DEF LEPPARD's JOE ELLIOTT In FREDDIE MERCURY The Final Act (Photos/Transcript)

Sunday, 28th November 2021

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Def Leppard singer Joe Elliott appeared in the Freddie Mercury The Final Act documentary last night with photos and full transcript now available.

'Freddie Mercury : The Final Act' was broadcast on BBC 2 in the UK at 9pm on Saturday 27th November.

A short video clip was posted on YouTube and the full show is now available on the BBC iPlayer for 11 months.

Joe appeared for around 4 to 5 minutes at various points in the documentary mostly talking about the Freddie Mercury tribute show.

He shared some funny stories about Elton John and Duff McKagan and footage from the show was played.

Joe's interview was shot in the control room of his home studio Joe's Garage in Dublin.

Read his full transcript below and view a gallery of photos.

The 90 minute documentary by director James Rogan tells - "the extraordinary final chapter of Freddie Mercury’s life story, plus the journey leading up to The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert at Wembley Stadium.".

The film was part of a night dedicated to Queen on BBC 2 which also including a new one hour 'Queen At The BBC' special and a repeat of 'Queen: The Legendary 1975 Concert' from Hammersmith Odeon during the 'A Night At The Opera' tour first shown on November 2009.

Today 24th November 2021 marked 30 years since Freddie Mercury's death in 1991 following a lengthy battle with AIDS.

The second part of the film is dedicated to the April 1992 Freddie Mercury Tribute show at Wembley Stadium.

Others interviewed include Brian May, Roger Taylor plus Gary Cherone (Extreme), Roger Daltrey (The Who), Lisa Stansfield and Paul Young.

Visit the Tour News section. For more news on future tour plans.

Visit the Album News section for more news on new music (based on band member quotes).

Freddie Mercury : The Final Act

Saturday, 27th November 2021 - BBC 2 @ 9-10:30pm

Freddie Mercury: The Final Act - Photo Gallery

Screenshots by dltourhistory.

Freddie Mercury: The Final Act - Joe Elliott Interview Quotes - (Transcribed by dltourhistory)

1980s America/'I Want To Break Free' Video Backlash - (14:44mins)

"The thing with America is at the time in the mid 80s the way that people had to be portrayed had to be so cotton candy clean."

The Freddie Mercury Tribute Show - (1:04:26mins)

"You have to have something that attracts people to hear the message that needs to be said. And nothing on this planet will ever beat music. It unites people."

"Essentially what we have with this show is the celebration of the life of a musician who just happened to be gay. And who died of the consequences of AIDS."

"That in itself is an incredible juxtaposition in 1992 because it was improving but it was still a homophobic world."

"I think that the fact that you've got this what you might call very heterosexual rock opening the show for the first hour. I think that juxtaposition is actually beneficial."

"If it had just been an entirely gay collection of musicians it wouldn't have worked."

On Guns N' Roses/Duff McKagan

"This is Guns N' Roses 1992. They were completely off their face."

"I remember seeing Duff. Bless him, sat on the stairs, He couldn't even speak. He couldn't speak."

"And this is an hour before they went on."

"And I'm thinking oh boy I can't wait to see this. Yet when they went on stage he was amazing."

"There would have been a lot of heterosexual people that loved Queen that went 'Oh I'm not keen on the gay lifestyle bit'."

"But for the majority most of the people just didn't care. They were there to celebrate Fred."

On Axl Rose/Elton John Duet - (1hour13:37mins)

"We left our door open so that we could see who was milling around outside."

"We saw Elton walk past our door."

"And then he kind of must have done a John Cleese and he stopped and walked backwards again."

"And kind of just leaned in a bit 'Hello boys!'."

"Then he came in a little while later and said 'What's going on?'."

"He says 'I've gotta sing a duet with this guy in four hours time and he won't open his door'."

"Apparently he'd knocked on the door and his security guy just opened the door a little bit and said 'Axl's sleeping' and he shut the door."

"And it's like you don't shut the door on Elton John!. And he vented his spleen in our dressing room."

"'I've gotta do a duet. He's not opening the door!. I'm Elton John, f**king hell!'."

"It was really funny actually. And I'm thinking it'll be interesting to see how this works out."

"If there was anybody out in the crowd that wasn't keen on him doing it they didn't seem to show it 'cause I've never seen a reaction like it."

"But then there was this like total kind of polar opposite of when it goes down to the end section. The two of them come together and if my memory serves me right for a brief second they held hands."