Crazy Tour

This tour over Britain and Ireland was done mostly to play in smaller venues and remember the old days. It had some important additions to the equipment, the most famous of course being Freddie playing guitar on Crazy Little Thing Called Love. He usually talked to the audience before the song and mentioned how he, apparently, only played three chords (the line in question was often said by Elvis, whom Freddie was doing an impression of on the track). From then on until the band's last concert ever in 1986, Freddie would always play guitar on that song on stage.

Percussion

Drum kit

• Ludwig 26" x 14" bass-drum.
• Ludwig 14" x 7.5" maple snare drum.
• Ludwig 18" x 18" and 20" x 20" floor toms.
• Ludwig 14" x 14", 13" x 13" and 12" x 12" rack toms.
• Remo 16" and 14" rototoms [Get Down Make Love].
• Paiste 12", 10", 8", 6" and 4" splash cymbals.
• Paiste 14" hi-hats.
• Paiste 18", 15" and 2 x 16" crash cymbals.
• 3 x Pollard Syndrum pads.
• Wuhan 20" china cymbal.
• Zildjian 22" and 15" crash cymbals.
• Zildjian 22" ride cymbal.
• Ludwig Speed-King pedal.
• Ludwig stands.
• Premier sticks.
• 2 x New Era cowbells.
• Bass-drum logo: Roger's face.

Timpani [Roger's Solo]

• Ludwig Ringer 28"
• Ludwig Ringer 30"

Gong [hit once at the end of Bohemian Rhapsody]

• Paiste 60" symphonic.
• Bespoke beaters.
• Paiste stands.

Tambourines & maracas

• Ludwig [Roger].
• New Era [Freddie].

Bass guitars

Electric bass guitars

• Fender Precision 1968 [main]
• Fender Precision 1965 [spare]
• Fender Precision fretless [´39]

Bass rig

• 5 x Acoustic 371 amplifiers.
• 3 x Acoustic cabinets.
• 2 x Gauss 4" x 12" cabinets.
• 1 x Cornish (?) bespoke control.

Guitars

Electric six-string guitars

• BHM bespoke [main]
• Birch bespoke [spare]
• Fender Telecaster 1978 [Crazy Little Thing]
• Gibson Les Paul Deluxe [second spare]

Guitar rig

• Cornish bespoke effect [trebe-booster]
• EBow
• Eventide harmoniser
• fOXX foot pedal [phaser]
• 2 x Maestro tape-delay
• 9 x Vox AC30 amplifiers
• Vox foot pedal [wah-wah]

Acoustic guitars ['39, Love of My Life, Crazy Little Thing]

• 3 x Ovation Pacemaker 1615 twelve-string

Acoustic guitar rig

• Heathkit Turner A-300 amplifier [Freddie].
• Music Man 210-65 amplifier. [Brian].
• Peterson strobe tuners.

Piano

Piano

• Steinway 1972 D concert grand 8 ft 11.75 in.

Piano rig

• Helpinstill magnetic pick-ups.
• Clair Brothers bespoke mixer.
• SAE Stereo amplifier.
• 2" x 15" cabinets.
• 2 JBL 2440 horns.

What about the recording sessions?

All four band members used different instruments to record Crazy Little Thing Called Love from the ones they played live: Roger's drum kits were always different live vs. studio, John played the 1955 Fender Masterbuilt Precision, Brian used Roger's 1967 Fender Esquire and Freddie played a Martin D-18 acoustic guitar instead of Ovarion. The June/July 1979 recording sessions in Munich included the use of a Yamaha C-7B piano (played by Freddie on Sail Away Sweet Sister and by Brian on Save Me) as well as an Oberheim OB-X synthesiser.