Queen's set at Live Aid is widely regarded as one of the best live performances in rock-and-roll history. In a 2005 Channel Four poll of over 60 artists, journalists and music industry executives, Queen's Live Aid (1985) performance was named 'The World's Greatest-Ever Live Performance.'
British choreographer and movement coach Polly Bennett worked painstakingly with Rami Malek to perfect every nuance of Freddie Mercury's mannerisms. Every eye glance, every body turn, every cocky strut on stage and every flick of the microphone had to be just right.
During the recording session for Bohemian Rhapsody, John Deacon says, "I do have to say, the tape is wearing out. It can't take much more." The band did 180 vocal overdubs on the song. The consequence of so many overdubs is that the tape started to wear thin to the point of transparency. In Brian May's words, "This 'legendary' story, which people think we made up, is true: we held the tape up to the light one day-we'd been wondering where all the top end was going-and what we discovered was virtually a transparent piece of tape. All the oxide had been rubbed off. It was time to hurriedly make a copy and get on with it."
Canadian singer Marc Martel lends his voice to the biopic as Freddie. They use a mix of his voice and Freddie Mercury's together, on top of Rami Malek's. In an interview, Malek said his singing was seamlessly mixed with both Freddie's and Martel's.
The note Freddie Mercury sustains for almost six seconds during the call and response performance with the crowd at Live Aid came to be known as "The Note Heard Round the World."
Adam Lambert: the truck driver waiting for a tryst in the bathroom when Freddie Mercury calls Mary Austin on a payphone. Lambert has been performing with Queen since 2012.