doesn't exist - if you have any footage, please contact me
Line-up
Freddie Mercury (lead vocals, piano, electric guitar),
Brian May (electric guitar, backing vocals, acoustic guitar),
Roger Taylor (drums, backing vocals),
John Deacon (bass guitar, electric guitar),
Spike Edney (keyboards, piano, electric guitar, backing vocals)
Memorabilia
ticket stub (WANTED)
concert program (from my own collection)
backstage pass (from my own collection)
Fan stories
Written by mikespit
My one and only taste of Queen live was back in 1985 at the Melbourne Sports & Entertainment Centre along the banks of the Yarra. I wasn't a huge fan back then, only owning GH I and The Works. A mate's mum worked at the booking office and she managed to get me front row tickets (A 21, to be precise).
This was The Works tour and the stage featured those famous cog wheels and amazing lights as seen in the Hammer to Fall video. I remember sitting in front of the stage, in front of two huge speakers thinking "these things are going to blow us away".
It didn't start of well. Queen were late, I think by almost an hour, and the security guard standing in front of us went to great lengths to explain to us how bad Queen were the previous night, how they were notoriously late and not worth the entry fee ($22.00 back then!). In hindsight, he was probably talking about that concert where everything went wrong technically for Queen.
Then, the stage exploded!! And Queen appeared! I remember the crowd remained seated for the first 20 minutes of the show and then the mad rush (crush) to the front of the stage.
Other recollections include Freddie asking the crowd if they wanted a drink (yesss!!!) and then copping his cup of water. Then not knowing the words to Love of my Life (hey... it wasn't on the Oz vinyl version of GH I).
Lol... I remember one person dressed in loud drag (Dame Edna style) was sitting on the front row of the side balcony, shouting strange things to Freddie occasionally. He stuck out like a sore thumb back then!
The rest of the concert has become a blur but it was absolutely awesome. I remember walking around outside the front before the concert and observing that the crowd seemed well-dressed late twenties / mid thirties. Well, they all turned into a rabble during the concert!
Hammer to Fall brings back all of the memories, even though it is not my favourite song, the imagry was exact.
Of course, I was to relive it all again many years later with front row seats at Brian May's Another World tour... but that's another story.