I recently saw Bohemian Rhapsody about Queen and Freddie Mercury, but I had never seen the REAL footage of them on Live Aid 1985, that legendary performance. I decided to make a reaction video.
A few things that I noticed:
- He runs out of breath more early than usual, for example in the opening lines of Bohemian Rhapsody. But whenever he's running out of air, he's simply cutting it short. He doesn't force it by trying to push out.
- He drops his jaw very well, opening the gate for his mighty voice.
- In general, he might have done certain technical things better. Sometimes he's squeezing and pushing the sound out, such as in the chorus of Radio Gaga.
- But his amazing performance goes to show, that when you're properly energized, the liveliness of the performance can make up technical flaws. Personally, I don't give a damn, because it's so good. It goes right through me, it does it for me. When I'm looking at it, I'm so blown away, it even tricks my mind into thinking that he's also singing first class, which is not the case, at least by his standards. But I have to close my eyes to hear that.
- He's so grounded! He's giving power to the core and the legs, which helps relax his upper part. It helps to have him achieve a deep sound.
- The long note in the Ay-oh! dialogue with the crowd, he actually makes an arm movement. That's good to try yourself, or visualize it. By moving all the way through, you sustain the note.
Conclusion: Freddie blew me away here. I feel hesitant to even start talking about vocal/technical stuff.
What you can take from this? Don't stress about technical stuff when you're on stage. If you make a vocal mistake, or if it's not your best day, you can compensate by giving an energized performance and the audience will be fine.
Find out what kind of singer you are: take my quiz
