Music

It was September 21, 1984. At the age of 17, Els van der Sypt had no idea that she was about to experience the happiest day of her life...

That day, she attended a Queen concert for the third time, once again in the legendary Forest-National venue in Brussels (Belgium). It was nicknamed the "cauldron" and Queen had no equal when it came to raising the temperature a few extra degrees. Els knew that at the end of his concerts, singer Freddie Mercury had gotten into the habit of making himself look like a woman (by deliberately exaggerating) to perform "I Want To Break Free", thus resembling his character in the band's video clip. But let Els tell us the rest in her own words:

"Here's my little story... The concert on September 21st was my third Queen concert. I had seen them for the first time at Forest National on April 23rd 1982 when I was only 15 years old, accompanied by my brother. The second concert I attended was on August 24th 1984, also in Brussels, again with my brother. The next day, August 25th, the band recorded the video for Hammer To Fall in the empty concert hall. Thanks to an invitation from the Dutch fan club, I was one of the few fans allowed to attend, which was a unique and unforgettable experience. That day I was able to meet Brian May, who came to say hello.

I became a Queen fan when their Greatest Hits album was released in 1981. Afterwards, I bought all their previous albums, one by one, until my collection was complete.

Having already attended the first concert of the tour in August 1984, I had seen Freddie dress up for I Want To Break Free and throw his earrings around the room. So I made sure to be closer to the stage during the second concert on September 21st. The tension was palpable when the song started. In the middle of the song, Freddie took off his first earring and threw it around the room. Wrong direction! He then crossed the stage towards me and threw the second earring into the audience. It flew straight at me, I jumped and caught it! Immediately, people around me started pulling on my arm and tried to rip the earring out of my hands. I managed to get away from the crowd and move about ten meters towards the back of the room, where the crowd was a little calmer. I put the earring in my backpack and for the rest of the concert I held my bag tight against me, euphoric and totally excited, but at the same time scared of being robbed. It was only when I got back in the car with my brother on the way home that I dared to look at my precious loot! It was a very cheap yellow plastic earring. To make them more visible from a distance, they had been enlarged using a roughly cut piece of cardboard and taped with painter's tape. Up close, it looked terribly sloppy. Afterwards, I removed the piece of cardboard and threw it away, keeping only the earring.

Today, it still hangs on my wall, framed, along with my concert ticket from that night. More than 40 years later, I'm still a Queen fan. One of my favourite albums is undoubtedly Queen II, released in 1974. My favourite song is from the album, "White Queen (As It Began)", written by Brian May."

Almost four decades later, without really believing it, Els came across a gallery of black and white photos taken in Brussels on the very evening of her feat. To her amazement, there was a photo of Freddie Mercury performing "I Want To Break Free". He was only wearing one earring: his own! It was too good to be true. Today, thanks to Music Belgium Photos, Els has a print of this souvenir that will soon find pride of place alongside the famous earring and her concert ticket.

So miracles do indeed exist...

(MH with AK/Picture: © Belgian Music Photos)

Photo: Els Van der Sypt proudly shows us this photo of Freddie Mercury that has a very special value to her