Freddie Mercury tribute concert full setlist searches still climb every spring, and it is easy to see why. On 20 April 1992, less than five months after Freddie passed away, the surviving members of Queen filled Wembley Stadium with 72,000 fans and assembled a bill that has never really been matched. If you have ever wondered which songs were played, who sang them and in what order, this guide walks you through the whole night, from Metallica's opening riff to the final chorus of We Are The Champions. It is also a handy starting point if you are weighing up the top tribute acts in the UK for an event of your own, because so many of them still borrow from this exact running order.
Roger Taylor announced the show at the BRIT Awards in February 1992. Tickets sold out within hours, before a single guest performer had been confirmed, which tells you everything about the loyalty Queen commanded at the time. The concert was broadcast live to more than 70 countries and reached an estimated one billion viewers, placing it among the largest televised music events ever staged. The guest list was built around artists who had either worked with Queen, grown up on their records or shared a stage with Freddie, which is why the bill jumps so freely between heavy metal, pop, soul and musical theatre.
Every penny raised went towards AIDS research and awareness, and the event led directly to the creation of the Mercury Phoenix Trust, which Brian May, Roger Taylor and manager Jim Beach still run today. So the Freddie Mercury tribute concert full setlist is far more than a list of songs. It is a record of the moment rock music collectively said goodbye to one of its greatest frontmen, while raising money for a cause Freddie had only been able to speak about publicly the day before he died.
The show was split into two halves. The first featured bands who had been influenced by Queen playing their own material, often with a nod to Freddie somewhere in the set. Here is what each act performed.
Metallica
Enter Sandman
Sad But True
Nothing Else Matters
Extreme
Queen medley (Mustapha, Bohemian Rhapsody, Keep Yourself Alive, I Want To Break Free, Fat Bottomed Girls, Bicycle Race, Another One Bites The Dust, Stone Cold Crazy and Radio Ga Ga)
Love Of My Life
More Than Words
Def Leppard
Animal
Let's Get Rocked
Now I'm Here (with Brian May on guitar)
Bob Geldof
Too Late God
Spinal Tap
The Majesty Of Rock
U2 (live via satellite from Sacramento)
Until The End Of The World
Guns N' Roses
Paradise City
Knockin' On Heaven's Door
Mango Groove (live via satellite from Johannesburg)
Special Star
Elizabeth Taylor then took the stage to deliver a speech on AIDS prevention. Her address marked the point where the mood shifted from celebration to remembrance, and it set up the second half perfectly.
Extreme's medley is often the surprise highlight for anyone reading the Freddie Mercury tribute concert full setlist for the first time. Nuno Bettencourt and Gary Cherone squeezed nine Queen songs into a few breathless minutes and earned one of the loudest ovations of the afternoon.
After a montage of Freddie footage, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon walked out as a three piece and played the rest of the show with a rotating cast of singers. This is the section most people mean when they ask for the Freddie Mercury tribute concert full setlist, so here it is in running order.
Tie Your Mother Down (Brian May on vocals, joined by Joe Elliott and Slash)
I Want It All (Roger Daltrey, with Tony Iommi on guitar)
Las Palabras De Amor (Zucchero)
Hammer To Fall (Gary Cherone, with Tony Iommi)
Stone Cold Crazy (James Hetfield, with Tony Iommi)
Innuendo, including a section of Kashmir (Robert Plant)
Crazy Little Thing Called Love, with a Thank You intro (Robert Plant)
Too Much Love Will Kill You (Brian May on vocals and keyboard, with Spike Edney)
Radio Ga Ga (Paul Young)
Who Wants To Live Forever (Seal)
I Want To Break Free (Lisa Stansfield)
Under Pressure (David Bowie and Annie Lennox)
All The Young Dudes (Ian Hunter, with David Bowie on saxophone, Mick Ronson on guitar, and Joe Elliott and Phil Collen on backing vocals)
Heroes (David Bowie and Mick Ronson, followed by Bowie reciting The Lord's Prayer)
'39 (George Michael)
These Are The Days Of Our Lives (George Michael and Lisa Stansfield)
Somebody To Love (George Michael)
Bohemian Rhapsody (Elton John and Axl Rose)
The Show Must Go On (Elton John, with Tony Iommi)
We Will Rock You (Axl Rose)
We Are The Champions (Liza Minnelli with the full cast)
The night closed with God Save The Queen played over the PA, exactly as Queen had ended their own concerts for years. Twenty one songs, more than a dozen lead vocalists and not a single weak link in the band behind them.
It is worth remembering how much work was happening behind the guest singers. Spike Edney and Mike Moran covered the keyboard parts, a small group of backing vocalists filled in Freddie's layered harmonies, and Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath appeared on four separate songs. Rehearsals ran for days beforehand, with each vocalist given only a short slot to run through their numbers with the band. Considering the sheer number of changeovers, the fact that the second half ran so smoothly says a great deal about how well drilled Queen remained as a live unit.
