Concert detail

Basic information

Artist	Queen
Date	12.02.1975
Venue	Riverfront Coliseum
City	Cincinnati, OH
Country	USA
Comment	OK, this concert a big mystery for us. Read the fans' recollections below and look how different each of them is :-) The concert was originally scheduled for the Recollections bar but the stage was way too small so the Queen concert did NOT take place that day (February 6) at all (only Mahogany Rush played that night). The few people who turned up were told that they could attend the gig in Dayton (February 7) and get free access with their Reflections tickets. But some of the sources also say that Queen did return to Cincinnati (this time to the Riverfront Coliseum) later on that tour, possibly on February 12.
Support band	Kansas
Video - information	doesn't exist - if you have any footage, please contact me
Line-up	Freddie Mercury (lead vocals, piano, tambourine), Brian May (electric guitar, backing vocals, banjo), Roger Taylor (drums, backing vocals), John Deacon (bass guitar, triangle)

Memorabilia

flyer/ad

flyer/ad

flyer/ad
(from my own collection)

Fan stories

Written by Terry

I wanted to comment on the information that was posted on the site about the 1975 concert that was supposed to be played in Cincinnati, Ohio at the night club 'Reflections' (named after the song by the Supremes).

The club was located right next to the University of Cincinnati Campus and was mostly a place to drink beer and dance. It really was not a concert hall. It was a place where your feet stuck to the floor from spilled beer.

The concert was in fact cancelled in February 1975. I purchased a ticket at the urging of a friend who'd heard of Queen. She told me they were a great band and we MUST get tickets. So I did!

We headed over in the freezing cold only to be stopped at the box office...WHAT!? We were told a manager of Queen had taken one look at the place and it did not meet 'Queens standards'! The concert was cancelled. We were told we could stay to see Mahogany Rush for free and they gave us our money back.

I will say there were no lines a the box office or club. It seemed to me they had not sold a lot of tickets or there would have been a line or a crowd.

We came in out of the cold and sat down on small folding chairs to see Mahogany Rush. There were maybe 30 people there tops.

Over all , the place was rather small for a big performance band like Queen.

Mahogany Rush were troopers and put on a show.

We left and headed out into the cold. As far as a rescheduled Cincinnati concert later that year, I cannot attest to that. I was in college and would have gone home for the summer.

I do know during that year Queen became a national band on the radio and I am sure they never played a dump again like Reflections.

Cheers everyone. I enjoyed sharing my story and seeing the original flyer someone posted.

Written by Jim Lucas

I came to your site trying to figure out the date of a Queen concert that I went to in Cincinnati. I don't see it in your search engine so I will tell you what I know for sure. It was a Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati. I am totally positive that Kansas opened for them.

What was great about it was the way they setup the stage. They didn't sell alot of tickets so they built the stage in the middle of the floor and all the seats were on one end. Every seat was a fantastic one.

It was the only time I saw Kansas and the first time I saw Queen. I saw Queen later at University of Dayton arena in Dayton Ohio. You show that concert in 1977 and I'm sure that was the second time I saw them. I looked on a Kansas tour website and it shows them touring with Queen in Ohio in 1975. It shows Kansas and Queen in Columbus Ohio on February 5th and Dayton Ohio on February 7th of 1975 but never together in Cincinnati.

You have a picture of a concert list showing them at Reflections. A bar in Cincinnati on February 6th 1975. I have never been to Reflections so I'm sure I didn't see them there. I bet the Reflections date was moved to Riverfront Coliseum with Kansas. If it was a mid tour change it probably doesn't show up on either band's list of past concert dates.

The memory of Brian May playing Briton Rock on that short stage is burned into my memory as one of my greatest concert memories. that is why I am so positive about where it was and I'm sure it was with Kansas.

Written by Mike Summers

Queen did indeed take the stage at Reflections bar in Cincinnati - I was there! We (about 10 of us from the UC football team) we're at a table in the front of stage. It was "drink and drown" night, paid admission was $2.75 per ticket with beer costing .06$/pitcher. Queen took the stage, the place boo'ed them loudly, they stopped playing and left the stage. We got kicked out by management. Queen must have left but it's THEIR ego (and poor memory!) of that night. They did indeed come back to Cincy in June of that year but it was because they had become a big name by then!

Written by Webmaster

As you can see it's a mess. Terry says that he went to see the concert at the Reflections bar (the description of the venue matches Mike's) but at the box office he was told that Queen had cancelled their appearance and that they could only get in to see the support band (Mahogany Rush) with around 30 people in attendance.

Jim says that he saw Queen at the Riverfront Coliseum that year (with Kansas). Which sort of confirms Terry's story, we're just not quite sure about the date.

Mike's memories brought a totally different story but he seems to be sure about what happened that night.

A very accurate "Queen in the US" concertography was published in 2019 and the author (Gary Taylor) had excellent access to official Queen sources. For the Cincinnati date he wrote that the concert at Reflections was cancelled and it's POSSIBLE (but not confirmed) that the band rescheduled it to the Riverfront Coliseum for February 12.

Written by Dale Walton

I was reading through the posts about "Queen" playing in Cincinnati in 1975. I am writing a report for a writer in England about early 70's concerts. I am from Cincinnati and was a big Queen fan. They were scheduled to play at the Reflections Night Club down by the University of Cincinnati Thursday Feb. 6, 1975. The opening act was Canadian band Mahogany Rush. We bought tickets as soon as the went on sale and showed up early at the club. A british guy who said he was Queen's road manager was at the entrance telling everyone that came in that "after arriving at the club that morning it was decided the stage was way to small to accomadate Queen's stage show and they would not be appearing. However they would be appearing at the Palace theatre in Dayton the next night and your Reflections ticket would get you in if they had room." We stayed and watched Mahogany Rush an excellent band very "Hendrix" driven. The next night we drove to Dayton and managed to get in the Palace and watched "Queen". The opening act was "Kansas"... they actually put us on the platform with the lighting guy. Kansas was great and so was Queen. Mercury lost his voice or I read later had Laringittus and had a hard time hitting his famous high notes. They may have been right about the stage. The stage at Reflections was not much bigger than your average high school stage and Freddie would have had to get off the stage and run around on the floor where they had sat up a bunch of folding chairs... Queen was relatively unknow in Cincinnati getting no airplay from the city's rather rock free rock station WEBN. There was no one there February being a notoriously cold month in Cincy. Reflections was a good club, lot of bands played there, I saw YES there in 1971, sadly it was torn down along with the Palace later in 1975. I hope this clears up some things.

Written by Terry Dean

I attended this concert and I only have a couple of memories. 1. The stage was at least 10 ft high and it looked like a black wall. They had crowd barrier that was about 10 ft out of tgis stage. So those people up close had to look up at the band on the stage itself. 2. It was so geberal admission and it was so hot that numerous people just passed out.