The immortal pose
Fist up, face to the lake — his final stage of water and mountains.
Bernd Brägelmann — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Llez — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Llez — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Llez — CC BY-SA 3.0
'Queen: The Studio Experience' in Montreux's casino: Mountain Studios' original control room preserved with its desks where the band cut seven albums — costume displays, lyrics in Freddie's hand, an interactive mixer moving the real channels — free with optional donation to his AIDS trust. Half an hour that melts any fan.
He came in 1978 to record and grew addicted to its secret: a town letting him walk its quays unhunted — anti-London, anti-New York. He bought a lakeside flat and spent above all his final years recording through illness in its calm — and the swan-song 'Made in Heaven' appeared after him with the statue's very image as cover: the town become his visual testament.
The quay never closes and the queue rotates politely anyway — early morning empties it, sunset gilds it at the price of two or three turns' wait. Anniversary September is the beautifully packed exception by nature.
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On Montreux's market quay Freddie stands in his immortal pose: right fist skyward, face to the lake he loved — three bronze metres by the Czech sculptor Irena Sedlecká, unveiled 1996 five years after his death, his father present and Montserrat Caballé singing. Site and stance are documented love: Montreux was Freddie's last refuge, where he recorded his closing years in peace — 'if you want peace of soul, come to Montreux' his plaque-carved line — and the pose is from his famous stagecraft with the bottomless mic stand. The shrine lives perpetually: fresh roses each morning from the world's faithful, letters and flags at the September birthday's annual Freddie Days — and the raised-fist photo before the lake is every Montreux passer's obligatory rite.
Fist up, face to the lake — his final stage of water and mountains.
Thirty years of faithful renewing flowers daily — loyalty of a rare kind.
'For peace of soul, come to Montreux' carved where he lived it.
Place du Marché, 1820 Montreux