Happy (belated) birthday, to one of my greatest inspirations: Freddie Mercury. September 5th of 2026, Freddie would have celebrated his 80th birthday, and no doubt a great number of fans did that in his stead in Casino Barrière in Montreux Switzerland this year. I regret that I wasn’t there for it this time.
My dad and I got the honor of being there at his 70th birthday party in 2016. We landed the day of the party, and so we were pretty jetlagged for the whole event, but it was still a beautiful moment, and the trip as a whole was an experience I will never forget.
It was my first trip out of the country except when I was a very young child. My dad had grown up Mormon and had served his mission in Germany, and had always told me about how much he loved it there and wanted me to see it some day.
I remember reading the announcement of the party, a 70th birthday celebration for Freddie Mercury was going to be taking place, and at first I was disappointed to see that it would be in Montreux, Switzerland, so far from home it was hard to even humor the idea. But my dad and I both shared a love of Queen and Freddie, and I knew he’d think the event would be amazing too, and it’d give us an excuse to see Europe too. Germany would be just a few hours drive from there.
I told him, and before long, we’d planned the trip, bought tickets to the event, and shortly after, bought the plane tickets to Geneva.
We landed in Switzerland the day of the event, and hurried our way to check in and drop off our bags at Zenitude hotel in Évian-le-Bains, France. We were exhausted, but only got a few hours there to rest, put on the yellow concert shirts they’d sent us, and then we headed over to Casino Barrière.
The Casino Barrière was situated in an unbelievably beautiful spot, right on the shore of Lac Léman, with a view all the way across the lake, and sitting right at the base of the towering Swiss mountains. It felt like a truly special place to be, and any description won’t do the actual feeling of being there justice.
Entering the front door, we got our wristbands. A very kind man who looked to be in an incredibly good mood walked up to us and chatted with us a moment, asking if we’d gotten everything we needed, we told him we had, and then he made his way through the entrance, seemingly taking great care as he checked in on everybody else who showed up to the event. I couldn’t help but feel like his face looked familiar, and I decided to look up Freddie’s personal assistant, Peter Freestone. Sure enough, that had been him, and I hadn’t even known. I had thought that somebody of his importance might only be seen on stage. Seeing him enjoying himself and mingling with all of the fans that showed up set a pretty cool mood for the event for me.
The Casino has a whole Queen museum set up in the back, since it functioned as a recording studio for the band back in the day, and at this event, it was obviously featured pretty prominently, and one of the band’s audio engineers was there talking to people and answering questions from in the studio where he’d helped record many of the songs we’d all loved.
Throughout the event, we’d been able to chat with a great number of other people that had come, and it was quickly apparent that almost everybody at this event had flown in from the UK. When we’d told people that we’d come all the way from Utah, in the US, they’d all been quite surprised and impressed.
I’ll spare you all of the details of our jetlagged adventures of trying to find somewhere to sit and getting yelled at in French.
Finally, the sun set, and the concert began. The official Queen cover band “Queen Extravaganza” was performing, and they were amazing. This is when the exhaustion finally began to take a backseat to the enjoyment. All around me were people as deeply in love with Queen’s music, and with Freddie, as I was. Like me, they knew all the words to the songs. We were all singing along to “Somebody to Love” together, and I couldn’t help but smile.
After the music was over, they had a few speakers, including Freddie’s sister, all talking about how they’d loved him and missed him. They presented the asteroid that they’d named after him: 17473 Freddiemercury. And then we all toasted to Freddie, wishing him a happy birthday, right at midnight.
The party technically went on for a few more hours, with the next scheduled event being Karaoke, but the main events were over, and my dad and I were too exhausted to go on, so after the toast, we bowed out and walked into the empty midnight streets of Montreux.
Obviously, this late at night, the traffic was dead, and the streets were empty, although the level of empty was something I’d never experienced, and it was almost jarring coming from a place as lively as we had. It was raining softly, the air was cool, and as the sound of the casino faded into the background, all you could hear was the rain landing on the pavement and the wind blowing through the alleys. I’m not sure it’ll mean much to anybody else, but it was the perfect environment for me, I love the rain, I love the night, I love the quiet, and in that moment it felt like a beautiful gift. Although part of me was disappointed to be leaving before the absolute last moment, I can’t imagine I would have been able to enjoy such serene scenes in the streets had we stayed longer.
