I'd like to think the last 23 years Freddie Mercury has been in the Lap of the Gods.....

[LynneSin]

It was 23 years ago yesterday the legend passed away. I'd like to think he's up there in the Lap of the Rock and Roll Gods playing the greatest band ever assembled in Heaven. Freddie Mercury to me IS the greatest front man ever to grace a band.

My greatest regret, I had a chance to see Queen at City Island in Harrisburg but didn't go. I thought Freddie would be around forever. Now I will never see him in concert (and no I won't see any Freddie Mercury wannabes even if Brian May and Rodger Taylor are in the band). But we still have some amazing videos. Here's a few more great live videos of the ever impressive Freddie Mercury. The world's greatest front man!

- on of my favorites from the first album!

And of course what has to be deemed the best 20 minute live performance ever done:

[catnhatnh]

1. And I fear to think....

...what he might be doing there.

[LynneSin]

2. Commanding the rest of heaven to sing along with him....

And the rest of heaven is eating out of the palm of his hand!

[dawg]

3. I hope Hendrix is his temporary lead-guitarist ...

and that God is constantly telling Jimi to try and play the parts "more like Brian May".

[orleans]

4. 23 years! omg! has it really been that long?? nt

[shenmue]

15. Wow

[vanlassie]

5. Thanks LynneSin. I just spent an enjoyable half hour.

Freddie was remarkable.

[Initech]

6. Under Pressure!!

[Skittles]

7. greatest rock 'n roll singer by far

yes INDEED

[LynneSin]

8. I don't know if he was the greatest singer, it depends on what we are quantifying

His voice was great, not really the best that was out there. He had range but it was rough around the edges. But what Freddie had that so many others lacked was that Charisma where he got up there on stage and he drawed every single person in that audience into the performance. He got the audience mesmerized. I have never seen them live but even watching the DVD I could sense that presence through the screen.

I've seen a few people like that. I know Robert Plant with Zeppelin had it but Solo and even when he toured with just Page he kinda had it but not so much. Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day would show glimpses of it. I've seen Green Day live a few times and sometimes Armstrong would zone off into a corner and sometimes he would just have this burst of stage presence that would bring the crowd to their knees, especially during the 'American Idiot' tour. He was in the zone during those years.

Most lead singers they strive for it but only few really achieve what Freddie could do without effort.

[Skittles]

9. tops for me

Freddie will always be #1 for the sheer overall package

[madinmaryland]

10. What an amazing voice he had. No one could ever duplicate what he was able to do.

[olddots]

11. he left a huge vacume

What he did for gay rights can't be measured along with what he did for music .

[LynneSin]

12. But what did he do?

Didn't he pretty much hide his sexuality most of his life. If I am correct no one even knew he had AIDs until right before he died of it. I mean back then things like being gay and having AIDs weren't something someone bragged about. It was the 90s and the so-called 'Moral Majority' still had their way with how things were done.

And I don't think that Freddie didn't want to do anything, I think it was just a bad time back then.

I'm glad things have changed.

[DFW]

13. I don't think he made much of an effort to hide it.

Beside being front man for a band called "QUEEN (how much more blatant can you get?)," if you watch videos like "I Want To Break Free," he's being about as "in your face" as you can without taking out an ad in the Sunday Times. He just didn't make a public deal out of it, and I certainly don't see why he should have felt any need to.

Back in the late 1970s, when they first hit it big, I was invited to see them in concert in Massachusetts, and I passed because it involved an hour drive. BAAAAD mistake!

[Fearless]

18. If you were talking 1976... Here's the show you missed...

[Mnpaul]

14. He was reincarnated

as a cartoon penguin(got wings?). Haven't you seen Happy Feet?

[pink-o]

16. I was in London in autumn of '75 when they released "Night at the Opera"

Saw them about 7 times on that tour, then a bunch of us went to LHR to see them off on their American tour the next year. Those 4 men were the most gracious, charming, and kind to their fans--more than any band before or since! And you're right about Charisma: Freddie could melt the coldest heart in the room. I didn't know him to call him a friend, but he made us feel special--and that was when Queen were at their height of popularity.

I still feel his loss: because he was so gifted, but also because I'm still furious about how AIDS was ignored in both the US and UK, and it made beautiful men like him a statistic. A needless one, if govts had acted as they should during an epidemic, instead of being happy it was only "those people" who were affected. I will NEVER forgive Thatcher and Reagan for allowing my friends and loved ones to die like that.

An ignoble ending for a man with a voice that inspires awe to this day. RIP, Freddie. Miss you.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

17. An amazing frontman.

To me, Brian and Freddie were the band. The frontmen. I never noticed Roger and John because they were so quiet.

I saw Brian and Roger last summer with Adam Lambert. I really didn't care about seeing anyone except Brian doing his thing.

Adam is a good singer, and even though nobody can replace Freddie, he did a good job. I'm glad I got to see Brian even though that glorious hair is gray now!

Brian has an exhibition now at the Tate Gallery in London of his stereoscopic pictures from the Victorian era he has collected, and has published a couple of books of them. The newest one is little clay devil pictures and called "Diableries" published in both English and French,

The Poor Man's Picture Gallery, at the Tate:
http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/display/bp-spotlight-poor-mans-picture-gallery-victorian-art-and-stereoscopic