Brian played in the early Nineties. I travelled all the way to Birmingham to see him at the NEC and no sooner was I back than a Belfast gig was announced.
It was fab, at the Ulster Hall, with a really good crowd.
I think there are several reasons why Queen didn't play Belfast:
The largest gig at the time when Queen was playing would have been the Kings Hall. The acoustics are shit. It is a shit venue. Did I mention that the King's Hall was shit....?
There were no outdoor venues in the North.
NO-ONE was playing in the North at that time. And can you blame them? Bombs, shootings, unrest, etc. This meant that the insurance bill was huge for any act. So why would Queen put the effort into playing this dump, make no money AND pay huge insurance?
The Odyssey, where they played this year has only really just been built over the past five years...and is therefore the only gig worth playing in this Godforsaken dump.
And finally, what band with a closing National Anthem of God Save the Queen would be stupid enough to play in Northern Ireland...? =)
Anyway, those are my thoughts....
Cheers
Paul
Currently in Firenze, Italia.
ok.computer wrote:
NO-ONE was playing in the North at that time. And can you blame them? Bombs, shootings, unrest, etc.
and whats changed???????
Well, we have unrest, but then, New Orleans gets floods and looting. London has had more people killed by terrorism than Northern Ireland in the past five years on a cumulative basis alone. What's changed? Lots.
Retired policemen don't get shot in the head any more when doing the weekly shopping.
Catholics don't get murdered for their religion, though some of their churches get a wee daub of paint, as do Protestant ones in Border areas.
You can walk down any street in Belfast and shop in the same names and types of shop as anywhere else in Britain, which you couldn't do ten years ago.
People are starting to come here for holidays. Flybe, BMI, etc use City Airport as a proper hub.
Unemployment here is as low as the rest of the UK.
In fact all in all, we're pretty inoffensive. We don't put regimes in power that bully, make war, or roll over other people's countries. Not like your average English or US citizen. :-)
I could go on, but it would require a history lesson, some chalk, a blackboard, and a conversation that would inevitably end with "if you understand the problems of Northern Ireland, you've probably missed the point...."
Ciao for now.
P
R.E.M-QUEEN wrote: You sound like your from N.Ireland ok.computer,are you?Where abouts?
I'm in an awful place called Coleraine, up near the North Coast. If you like Earl Grey tea, can make decent conversation, and listen to rock and roll all day, feel free to drop by....
Well I thought of all the QPR concerts--belfast was the best, the crowd was very nice, and the folks at the 24 hour Tesco near the city airport were most patient with two tired americans hanging out in the store until 5:00 a.m when the airport opened!! What a great time..thanks Belfast
There was a minor disturbance/scuffle in the crowd of excess of 80,000 at the 1986 Magic Tour concert in Slane Castle (about 30 miles outside Dublin). Freddie stopped the show, calmed things down and then continued as normal.
There were a small number of things thrown up on stage during the show by idiots but from what I can remember it was nothing too serious. I was amazed to read that Brian considered it his "worst ever" concert experience. It can't have been too bad because he returned a few years later to play both Dublin and Belfast as part of the Back to the Light tour. And, of course, Q+PR played both Belfast and Dublin this year. By common consent both gigs were among the best of the whole tour.
Regarding God Save The Queen, this has never been played at any of the Queen gigs, north or south of Ireland. If only for political reasons this is probably a wise decision.
Finally, in response to the question as to whether any of the band visited Belfast for reasons other than work, I honestly couldn't say. However AFAIK, Brian's first wife, Chrissy Mullen, is Irish so I would assume that he visited Ireland on a number of occasions. Jim Hutton is also Irish but I doubt that Freddie visited Ireland with him.
ok.computer wrote:
NO-ONE was playing in the North at that time. And can you blame them? Bombs, shootings, unrest, etc.
and whats changed???????
Well, we have unrest, but then, New Orleans gets floods and looting. London has had more people killed by terrorism than Northern Ireland in the past five years on a cumulative basis alone. What's changed? Lots.
Retired policemen don't get shot in the head any more when doing the weekly shopping.
Catholics don't get murdered for their religion, though some of their churches get a wee daub of paint, as do Protestant ones in Border areas.
You can walk down any street in Belfast and shop in the same names and types of shop as anywhere else in Britain, which you couldn't do ten years ago.
People are starting to come here for holidays. Flybe, BMI, etc use City Airport as a proper hub.
Unemployment here is as low as the rest of the UK.
In fact all in all, we're pretty inoffensive. We don't put regimes in power that bully, make war, or roll over other people's countries. Not like your average English or US citizen. :-)
I could go on, but it would require a history lesson, some chalk, a blackboard, and a conversation that would inevitably end with "if you understand the problems of Northern Ireland, you've probably missed the point...."
Ciao for now.
P
Fair enough. I wrote this in the middle of all the riots last weekend so i thought i had a bit of a point then...