Queen live at the Forest National, Brussels, Belgium (26.01.1979)

Fan stories

Written by Erik C.

I saw Queen in Brussels on Friday 26th January 1979. I wasn't even 13 years old yet and this was the very first concert I ever went to. Needless to say I was very excited being a huge Queen fan.

I wasn't allowed to go by myself so my older sister and brother (non-Queen fans) had to accompany me. We had to go by public transport (tram) which took us about an hour to reach the concert hall. It was impressive to enter the concert hall and see the crowd, stage, speakers etc. for someone like me who had never been to a gig before.

I still remember I got the chills when the lights went out and the band opened with "We Will Rock You (fast)". They immediately rocked my socks off and the loud (yeah well I thought it was loud back then :-) sound blew me away.

Some other memories:

- Me being a bit disappointed because they didn't play a full version of "Death On Two Legs" as it was part of a medley.

- Me being completely impressed by "Now I'm Here", not only because it really rocked of course but also because Freddie made the crowd sing along.

- Two smaller but higher stages at both sides of the main stage on which Brian and Freddie were standing every now and then. I thought that was very cool and I could imagine how great it must have been to them to stand there and rock the crowd.

- Leaving at the beginning of "God Save The Queen" because we had to hurry to catch the last tram home in time :-)

I had the time of my life that evening (to put it lightly). I think that every Queen fan can perfectly imagine how fantastic it must have been to see Queen as the first band ever to see live. I'm 40 now and I've seen so many other amazing bands since but this concert is definitely the one I cherish most. And sometimes when I go to a gig in the same concert hall I imagine myself standing there as a kid to see Freddie, Brian, John and Roger but the feeling I had that evening in '79 never really came back...