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The large-scale, temporary exhibition, 'Freddie', tells the story of the late Queen frontman and recalls the band's concert in Budapest 40 years ago.
The highly anticipated exhibition, simply entitled 'Freddie', features around five hundred of Freddie Mercury's personal items, stage costumes and manuscripts. These are complemented by video recollections from friends and colleagues, and Queen and Mercury songs are played throughout.
The objects are complemented by innovative, interactive installations, and visitors are accompanied by Peter Freestone's audio commentary. The exhibition guides visitors through nine thematic areas, gradually revealing the personal side of Freddie Mercury alongside the star.
"The tour section will explore how concert series were organized before the internet and mobile phones, focusing on two concerts, the famous Live Aid performance, and the Budapest event."
The exhibition will feature the singer's jacket and shoes from the Budapest concert, the T-shirt he wore at Live Aid, a robe from the Bohemian Rhapsody video, a microphone stand, handwritten lyrics, drawings, furniture from his home, Garden Lodge in London (where he lived since 1985), and gold and platinum records.
It will show how Mercury's social gatherings, tea parties, and his ten beloved cats were organized. The singer's passion for Japanese culture, fashion, board games, shopping, and gift-giving will be revealed.
Monday's opening was rounded out by a panel discussion featuring Peter Freestone, producer Mike Moran, music video director Rudi Dolezal, Terry Giddings, the star's personal bodyguard, photographer Denis O'Regan, Mercury's former costume designer Diana Moseley, and the singer's former schoolmate Tim Staffell, among others.
The conversation revealed, for example, what a typical day for Mercury was like at Garden Lodge when there were no tours or recording sessions. Tim Staffell recalled meeting Freddie at Ealing College of Art in 1967. "I played with Brian May and Roger Taylor before him, before Queen, and I co-wrote a song on Queen's first album, 'Doing All Right.'" Diana Moseley recalled the story of Freddie's famous crown and cloak costume from the 1986 Paris concert, and Mike Moran recounted the story of the birth of Mercury's song Barcelona with opera singer Montserrat Caballé, which the singer also tells visitors from an archive video at the exhibition.
The Freddie exhibition will be open to the public from May 1 until February 28, 2027, at the House of Music Hungary in Budapest.
Source: MTI.hu
Photo: MTI / Kocsis Zoltán
