“On 8 October 1988, Freddie and Montserrat Caballé appeared at Barcelona’s La Nit Festival to welcome the Olympic flag to the city. They topped the bill of the star-studded gala which included Spandau Ballet, Suzanne Vega, José Carreras, Jerry Lee Lewis, Dionne Warwick and Rudolph Nureyev. The show was being staged in front of the Son et lumière Fountains in Castle Square, in the presence of the King and Queen of Spain, King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía, and their daughter Princess Cristina.
Freddie and Montsy sang ‘How Can I Go On,’ ‘The Golden Boy’ and ‘Barcelona,’ backed by the Barcelona Opera House orchestra and choir. Despite the rapturous applause, Freddie didn’t consider the night a success. He found himself in the nightmare all singers dread – he had lost his voice.
The British press had been flown over and had been promised an interview with him. But on the day of the show, Freddie had issues with his throat nodules. He was in a terrible state. He clearly wasn’t in a mood to give an upbeat, in-depth press interview. He called it off. Inevitably this added fuel to the press speculation about Freddie’s poor health. All day Freddie worried about whether his voice would last through the show, and with great reluctance, at the very last minute, the decision was made, he and Montserrat would have to mime their songs. There was no other alternative short of canceling the show completely. As he got into his three-piece dinner suit and bow tie, he was a bag of nerves.
We had time to kill before he was due on stage and during one interval, Freddie was taken to meet the Royal party. He returned in a slightly, more cheerful frame of mind.
When Freddie and Montsy stepped out on the stage together, things went terribly wrong. The playback tape was running slow and had to be stopped. Then there was silence as the tape was rewound to the beginning. It was a terrible giveaway and everyone in the audience knew they were miming.
Freddie was wild about the mistake. He wrestled through the first song, then darted into the wings to wipe the floor with anyone he could find. He was still fuming back in the dressing room after the performance. He slammed a large vodka down his throat. He was so furious at the sound technicians for letting him down so badly. Wisely, they kept away from him.
Freddie emerged from his tent in a tracksuit and put on a brave face. He had to meet some notables and representatives of the Spanish Olympics committee. And the night ended, as always, with fireworks, ‘The Spanish love their fireworks,’ Freddie said to me. Back at the hotel we had our own private party. He just couldn’t stop talking about his meeting with King Juan Carlos!”
♥️🌹👑
Jim Hutton
Picture: Freddie looking extremely handsome as he’s meeting King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía of Spain
He’s shaking hands with Princess Cristina
