Bryan Singer, Dexter Fletcher, Rami Malek and the rest of the “Bohemian Rhapsody” cast and crew went to painstaking detail to recreate Queen’s legendary performance at Live Aid in 1985. And when we say “recreate,” we mean the whole thing.
Malek and the cast said in an interview with Collider that all 24-plus minutes of Queen’s performance were actually filmed, but that some of the recreation had to be cut for the theatrical release. The good news is, the full performance will likely turn up as a DVD extra.
Until then, we’ll just have to settle for the real thing, which conveniently enough is available above. If you haven’t seen it, what are you waiting for?
The movie “Bohemian Rhapsody” omits Queen’s performance of “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” the Freddie Mercury-penned single that appeared on the 1980 album “The Game” and the band’s 1981 Greatest Hits. Here’s the band’s actual “Live Aid” setlist:
- “Bohemian Rhapsody” (Partial)
- “Radio Ga Ga”
- Vocal improvisation
- “Hammer to Fall”
- “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”
- “We Will Rock You” (first verse and chorus only)
- “We Are the Champions”
Malek said in the interview with Collider that Mercury wrote “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” while sitting in a bathtub. After filming the song, Malek said, he was sorry to see it go from the final cut.
As you can see in the video above, Mercury dedicates the song to “only the beautiful people here tonight.”
Then he wryly adds: “It means all of you.”