Instruments: Hot Space tour [09.04.1982 - 03.11.1982]
Information > Instruments on tour > Hot Space
More and more surprises. John now plays guitar as well! For the first time the band used auxiliary keyboard players (Fred Mandel and Morgan Fisher).
Roger's Ludwig kit consisted of 26" x 14" Bass Drum, 10" x 9",
12" x 11", 14" x 13", 16" x 16", 18" x 16" Toms, 14" x 8" Snare. Cymbals
were 15" Avedis Zildjian Hi Hats, 18" Paiste, 20" Paiste Crash, 22"
Zildjian Ride, 20" Wuhan China, 20" Zildjian China. As always, he used a
Paiste 60" gong and his pads were now Simmons. The bass drum logo was the
picture from the My Country single. Freddie played a New Era
tambourine.
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Fender Precision '68 model for most of the concert, except for
Under Pressure (Fender Precision Special), Back Chat
and the first encore (Musicman Stingray). Back-up was still
the Kramer.
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Brian's guitars were the Red Special and a 12-string
Ovation Pacemaker. For Crazy Little Thing Freddie played
another Ovation and Brian did the solo on his old
Telecaster. Brian's back-up was at first the Birch
replica but during the American tour he smashed it and replaced it by
the Gibson Flying V. For the first time on-stage John played guitar as well: a Fender Black Gold Telecaster (CE 10484), made in 1981. He used it in Staying Power, amplifying it through a Duplex Limiter. |
Freddie's Steinway D concert. 8 ft 11 3/4 in. Brian also used it in
Save Me and Teo Torriate and the extra keyboardist in
Crazy Little Thing Called Love.Freddie used a Roland Jupiter 8 while Morgan/Fred had an Oberheim OBX. Roland Jupiter 8 would be one of the most important synths in the history of the band. Even Spike at the FM Tribute concert still played one of those. |
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Roger (1982): "It was always my dream to have a Ludwig drum kit. For
English groups they always represented the peak. The fact is that they're
great drums. They were better than any drums made in England." Freddie (1982): "It's a Gibson, I think (the guitar he uses). Oh, I don't know. They give me a different one every night, depending on what they can find. I'm not a guitar freak as it were. I mean, I like guitarist, but I'm not into guitar or piano brand names. I like Yamaha pianos but as far as all the technicalities are concerned, I'm useless. I'm just into whatever pleases the ear from wherever I can get the sound." Brian (1982): "The favorite one (synthesizer) is the Jupiter 8 which we find very flexible, very reproduceable and reliable which is a big thing on stage. You must have something that you always know is going to work." John (1982): "I use a Duplex Limiter as well as Pan amps and Sunn speakers CNN." John (1982): "I use Fender bass mainly, which I've used for years. I have one that I use most of the time; a Fender Precision. Just last year I met some of the people from the Fender factory in Los Angeles. They actually gave me one. When you're struggling and can't afford one... but when you're successful, they give you one. It's quite nice; a Fender Precision Special. The old ones just have volume and tone. Now they have three knobs: volume, bass and treble. That's quite nice. I used that guitar on Under Pressure. I have a Music Man as well, which I use on bass for certain numbers, like Another One Bites the Dust. You can get quite a tight bass end. I tend use Telecaster guitars. It's the most cleanly cut for the rhythm involved in the songs." John (1982): "A Jupiter 8 and an Oberheim OBX are the main two (synthesizers) that we've used. None of us are very technical with them. We just try to get something out. We could be better. That was the main reason we hired an auxiliary keyboard player for this tour. Freddie can't play the bass line, sing and move around stage at the same time." Roger (1982): "I have an entire drum kit of those (electronic drums). They have bass on them as well. They're made by a small English company called Simmons. They went bust recently but now they're started up again. They're a much better version of the synthetic drums. You can get a vast range of sound. I use them quite a lot, like for Another One Bites the Dust and Action. You probably heard them on the solo in Back Chat. They're great for doing effects; for reproducing door slams and crashes. There's a nice tone quality that you can get out of them. A lot of groups have them now. Some of them use them instead of drums. They're very much the happening thing now. They're very good actually." Brian (1982): "I use a Telecaster sometimes, like for Crazy Little Thing. But that's really a novelty item. I don't use much else. For twelve string, I use Ovation." Brian (1983): " I also have a Flying V, which is a recent acquisition. I got it because I smashed up my Birch guitar. I got very frustrated with it one night and uncharacteristically threw it offstage. It happened to be a very high stage, and it smashed into lots of pieces." Peter Hince (2002): "John played very good rhythm guitar and used either a Fender Telecaster or a Fender Stratocaster." |
| Shure mics for everyone. |