| Phoenix501 15.10.2008 11:34 |
I'm 29 and got to see Q + PR for the first time in Glasgow at the weekend, and I'm enjoying seeing the fresh forum activity as everyone either reviews, criticises or compares the new tour. What I'd like to know, is to all you who saw them live with Freddie, was there similar forums and discussions way back then... and what was the general consensus and opinion of their shows.... e.g. Was Brian's solo boring or out of tune OR superb? Was Freddie's voice as good as the previous' tour or evening? Was Roger on form? Did John Deacon steal the show as usual? These are only some examples, but was their the same banter as there is in this forum right now? |
| Vali 15.10.2008 11:39 |
well ... I am 32 and couldn't see them live with Freddie (my parents didn't let me go to see the show in Barcelona in 1986), but ... we had no internet and no forums back then to discuss such things .... and ... you have many video recordings of many tours with Freddie to get your own conclusions ! [img=/images/smiley/msn/wink_smile.gif][/img] |
| Phoenix501 15.10.2008 12:05 |
Yeah, I understand there was no internet, but there must have been some form of discussion and critique among fans of shows? Whether afterwards or letters or phone... just because no internet existed didn't mean nobody used to converse with each other. My question is, was there the same level of critique back then of THAT night's performance? I'm seeing a lot of folk compare show to show for the 08 tour, did the same happen back then? Internet obviously helps big time these days, but there has to have been some fan contact back then! (I'm not asking for folk to compare this era to the Freddie era btw) |
| Togg 15.10.2008 12:11 |
OK, well Frankly Brian has been doing the same solo for a long time and if truth be told he is possibly relying on it a bit too much, I am sure he could do something new and exciting now that is not based on the same solo. Years ago it seemed very fresh and novel, frankly it often was a real highlight (if you were a guitar nut) Freddie almost always stole the show, no question, but he often sang off key, sang the wrong words or plain forgot what he was doing, however somehow he always made you feel like he was singing just for you. John was almost always in the background and never really played a part in the visual performance, however he and Roger were so close and locked together that it was just a wall of sound (hence how they got the sonic volcano) title Roger was very impressive, much faster than now however, that was becuase most songs were played faster than recorded. He was a great showman and sounded like thunder, having said that, he is playing better than he has for years on the current tour Main difference, the sound, only one guitar on stage means a much thiner sound, the songs were not as close to the recorded version The quality of the sound was also often not great, bloody loud, but nothing to the quality of the current tours, digital technology has changed everything even live performances. |
| We Are The Champions 15.10.2008 12:21 |
Phoenix501 wrote: I'm 29 and got to see Q + PR for the first time in Glasgow at the weekend, and I'm enjoying seeing the fresh forum activity as everyone either reviews, criticises or compares the new tour. What I'd like to know, is to all you who saw them live with Freddie, was there similar forums and discussions way back then... and what was the general consensus and opinion of their shows.... e.g. Was Brian's solo boring or out of tune OR superb? Was Freddie's voice as good as the previous' tour or evening? Was Roger on form? Did John Deacon steal the show as usual? These are only some examples, but was their the same banter as there is in this forum right now? Back in those days there was no internet. No chat forums of any kind. You had to rely on what are now called old-fashioned music papers like NME etc. There were a number of reviews for Wembley 86 and Works 84 tour. I have them in a scrapbook at home. Both these reviews were brilliant - favourable and awesome. The Kerrang magazine reviewed Birmingham 84 as "one of the greatest performances I have ever seen by a rock'n'roll band ever" Praise indeed and another review for Wembley 86 was "Queen are the greatest live act in the world" I saw both performances and would agree with the reviews. Brian's guitar solo was sheer magic. Was moving around too much to be boring! I usually review gigs in terms of performance and the overall sound and presentation - sometimes Freddie's vocals don't have to be spot on to be a brilliant performance. Live shows are obviously rehearsed but keep that element of spontanaeity. If you want spotless performances then put on your DVD player!! |
| Bo Rhap 15.10.2008 14:00 |