Not everything on the Freddie Mercury tribute concert full setlist made it onto the home video versions, which is why so many fans end up confused about what was actually played. The most famous omission is Robert Plant's Innuendo. Plant was reportedly unhappy with his vocal, so it has never been released officially. Extreme's Love Of My Life and More Than Words, Def Leppard's Animal and Let's Get Rocked, Spinal Tap's full appearance and the satellite performances from U2 and Mango Groove were also left out.
The 2013 DVD edition is the most complete version you can buy, and it restores most of the opening acts alongside the full Queen set. The 2002 tenth anniversary release only covered the Queen half. A complete, unedited copy of the concert has never been sold commercially, which keeps the full running order above genuinely useful.
With so many performers on one stage, certain songs have taken on a life of their own. These are the ones that get replayed most.
Somebody To Love with George Michael. Many fans regard this as the vocal of the night. It was later released on the Five Live EP, which reached number one in the UK and sent its proceeds to the Mercury Phoenix Trust.
Bohemian Rhapsody with Elton John and Axl Rose. Elton handled the opening ballad, Freddie's own voice carried the operatic middle via the original video, and Axl stormed in for the rock section before the two shared the finale.
Under Pressure with David Bowie and Annie Lennox. Lennox took Freddie's part and the two circled each other on stage in one of the most theatrical performances of the day.
Heroes and The Lord's Prayer. After finishing the song, Bowie dropped to one knee and recited the prayer for a friend who was in hospital. Nobody in the band knew it was coming.
We Are The Champions with Liza Minnelli. Every performer returned to the stage for the closing number, turning Wembley into one enormous choir.
Plenty of people land on this page because they want to recreate the feeling of that night at a wedding, a milestone birthday or a corporate party. The good news is that a professional Freddie Mercury tribute act can rebuild the key moments faithfully, right down to the yellow jacket, the half mic stand and the call and response with the crowd.
If you want to use the Freddie Mercury tribute concert full setlist as a blueprint, a strong 60 minute running order looks something like this: open with Tie Your Mother Down and Hammer To Fall for energy, slow things down with Who Wants To Live Forever and Too Much Love Will Kill You, bring the crowd back with Radio Ga Ga, I Want To Break Free and Somebody To Love, then close with Bohemian Rhapsody, We Will Rock You and We Are The Champions. That sequence mirrors the emotional arc of the original show and gives every guest at least one song they know word for word.
A few practical tips help it land. Decide early whether you want a solo singer with backing tracks or a full four piece band, because the price and the stage space differ considerably. Share your favourite songs from the list above with the performer in advance. Most tribute artists are happy to adjust their set, and the best ones already know every track on this page. Think about timing as well. The big singalong numbers work best late in the evening once guests have relaxed, while gentler songs such as Love Of My Life suit a drinks reception or the gap between courses at a wedding breakfast.
If you would rather relive the original, the 2013 DVD edition remains the best place to start. Somebody To Love and These Are The Days Of Our Lives are available on the Five Live EP, Metallica's three songs were released on a charity single, and Queen's official channel has uploaded a large number of individual performances. Reading the Freddie Mercury tribute concert full setlist while you watch makes it much easier to follow who is singing what, especially during the fast changeovers in the second half. Several of the guest performances have also surfaced on the artists' own compilations over the years, so it is worth checking the back catalogues of Def Leppard, Metallica and Mick Ronson too.
In 2026, more than three decades on, the Freddie Mercury tribute concert full setlist still reads like a who's who of rock and pop. Metallica, Guns N' Roses, David Bowie, Elton John, George Michael and Robert Plant all stepped up for a man who had defined what a frontman could be, and the money raised continues to fund HIV and AIDS projects around the world. Whether you are a lifelong Queen fan or planning an event that needs a show stopping finale, the music from that April afternoon is a brilliant place to start. If you need help finding the right act to deliver it, the team at Uk Live Entertainment can match you with performers across the country.
It took place on 20 April 1992 at Wembley Stadium in London, in front of 72,000 people. The show was broadcast live around the world and raised money for AIDS awareness through the newly formed Mercury Phoenix Trust.
The Queen section featured 21 songs with guest vocalists, plus Innuendo, which was cut from the official releases. Including the opening acts, around 40 individual performances took place across the afternoon and evening.
Elton John sang the opening and closing sections, Freddie's own recorded voice was used for the operatic middle, and Axl Rose took over for the hard rock section. The two singers shared the final lines together.
Plant was not satisfied with his performance and asked for it not to be released. His version of Crazy Little Thing Called Love, with a short Thank You intro, is included instead.
Yes. Freddie Mercury and Queen tribute acts across the UK regularly perform most of these songs, and many will tailor their running order to match the original concert if you ask in advance.