My dad drove us back to the hotel, and I fell asleep on the ride back. I’m glad he’d been there to drive, I’m not sure how I would have managed it.
We’d only scheduled to stay in Europe for one week total, so the rest of that week was a non-stop adventure. We of course stayed the night in hotels, but we only ever spent enough time in each hotel to simply sleep. Any other spare moment we had, we were out on adventures, taking photos or driving. We started in Geneva Switzerland, but by the end of the trip, we’d been through Switzerland, France, Italy, and Germany. I took over 1200 photos on my camera, many of which I still need to edit and share somewhere.
Someday, I hope to write about a lot of the other places we saw while we were in Europe. Although the party was a cool experience in itself, it was the rest of the trip in Europe that was really the coolest part of the time we spent there. It gave me a yearning to go back to a lot of these beautiful places, and honestly I wish I could live there.
But that’s not really what this particular post is about. This post is about Freddie Mercury, a rock legend, and a personal hero of mine. And as much as this post is about Freddie, this post is about my dad, another legend and childhood hero of mine.
Freddie Mercury was a brilliant songwriter whose music I love. He was also a man who went through a lot of struggles with coming to terms with who he was and who he loved, which was very relevant to me growing up. I would like to say that he was unapologetically himself, and to an extent I think that was true. He certainly lived a grander life than most ever will, even though his life was cut short. He’s also a figure with a lot of personal struggle and complexity that’s better left to him, as a story that speaks for itself. At the end, he told those around him that they could do anything they wanted to with his story and his music, but that his only request was that they not make him boring. That’s something I certainly admire. We only get one chance in this life, and we don’t know what else lies beyond. Perhaps the greatest hope we can have in the absurd infinite expanse of space and time before us is to be a beautiful and interesting part of the story of life itself. And he certainly was, he certainly continues to be.
Growing up, my dad was the one who taught me to love Queen’s music. He’d put on Bohemian Rhapsody as we’d ride places in the car, and play it on the piano for us. Naturally, I can’t imagine taking that trip to Montreux with anybody else.
When we’d come home I’d talked to my dad about how we’d hoped to be there again for the 80th birthday party in 2026. I’m sure we’d both imagined that in 10 years we’d both be in super comfortable positions where we could just easily take that trip. But life got in the way, as it often does.
In those ten years, a lot did happen. I came out as gay to my family, dated a few guys and found somebody who I’ve been with for many years now. I went through the twists and turns of accepting that I’m trans, coming out to family, and actually starting HRT. I’ve tried to buy dozens of houses during the hottest housing market in American history, given up, rented my own place, realized that my future doesn’t lie in Utah anyway, been up and down financially, and just a couple of months ago, was laid off from a job I considered my dream job for a long time. I certainly can’t say those ten years panned out much how I’d planned for. Some thing are pleasant surprises, others less so. But that’s life.
My dad’s been through similar ups and downs as well. They’re his story to tell though. Neither of us was exactly in the right position to take a trip like that this year.
Unfortunately I would say that in that time, we’ve also just grown a bit more distant. Aside from each of us having our own concerns that have taken priority, physical distance has taken its toll, and political differences have admittedly hurt as well.
This day of note snuck up on me quietly. One day I looked at my phone, and realized that September 5th meant something to me. I felt some disappointment that we’d missed this milestone.
I looked at my old photos from the event, remembering how fun that trip was. And I texted my dad, reminding him that it was Freddie’s 80th birthday that day. Only a few days before he’d sent me a song that reminded him of Freddie, and he knew I’d appreciate that.
Despite it all, one of the strongest things connecting us is still music. Freddie’s music. And for that, I’m deeply appreciative.
I hope not to let my need for a perfect round number get in the way. I hope to see a better future soon where I can visit Montreux again with my dad, whether or not it’s for Freddie’s birthday party. I’d like it to be before Freddie’s 90th birthday party in 2036, but if nothing else, that’s something to look forward to as well.
So finally, Happy Birthday Freddie. You’re missed deeply, your music is loved, you’ve inspired me and many others greatly, and you are certainly far from boring. And you’ve given my dad and I an amazing adventure and something we love to talk about despite our differences. Your story will always be an important part of ours.