I first saw Queen in 1974 when they were support act to Mott The Hoople.I saw them a further 8 times as the original group. Now,in that time Brian's solo spot never really changed.I believe that solo started from his time in Smile doing the song "Blag".Certainly he carried it on in songs like Son And Daughter and then subsequently Brighton Rock.Which was fine,at the time. But i always remember thinking,when i saw them at Knebworth 86,that maybe this was the time for him to start to change his solo slightly.Maybe start to play the shortened version of Brighton Rock.Like he did at Houston 77 for example. Nowadays he adds in Bijou and Last Horizon which i find much better.Bijou is much better and a fitting tribute to a guy of whom i can only describe as the best ever performer i've ever seen live onstage.From the first time i saw Freddie,i was hooked.Here was a guy who was able to grasp the attention of an audience which was not his,and hold it like it was a precious flower.Often people were not really interested in the support act.They'd maybe disappear for a beer or something.But by the time that Queen were half way through thier set,the place was crowded.They did four encores that night.Unusual for a support band at that time. |
| ANAGRAMER 15.10.2008 14:17 |
Good post I saw Queen with Freddie many times (in Scotland) The main difference is, without doubt, charisma Freddie had it in bucketloads - this and his confidence ALWAYS won an audience - I suppose you never quite knew what he was going to do (or say) next - made the guy spellbinding Also - he was absolutely immaculate on stage - apperance-wise Never a hair out of place |
| QueenSite 15.10.2008 14:38 |
|
| QueenSite 15.10.2008 14:38 |
I saw Queen in Milan in 1984, first night. During the gig, I thought that everything was perfect, I was stunned. When I got to hear the bootleg years later, I discovered it was a great gig, but not an immaculate gig, thee were some mistakes. But who cares, what counts are the emotions that I felt that night |
| Nummer2 15.10.2008 15:26 |
Fantastic thread, great posts. Oh how I wish I could add something but I never managed to see Queen live till 2008. So please keep it coming, it's great to read! |
| mickyparise 15.10.2008 16:35 |
I seen Queen in Cleveland at the Richfield Coliseum in 1980 and 1982. And I have to tell you those were the best concerts I have ever attended. Nothing compared. And the 1982 concert, Freddie sitting at the edge of the stage with a acusotic guitar in his hand and said I only no a few notes on this, and here it goes... then they went into Crazy Little Thing Called Love, was really awesome and what a show he would put on! He had the crowd memsired with his talent, vocals, showmanship, etc. Billy Squier opened up for Queen in 82 and I remember the Radio stations and the Plain Dealer really hyping up Billy Squier, on his Emotions in Motion tour, Freddie Mercury and Roger Taylor sang background on the title track, which was a Mainstream Rock hit at the time. But after the show, the next day, the Cleveland Plain Dealer wrote how QUEEN stole the show and how amazing Freddie was and gave Billy Squier just a little snippet. I like Billy Squier but it was nice to see QUEEN have rave reviews which was far and few in the States. My girlfriend was a dentist assistant and the dentist was also a Concert Promoter, so we got to see a lot of concerts at the time, and seen just about every band, but NOTHING STILL TO THIS DAY, COMPARES TO THE 80 and 82 Concerts from Queen. The only other singers I can say that are great with the crowd are Meatloaf and Ozzy. sorry for ranting! ;> Take care! |
| We Are The Champions 15.10.2008 17:01 |
Nummer2 wrote: Fantastic thread, great posts. Oh how I wish I could add something but I never managed to see Queen live till 2008. So please keep it coming, it's great to read! Good to have a mature and constructive thread with no immature, pointless and irrelevant postings! |
| We Are The Champions 15.10.2008 17:10 |
Bo Rhap wrote: I first saw Queen in 1974 when they were support act to Mott The Hoople.I saw them a further 8 times as the original group. Now,in that time Brian's solo spot never really changed.I believe that solo started from his time in Smile doing the song "Blag".Certainly he carried it on in songs like Son And Daughter and then subsequently Brighton Rock.Which was fine,at the time. But i always remember thinking,when i saw them at Knebworth 86,that maybe this was the time for him to start to change his solo slightly.Maybe start to play the shortened version of Brighton Rock.Like he did at Houston 77 for example. Nowadays he adds in Bijou and Last Horizon which i find much better.Bijou is much better and a fitting tribute to a guy of whom i can only describe as the best ever performer i've ever seen live onstage.From the first time i saw Freddie,i was hooked.Here was a guy who was able to grasp the attention of an audience which was not his,and hold it like it was a precious flower.Often people were not really interested in the support act.They'd maybe disappear for a beer or something.But by the time that Queen were half way through thier set,the place was crowded.They did four encores that night.Unusual for a support band at that time. Wasn't Blag a song composed by Roger? I'm sure I read that somewhere but you're right, the origins for Brighton Rock's masterpiece solo started with Blag from the Smile days. That song sticks out like a beacon on SHA - an absolute killer track. |
| david (galashiels) 15.10.2008 18:44 |
