The Events Of John Deacon’s Last Show With Queen

It’s the 25^th anniversary of John Deacon’s final performance in a Queen concert, a thing that terrified him the most after the death of fellow Queen bandmate, Freddie Mercury.

On Jan. 17, 1997, the remaining members took time and organized a concert named Ballet for Life at the Paris National Theatre de Chailioton. It was done to raise awareness of AIDS, the disease that took Mercury’s life a few years back. Choreographer Maurice Bejart also helped the band in creating a ballet piece for the event.

In the 42^nd episode of Queen The Greatest, Brian May and Roger Taylor discussed the highlights of the concert, as well as what prompted Deacon to leave after. May talked about how fellow musician Elton John helped in the whole process, which was kind of hard to do in the first place since, after their lead singer’s death, they were confused about what to do. Taylor then added the reason for Deacon’s departure.

“That was John’s [Deacon] last-ever performance. And I could tell he wasn’t happy because he was sort of chain-smoking and very, very nervous.… [He had] been severely traumatized by losing Freddie.”

Deacon wasn’t prepared for the outcome of Mercury’s death that deeply scarred him for life. Through that concert, he finally came to the conclusion that he needed to retire from the music industry.

Check out the video here.