When Queen + Adam Lambert turned the charity stage into a time machine, they recreated the entire 22-minute history of Live Aid 1985. At the 2020 “Fire Fight Australia” concert, a massive bushfire fundraiser, Queen and Adam Lambert did something unprecedented. They performed every song, in exact order, from Freddie Mercury’s legendary Live Aid 1985 set. From the handclap during “Radio Ga Ga” to the long chant during “Ay-Oh,” the tribute was flawless. Brian May later shared that he felt like Freddie was actually there with them.
In 1985, Queen, fronted by the legendary Freddie Mercury, delivered a 22-minute performance at Live Aid. It is universally regarded as the greatest live rock show of all time. More than three decades later, their spiritual successors—original members Brian May and Roger Taylor, with vocalist Adam Lambert—did something unprecedented. They turned a modern charity stage into a flawless time machine, resurrecting that exact historic setlist.
This remarkable event took place on February 16, 2020, at the “Fire Fight Australia” concert in Sydney’s ANZ Stadium. It was a massive fundraiser established to aid relief efforts following the devastating Australian bushfires.
The genius of Queen + Adam Lambert’s performance was not just the power of the music, but the meticulous commitment to historical accuracy. For the first time since that pivotal 1985 show at Wembley Stadium, the band performed the six-song set in the exact same sequence and style. They flawlessly replicated the 22-minute runtime.
The official setlist from Live Aid 1985, which was flawlessly mirrored, ran in this precise order: “Bohemian Rhapsody” (Abridged version); “Radio Ga Ga” (Complete with the famous hand-clapping audience participation); “Ay-Oh” (Vocal improvisation/chant); “Hammer to Fall”; “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”; “We Will Rock You” (Shortened, powerful version); and “We Are The Champions.”
While Adam Lambert masterfully navigated the vocal acrobatics, the most emotional and notable event of the performance was the inclusion of Freddie Mercury himself. During the famous audience-participation segment, known simply as “Ay-Oh,” the main video screen behind the band displayed archival footage of Mercury from the 1985 concert. As the crowd in Sydney followed the late frontman’s unmistakable call-and-response vocal prompts, the moment transformed into a genuine, multi-generational conversation between the past and present.
Guitarist Brian May later shared his profound reaction to the historic moment, echoing the emotional weight of the entire performance. “I don’t think I’ve felt quite like that since Live Aid,” he admitted. His feeling that “Freddie was actually there with them” spoke volumes about the band’s successful effort to conjure the magic of that legendary day.
The Queen + Adam Lambert concert was not just a tribute; it was a potent demonstration of rock’s enduring power for good. The Fire Fight Australia event, held in front of a capacity crowd of over 75,000, ultimately raised millions of dollars for bushfire relief and recovery efforts across the country. By recreating the set that cemented Queen’s legacy 35 years earlier, the band paid homage not only to Freddie Mercury but also to the power of live music to galvanize massive audiences for a common, humanitarian cause.