i saw queen in 82(i say saw i spent all night trying to get a view,no seats in the ingleston hall).on the night it was fantastic,looking back it wasnt good.bad sound and no view.not a night to remember.the concert was ok just(loud and heavy,82 was the the year of milton concert,good concert).but as venues go.shit.i only got the torrent,concert,music.from it last year.so a good reminder,if not a good memory of it.but never mind.i saw queen.sort of. |
| bst123 15.10.2008 19:18 |
Phoenix501 wrote: e.g. Was Brian's solo boring or out of tune OR superb? Was Freddie's voice as good as the previous' tour or evening? Was Roger on form? Did John Deacon steal the show as usual? These are only some examples, but was their the same banter as there is in this forum right now? Well, I've seen them twice in Holland during the Works tour 84' and the Magic tour 86'. In 1984 it was my first big concert, and what a hell of a introduction to live music, it blew me away and i don't remember to much because i was just getting into Queen and live concerts of that scale. I was hooked, after that i went to a lot of concerts, right up to this day. For the 1986 Queen tour they had two dates in Holland and they sold-out in ten minutes, so i had no tickets. Then they announced a third concert and i still know the day they went on sale, i couldn't go to the ticket office because we had to visit my grandma (birthday,....f..k it). A friend of mine went and they had a form at the ticket office where you had to sign your name and telephone number plus how many tickets you wanted. The ticket demand was big and the ticket office would phone you if they had any tickets. Finally they called and we got two tickets. On the 21th of July we went to Leiden to the concert venue Groenoordhallen (capacity 13.000). 20.30 hr support act was a German band called Craaft, they didn't last long because they where "boeied" off the stage and when they announced that they where going to play their last song everybody cheered. Then it took until 21.30 before the lights dimmed and the intro off One Vision started. And there they where, Freddie came to the front and we where three or four rows from the stage and seriously there where a couple of girls who fainted when they saw him (i thought "what the hell !!"). But we got even more close to the stage because of that. It was a magical 2 hours and the main difference with 2005/2008 is that they where a lot younger and Freddie really was a great front man who even got into the dutch football chant "ole,ole". He just picked it up and then started his own vocal magic spell on the audience. Brian's guitar solo (Brighton Rock) was very loud and he had a special little lighting rig. Roger, just furious drumming and John as usual the quiet steady bass man. Sound wise the Groenoordhallen isn't great but it was loud. For me it was the best concert ever, it is was even better then Wembley because Freddie's voice was still in perfect shape. The 2008 Ahoy Q+PR concert was a bonus and it still stands but you can't compare the two(Queen and Q+PR). The 1986 Queen concert was a madhouse from the first note until the last, sweaty, loud, and mostly just sheer FUN, because of the "Freddie Mercury" factor !! The papers in those days without internet loved the Queen concert and praised them for their overall production and performance. Even the ones who normally didn't liked them admitted that the concerts where great. The thing is, even in those days a lot of journalist didn't like Queen at all, especially the albums, they got more respected after Freddie's death when people looked back on Queen's career and had to admit that it was/is very impressive, musically and commercially!! |
| Major Tom 15.10.2008 21:55 |
Damn good thread I must say, since it seem to make me feel young :D. No honestly, I really wish I would have been able to see the original line and most of all, see Freddie onstage. |
| The Real Wizard 17.10.2008 23:53 |
Bo Rhap wrote: I first saw Queen in 1974 when they were support act to Mott The Hoople. From the first time i saw Freddie,i was hooked.Here was a guy who was able to grasp the attention of an audience which was not his,and hold it like it was a precious flower.Often people were not really interested in the support act.They'd maybe disappear for a beer or something.But by the time that Queen were half way through thier set,the place was crowded.They did four encores that night.Unusual for a support band at that time. Wow... great story! Do you remember which concert it was? Or even which songs were played, particularly in the encore? |
| thunderbolt 31742 18.10.2008 01:31 |
Did Queen even have four encores worth of material in 1974? Were they playing deep album cuts, or covers (to the best of your memory) by that point? |
| Phoenix501 21.10.2008 11:00 |
This is great reading. Did anyone do what some people here are currently doing, and try follow them around to as many shows as possible. If so, can you remember back and recall if there was the same amount of comparing of shows, performances, venues etc... I've been trading bootlegs since since the age of 16, but listening to them only gives me a (VERY VERY) vague sense of how shows differed from night to night. It would be great to hear from someone who actually lived it. |
