On Air Now
The Smooth Late Show with Danny Pietroni 10pm - 1am
When Queen watched video of John Deacon's last gig: 'He looks desperately uncomfortable'
6 July 2022, 17:38 | Updated: 8 July 2022, 13:10
Brian May and Roger Taylor released a video of them looking back at footage of John Deacon's last gig in 1997.
Brian May and Roger Taylor filmed a video where they revisited footage of John Deacon's last ever performance with Queen before he quit the band just months later.
Released as part of Queen's archival video series 'Queen: The Greatest', Roger Taylor and Brian May revisit the first time the band played together without Freddie Mercury and how Elton John stepped in as their frontman.
- Will John Deacon ever rejoin Queen? Brian May reveals he's asked bassist to return
- Queen's Roger Taylor explains why John Deacon quit the band
- Queen: Watch John Deacon's touching final message to fans before he quits the band - video
- Queen: Freddie Mercury and Brian May's private hotel jam session from 1986 is magnificent
- Remembering Freddie Mercury's incredible final performance with Queen - video
The video was filmed to remember the extraordinary collaboration between Queen and choreographer, Maurice Bejart, when the latter created 'Ballet For The Masses' - a dance-led stage show in tribute to Freddie Mercury.
With costumes designed by Gianni Versace and with Elton John as their lead singer, Brian May and Roger Taylor recall the night they stepped on stage in Paris and the trio played their first real gig together since The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert in 1992.
The rehearsal video shows the band playing 'The Show Must Go On', and while Brian and Roger look excited to be back on stage, John Deacon is visibly withdrawn.
Brian May recalls how 'traumatised' John was by Freddie Mercury's death that the cold night in January 1997 would be the last time John Deacon would ever play with Queen.
"That was John’s last ever performance. I could tell he wasn’t happy because he was chain-smoking, very very nervous, and had been severely traumatised by losing Freddie," Roger Taylor says of the footage.
Brian May elaborates on the rehearsal, stating he thinks John's body was having a severe reaction to even being back on stage.
- First video of Freddie Mercury: Unearthed footage of the shy Queen star as a student in 1964
- Freddie Mercury in private: 20 rarely seen photos of the star behind closed doors
- Freddie Mercury shows off his spine-tingling acapella voice in backstage video from last Queen concert
- Freddie Mercury's last ever photo revealed: Beautiful private image of the Queen star at home
- Who were Freddie Mercury's parents? Queen singer's family explained
“Deacy, or dear friend John, I think he didn’t arrive at the same place as we did, and Elton John is there, but John (Deacon) is so desperately uncomfortable with the whole thing.
"You can see him kind of his whole body is reacting against it. At the end of it, he says, ‘I can never do this again, I can’t do this.’
1996 Queen + Bejart : Ballet For The Masses (Episode 42)
"And it was true, that was the last time he ever played with us in public," May recalls sadly.
It's been suggested that seeing someone else perform as Freddie Mercury – who had died from AIDS-related complications in 1991 – was perhaps the last straw for John Deacon, who sensationally left the band just months after the performance was filmed.
- Does this video of Freddie Mercury singing opera prove the Queen frontman really could perform anything?
- Forgotten loves of George Michael, Freddie Mercury and Elton John: The secret women they loved
- Backstage pass: Snapshots of Freddie Mercury's weird and wonderful life on tour
- Freddie Mercury's death: Longtime assistant shares beautiful untold stories of the star's final days
- When Freddie Mercury joined Adam Lambert for a spine-tingling duet of 'Bohemian Rhapsody' in 2015
While Elton John did a stellar job stepping into the shoes of the Queen frontman, it was perhaps too much in Deacon's eyes and just months later he announced he didn't want to continue as part of the group.
He re-appeared only briefly by joining Queen in October 1997 for the recording of the final Queen song 'No-One but You (Only the Good Die Young)', included on the Queen Rocks album.
Virtual Coffee Break with Queen's Brian May - the full interview
John Deacon has stayed out of the public eye since retiring. He chose not to appear at Queen's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, or to join in the collaboration projects with Paul Rodgers or Adam Lambert.
Brian May has said that Deacon is still involved on the 'financial' side of Queen, and that he also approved Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody.
In 2014, May and Roger Taylor admitted that they no longer have much contact with Deacon except about finances. Taylor said: "[Deacon]'s completely retired from any kind of social contact", and described him as "a little fragile."
