So in 1989, an article with Brian appeared in the Chicago Tribune, in which he reportedly said:
“As for the future, we're all very sad that our fans here couldn't see the last few shows we took around the world, so we're definitely planning to tour here.
“That's our goal now-to conquer America again.”
My questions are:
1. Do you think Brian actually said this?
2. If he said it, do you think he meant it or was just fobbing off reporters who might talk about Freddie's health or
3. Do you think he still believed at the time of that interview (June 1989) that a Queen tour in America was possible?
Keep in mind that Freddie had already said, before this article was published, that he did not want to tour in 1989 and obviously he knew the reason by that point.
Brian just told reporters what they wanted to hear and i guess he was keeping a sense of normality and protecting Freddie.
The fan club also told a lot of lies regarding Freddie saying he was at art galleries and had been doing shopping in New York but that was in 1991.
I mean honestly Freddie was probably not very well a couple of years before 1987, but that was the year he was told he had AIDS, yes. Chances are he knew he was positive before and didn't even tell Peter Freestone which would account for Phoebe not knowing.
But that's an aside really. It might simply have been that Brian was in a bit of denial at that point - I've had a few friends who have gone too soon unfortunately (not from AIDS) and although you know it's coming you just plough on as normal because they're going to get better.... if you know what I mean. But Brian did also say on Days of Our Lives that he used to lie all the time to protect Freddie's privacy on the matter.
Yeah the fan club, I mean, the fan club have always been good at talking absolute shite anyway. It's possible that someone from Queen Productions or Garden Lodge *told* the fan club that Freddie was shopping in New York.
When one of The Miracle videos premiered in Brazilian TV, I distinctly remember Brian saying something to the likes of "We will soon be performing more miracles to you" in answer to a reporter asking about touring Brazil. I think he just wanted everything to sound normal.
Cheers,
Ogre-
Yeah also the Brits 1990 he said the same thing. I think it was a combination wanting to appear normal, and a sense of hope that somehow it would all go away.
They knew it would be impossible to tour ever again. They knew it from around 1988 but to protect Freddie and keeping the papparazzi away from him all band memebers act like it was business as usual until of course november 1991.
They knew it would be impossible to tour ever again. They knew it from around 1988 but to protect Freddie and keeping the papparazzi away from him all band memebers act like it was business as usual until of course november 1991.
That's kind of what I thought. Back in 1989 the public didn't know Freddie was ill, although retrospectively we can see the changes in him. Let's not forget that 1987-1988 was actually quite a big year for Freddie, releasing The Great Pretender, recording with Montserrat, appearing live with Montserrat on more than one occasion and shooting the video for Barcelona. He did quite a bit of publicity for that album including a few TV appearances so nobody outside his inner circle suspected there was anything wrong. I think it only became apparent when, as 1989 became 1990, there was no tour, and of course there was his appearance at the Brits 1990 which of course was a huge red flag to everyone.
I'm quite sure Freddie himself knew he had AIDS already in 1986, because when the Hungarian TV interviewer asked him if he plans to ever return to Budapest, he said he would, if he's still alive. This implies he knew his days were numbered.
Honestly I wouldn't read too much into the "If I'm still alive" comment. Maybe he was caught off guard and said something he really shouldn't have, but equally it could have been a flippant remark, although honestly without turning this into a morbid thread (there's enough of that on here) I'd be surprised if he didn't know considering only 7 months after that he was diagnosed.
After Frederick died, Brian admitted they'd had to tell loads of porkies, sometimes even to their own families, in order to protect his privacy. I suppose telling some Yank reporters that they were 'definitely planning to tour [there]' wasn't even in the top 100 lies they came up with in order to keep a sense of normality.
There's also the chance he was misquoted, of course, wouldn't be the first or last time it happened.
Insurance would've definitely been an issue there: in order to be allowed to tour, many (most?) venues and promoters would demand a clean(-ish) bill of health, lest something happened to him on stage and they could be held accountable or something. Drug addiction or under-control HBP would've been just about fine, but 'HIV' and 'AIDS' were such frightening terms back then that they would've likely refused immediately. No insurance means nowhere to perform, plus the increased chances someone would leak more and more information to the public.
So, the best solution, especially for the pre-Twitter era, was to dangle carrots ('we'll be performing new miracles in 1990 and beyond', 'we're definitely planning to tour', 'we're quite busy at the moment, but in the future we'll see') and minimise worries. It worked: loads of people knew what was going on but loads were fooled. Frederick's privacy was still invaded a lot but not nearly as much as it would've been otherwise.
There is actually a video on David R Fuller's youtube channel, and I think it's Brian on RockLine 1989 or something, and he talks quite a bit about the idea of going on tour. I think he was just deflecting, not giving the game away that touring was out of the question. Plus he probably believed, somewhere inside, that Freddie would get better and be well enough to tour, that kind of denial that happens when someone gets sick.
I can imagine there was a lot of lies had to be told, and at that point Brian had a young family too, so the more negative publicity that he went through or even Freddie went through, the worse it would be for his kids at school etc. I'm actually all for the lies they told to protect Freddie, and themselves, and Freddie's family. Kashmira said she knew what was wrong and just quietly accepted it without asking Freddie directly what was wrong, and if that was good enough for her it should really have been good enough for the press, but as we know the press love to hang out everyone's dirty laundry.