Queen & Elton John rehearsal & live in Paris 1997

The Show Must Go On ballet performance, last live appearance with John Deacon.

[heychaspea]

I sincerely hope John knows he's still widely loved and admired! This man deserves ALL the happiness tbh 💞

[brandonmclendon]

Seeing this clip and knowing how depressed John was and that this was John’s last performance with Queen, The Show Must Go On has another meaning not just for Freddie, but for also John. That’s what makes this song one of my favorite Queen songs ever. I hope John is doing so much better nowadays, because it would make me upset if he still feels the same as he did in this video.

[reneemclane]

In an interview in the late 1980's John was asked "what is the difference between writing a song with Freddie and writing a song with the other members of Queen." And John said " Freddie is the only one that I have worked on a song with". I think really that that says it all.... John and Freddie were much closer than most people realize.

[brandimccarty]

This is SOOOO extremely sad to me BC of John. When we lost Freddie we lost Deaky too. So sad

[mafreire]

John Deacon deserves much respect. His sadness is noticeable during the footage. He and Freddie were very close friends and Freddie's death affected him so much. Huge respect for this man. God bless you John.

[ttxttn]

Elton invited Freddie's "family" from Garden Lodge over for his big Christmas day bash the year Freddie died because he knew it would be so tough for Joe, Phoebe and Jim. Jim spent most of the day outdoors with Elton's ponies feeding them, petting them and crying his eyes out. Here Elton is trying to help the rest of Queen move on and perform again. What a guy! God bless you, Elton.

[kshwi]

What hurts me the most is that whenever the band were in social situations and John was feeling awkward or out of place, Freddie was always the one to encourage him and make him feel comfortable. Freddie wasn’t there to do that this time :’(

[ttxttn]

It's often said that John retired in 1997 after this performance but the truth is he retired when Freddie died and the only time he has been willing to come back out into the public eye--which he seems to hate--is in order to pay tribute to Freddie. He came out of retirement only for the tribute concert, to finish the Made in Heaven album with the vocals Freddie left them, to record the song for Freddie "No One But You" and this tribute to Freddie. That speaks volumes. God bless you, Deacon. We still love you!

[saritatambayong]

I'm not a sentimental person, but I'm tearing up seeing John so unhappy then.

[bucciba]

I was part of the dancers on that stage...i thought this footage will never be shown. I can’t forget that day, memories of that powerful performance are still so vivid and most of all the audience’s reaction when they surprisingly found out that Elton and the Queens would have ended our show. Versace was also on stage that night, it was few months before he got murdered. I’m so happy to see this 20 years after...

[ChaseFanNo.]

I have one word to describe John Deacon: LEGEND

[lanocheyeldia]

*Brian:* "at 0:30...we haven't played for God knows how long and _we don't have our singer_ ..."
*Those words will break a Freddie Mercury fan's heart in a million pieces*

[TheKmonta]

My heart feels for John as he tried to press on....for him, show must not go on....not without his dear friend, Freddie.

[Flo-]

The way Brian says “Deacy...our dear friend John“, sounds to me like he's not sure he's still allowed to call him Deacy and that makes me so sad😢

[tothriveisgood]

I winced feeling, knowing, this was not John Deacon’s style at all. A dear fish out of water. I’m heartbroken he was so profoundly heartbroken over his loss of Freddie.

[trnkt_bx]

Whenever I hear Brian say “play, ” I always think of him telling Freddie, “I’m pLaYinG what I always pLaY.”

[Motown-]

This was incredibly sad to watch knowing the circumstances and back story. We know just how sad John felt by his eyes and lack of smile. Also, Bri looks a bit lost while playin’ as well. He looked over where Freddie would’ve been and had that look of sudden recognition that he’s not there. It’s like Bri mentally knows Freddie’s gone but spiritually still expected him to be there...if that makes any sense?! He’d gone on record before saying how strange it was to play Queen music for others fronting or singing lead ‘cos Freddie not only sang, but he was their maestro they’d looked to for cues to change-up or rap-up songs while playin’ live. Freddie often was settle with it at most shows but we clearly see him conduct them at Live Aid. He was the one telling Rog, Bri, and Deacy when to end the songs whenever he’d held his arm up w/his finger pointing up, then bring it down to stop any song they were playin’. You can even hear him sing “Play it one more time...” at the end of “Hammer to Fall!” Freddie orchestrated and timed their set right on to the very last second at that gig. If you’d missed that part..just rewatch the performance and pay attention to the lighting system. The yellow light is flashing/blinking and he’d held his arm up ‘till the very last second and threw it down just as the light turn a solid red! He was very technical in that sense and the guys have all said they missed that aspect of his live performances with them.

This performance was bitter sweet ‘cos it was for a worthy cause and got Maylor to dust-off their instruments for more live performances together. Not so much for John...but I luv that he’d likely done it for Freddie’s memory.

[philburton]

Have so much admiration for John Deacon. I think people underestimated just how close he and Freddie were.

[anniegetchergun]

Hearing Freddie’s beautiful voice and knowing how sad John was has just left me sobbing. I hope John knows how much love there still is for him out here. RIP dearest Freddie.

[smtwd]

06:20 A very brave man just trying to get through it.