On this day in 1992, DEF LEPPARD performed at the Freddie Mercury tribute concert “A Concert For Life” held at Wembley Stadium in London England.
Below is a special message from Joe regarding this concert and HERE are some of Joe’s personal photos form the event!
“I remember it like it was yesterday..
I got a call from Brian saying Roger was organising a tribute gig for Freddie and would we consider getting involved. I thought about it for 2 seconds and said, “er, yes !” … then I mentioned it to the band!! …. The truth is, it was a no brainer … We all loved Queen, we’d been asked by the band themselves not some 3rd party organiser …. Of course, we’d all rather have not had to do it, we’d have all preferred Freddie to still be with us.
The actual day was a blur, hanging out with so many people!! .. Ian Hunter, Mick Ronson (it turned out to be the last live performance he would ever do), Elton, Robert Plant, G’n’R, Cindy Crawford !! even Elizabeth Taylor & Liza Minelli !!! … It was a nervy performance truth be told , technical problems with Rick’s kit, Viv’s 1st real performance with us (we’d played a warm up show in a tiny club in Dublin 3 days earlier), 75,000 rock fans in Wembley Stadium & I heard possibly a BILLION watching on TV !!! no pressure then …..
We were fortunate enough to have a current hit single with “Lets Get Rocked”, so with that, our first ever UK hit “Animal” and with Brain May graciously accepting the offer to join us for a 3 way guitar blitz on “Now I’m Here” we did our bit … Looking back, we were the only British band on the bill, so it was nice to be there & be so well accepted by Queen’s fans & play our tribute to someone who was a major influence on DL in the first place ….
Another personal highlight was contributing backing vocals (along with Phil Collen) on “All The Young Dudes”. The remaining members of Queen, David Bowie, Ian Hunter & Mick Ronson all playing on the same song !!! outside of anything I’ve done with D.L., it’s absolutely my most favourite on stage musical moment EVER !!! ….. and for that & everything else you ever did, Freddie Mercury, I thank you !!” – Joe Elliott
Available now on DVD & Blu-Ray and digital formats!
DVD
Blu-Ray
Digital
