Queen is once again turning the spotlight on their late frontman Freddie Mercury in episode 35 of their weekly YouTube series, Queen the Greatest Live.
Like last week’s episode, the band is sharing archival interview footage of Mercury. This time, he’s discussing the role he plays onstage with the band.
“I have to win them over or it’s not a successful gig,” he says. “It’s my job to make sure I win them over and make them feel they’ve had a good time. That’s part of my role, part of the duty that I have to do.”
He continues, “This cliché of saying, ‘Oh, you have them eating from the palm of your hand’ – I just feel that the quicker I do that, the better, because then I feel I can manipulate them or whatever,” adding, “But it’s all to do with me feeling in control as so that I know that it’s all going well.”
The clip features a 1974 performance of “Stone Cold Crazy” at London’s Rainbow Theatre, which shows Freddie in his element onstage in front of an audience.
“Everybody wants to play to the biggest audiences. I want to play to as many people as I can and the more the merrier,” he says. “So as far as I’m concerned, I like the whole world to listen to my music. And I want anybody and everybody to come and listen to me and look at me when I’m playing.”
Next week on Queen The Greatest Live: “Iconic Venues.”
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