people. The greatness of a performer is in being able to
         do this, using his own style and experience and giving a personal
         interpretation on his own songs rather than the ones by others.
    
         Under these conditions, I have to say that, excluding the trush of the
         first part of the show (excepting for Extreme, very good), starting
         from Gun's & Roses to Liza everybody have tryed to do their best.
         Many of them did it, many failed, but sometimes it was just a decision
         to "assign" a wrong song to a singer in relationship to his kind of
         voice and staging (i.e. Elton John has really killed "Bohemian
         Raphsody and "The show must go on", but just because those weren't 
         the right songs for him, he did it just for prestige reasons), but 
         my thought is that everybody have brought their contribution for a 
         very enjoyable show.
         
         Over the personal taste that everyone of us could have in the matter
         of music, an evaluation must be done of the context in which a show
         is organized and the more or less important reasons it is related to.
         I think that the AIDS awareness is a topic that goes beyond of the
         deciding if Axel is unseenable or on who is Paul Young.
         This was just a way to honour Freddie and his job and an important
         occasion to make worldwide understandable the tragedy of AIDS and 
         to raise a warning on all the risks that everybody of us runs
    
            Ciao a tutti
    
            Antonio.