ARTICLE: Axl Rose and Elton John Duet at Freddy Mercury tribute almost never happened

The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert was a held on 20 April 1992 infornt of a 72 000 strong crowd to raise awareness for AIDS, the disease that the Queen frontman passed away from the year before.

The concert which took place at London's Wembley Stadium, featured some of the biggest names in music that were influenced by Queen, all taking the stage to pay tribute to Freddie including Guns N' Roses, Metallica and Def Leppard and Extreme.

Artists performed covers of Queen's most iconic songs with one of these performances being a duet between Axl Rose (Guns n Roses) and sir Elton John performing, arguably the biggest song of our generation, 'Bohemian Rhapsody'

But Queen drummer, Roger Taylor has revealed to Classic Rock Magazine that the duet almost never happened because Axl never showed up for rehersals

"I do remember being determined that we'd get Elton singing with Axl, which was great, because Axl never turned up for rehearsal. It was really flying by the seat of our pants."

Former Guns N' Roses drummer Matt Sorum looks back at the concert as one of the biggest highlights of his career. He told The 500 With Josh Adam Meyers last year, "Oh, man. So many highlights. Probably one of my greatest experiences was the Freddie Mercury tribute [in 1992], which was done at Wembley Stadium, and we were invited to open the show. It was us and Metallica, and then Queen came out.

"You can watch it on YouTube. It's probably one of the most incredible shows. I mean, backstage was David Bowie, Annie Lennox, Robert Plant, Elton. Elton and Axl did 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. You've gotta watch it, they just crushed.

"I've gotta say that night was just sort of... I remember meeting Elizabeth Taylor. It's in my book. I drank with Liza Minnelli and George Michael... just one of those nights that you just will never, ever be able to... It was sort of like being in a dream world. Walking out, going, 'Wow!' Wembley Stadium sold out.

"When I look back at especially Guns N' Roses, it's just sort of a surreal feeling. It's almost like watching a movie, somebody else's movie, and you're in it. It's just so weird."