| wegotit 21.10.2008 11:38 |
well i saw them once in 84 (vienna) and 7 times in 86 (leiden, mannheim, wembley2, cologne, vienna 1&2, budapest) and everythign was different then - apart from the fanclub there was no tour-dates info - i got a list of dates in march and had to figure out how to get tickets as there was no internet then - when i went to leiden and bought the tourprogram all was a big shock as there were quite a lot aditional dates like a 2 more shows in leiden, a 2nd show in munich, zurich and wembley and knebworth but no chance in getting tickets songlist wise leiden was all new to me - they started in stockholm 4 days prior to leiden but no info at all - i remeber hearing baby you're so sqaure and did not realise this beeing an old elvis song but guessing this might be a snippet from the highlander film... the following concerts did not differ that much songlist wise so i pretty much knew what to expect whith one or two surpirses (brian did jouin marillion for the last encore and did '39 as an one-off in cologne as this was his 39th birthday, and off course tavszi in budapest) off coruse freddie stole the show at this dates - sheer magic - no way any comparism to paul who is a good singer but shows lack of stage personality and still has to use his telepromter |
| April 21.10.2008 16:17 |
Lack of stage personality! That's it! I agree. |
| Rich Tea 21.10.2008 16:53 |
Paul has his own Stage personnality and he is no Freddie which really is a bonus because there can be only one Freddie. Saw Queen many times with Freddie and they were without equal live Yes Brian's guitar solo hasn't changed much over the years even when he was touring solo but it gives the rest of the band a break. I remember Stafford in May 78 Prophets Song and White Man with Freddie performing vocal gymnastics and we sang You'll Never Walk alone at the end, I remember being at the biggest date of the Crazy Tour at the NEC (Hall 1) christ those accoustics were crap and we all talked after the gig about how disappointed we were no Liar and apart from Crazy & Save Me it was the Live Killers set list. I was at the opening of the Birmingham International Arena in 1980, Flash and the Hero stood out and then at Leeds Utd Fc's Elland Road in 82 a much better gig than Milton Keynes although poor Freddie nearly ended up being pulled into the crowd. The Flash/Hero/WWRY (fast) opening has got to be the best ever? The Works tour for me was the best Set List of the lot Great King Rat and Staying Power how diverse was that. By this time Queen were the hottest live band around and I am still so proud to have witnessed their crowning glory in front of the biggest audience ever the whole wide world, the best live performance by anyone ever - LiveAid. The original post asked how fans discussed the bands performances before forums such as this. Well I remember a long debate on the way back from Koln to the UK in July 86, was the Magic Tour better than the Works Tour. Of course the Magic Tour was great but Queen had a bigger audience to play to so it was greatist hits rather than Fans favourites. little did I realise at Knebworth that this was Freddies last ever show, he was as superb as always little did we know that five years later his bright light would be extiguished so gruelly and so much talent lost to the world forever. I stood outside Wembley from 7am on Easter Monday 92 to say goodbye to Freddie and what a farewell it was. I cried, we all cried as God Save The Queen played out and we saw Freddie on the screens with his crown saluting the crowd we all just hugged each other and cried the whole of Wembley in tears. Thank you Freddie you have played the soundtrack to my life! Over the years I saw Brian and Roger on their solo tours, I bought the albums and liked them a lot but longed for a way they could resurrect Queen and now I thank God for Paul Rodgers. Its different yet its the same 2005 was good but this time round they have a band chemistry and I am so happy that I can still proudly tell my friends I AM GOING TO A QUEEN SHOW Liverpool was fantastic and I can't wait for Manchester now!!! I've got a criminal urge to twist and shout.................................................... |
| david (galashiels) 21.10.2008 18:04 |
ingleston 82.a catle shed next to the airport.was at the back couldnt see a fucking thing.memories of the night.someone climbing the scafold to do the lights,and the very very heavy handed bouncers belting some guy.piss poor sound. |
| new one 22.10.2008 12:31 |
I never got to see the original line up either, too young. One thing I prefared about going to gigs in years gone by before the internet was the surprises. You didnt know what the band were going to play until the concert started, now with the internet and forums such as this you know the entire set list before you go and thats a bit of a shame. I know you don't have to look but I don't have that sort of will power. Great thread by the way, well done to whoever started it!! |
| IReallyLoveQueen 23.08.2010 16:52 |
I LOVE QUEEN |