Bob Geldof told Freddie Mercury ‘don’t get clever’ before 1985 Live Aid set

Fellow Queen members Roger Taylor and Brian May say Geldoff told Mercury: ‘Just play the hits – you have 17 minutes’

Freddie Mercury’s performance with Queen at Live Aid in 1985 is often seen as the crowning glory of one of the greatest showmen the world has ever seen.

But he still needed some very clear instructions from Bob Geldof, the festival’s organiser, before going out on stage. “Don’t get clever,” the Boomtown Rats frontman told him, according to fellow Queen members Roger Taylor and Brian May. “Just play the hits – you have 17 minutes.”