How are you doing? How was the beginning of the week? I hope you're all doing fine! PM me to talk about the backstages of the weekend. I like to know it all. Hehehe. ;-))
People, I'd just like to recommend you fans to download this concert which is now available here in Queenzone in all possible ways - torrent, rapidshare, etc. This is primarily for the newbies who still don't know much of the unofficial material - most of the older Queenzone members have already listened to, and commented, on it.
It's a wonderful gig. First of all because Freddie is in a very joyful and friendly mood, and he's obviously trying to create an enjoyable atmosphere for the fans so that he can gradually attract them to the new material. By the time Pull Out The Fire is played and leads directly and seamlessly into Dragon Attack, the audience has already gone nuts.
His interaction with the audience takes place just before "Save Me". He uses the vocal intro as a way to get his voice "in place" for singing the song, already going through the basic tunes and its variations in pitch and phrasing, and also as a means of building a bridge between the idol and the fans - he lets the audience sing a whole lot and, what's more lovely, he really encourages them to do so - "you can do it", he's in a very friendly mood.
If you listen to 1:04 to 1:09 into the vocal intro just before Save Me, you'll notice one of Freddie's main qualities, which was the way he could change his tone without tampering with the pitch - he had just sung very long lines with a harsh, guttural ending, and then all of a sudden he goes into a very smooth and delicate singing and it seems his voice will fade away, but it doesn't: we soon notice that it is as powerful as before, but much more gentle in the delivery. He then starts to sing in a very beautiful, strong way and says "you can do better than that" before delivering in a single breath a blistering 5 seconds line based on a quite exquisite and haunting tune.
While the audience is trying to replicate it, he says very loudly and enthusiastic: "You can do it!". It's a very lovely moment.
Brian then steps in with his piano and, during the piano intro, Freddie sings some lovely moving lines based on Brian's playing - it's all, absolutely all improvised and he sings just in the right key: "Stay with me baby, staaaaay with me baaabyyy, all right". And THEN: "It started all so well...". :--)))
The way he improvises over what's probably Brian's own impro on the piano is uncanny. But more is to follow!
Just after Freddie sings "I love you till I die", he adds in an amusing tone: "Don't forget it". ;-))) It's so absolutely lovely, and he was in such a great mood.
Now, here's a chance of listening a little bit of Freddie singing in the baritone range (not as high as the tenor range, in which Freddie used to sing, but not as low-pitched as the bass voice, the rarest one in many countries - it stands for the lowest tunes men can reach. The tenor range is the most common among males). It's brief, but gorgeous: it's between 4:05-4:09 - "I can't face this life alone". He stretches the notes and one can really notice his effort to get to the lower register, and the result is, if a bit unstable, really wonderful and jaw-dropping.
And, again, amidst all these changes, he doesn't go out of tune, which is something that always amazes me given the power of his singing, the loudness of it and the way he delved into registers which were not as comfortable to him - all of this should drive one out of tune, but he was different, no doubt (try that yourself at home: singing louder, higher and taking in more breath - you'll notice how hard is it to be in tune!).
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A couple of words about Action this Day in this concert. It's not easy to improvise and still sound good. More, it's not easy to improve without going out of tune. In this concert, Freddie doesn't sing Action This Day in the same key (simply put, the root note around which the song is built and the other tunes are derived from in a certain pattern) as the recording, first oddity, and he introduces two formant modulations (i.e, his adapting his singing to ever-shifting keys in order to make the song sound fresh and different). What's most incredible is that the result is not only gorgeous, but he again doesn't go out of tune! It's exasperating, really. It's something in-built in his brain which didn't let him go off tune.
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Play The Game is given an almost flawless performance. There's a little dissonance in the intro because a note is replaced in the chord, you'll notice it because it sounds weirder than the average intro. :op
Freddie manages to prepare himself to the leaps in pitch in a very melodic and delicate way, making the piece all the more interesting - he hits the notes he wants and embelishes pretty much all the song adding a different phrasing here and there. The result is very moving. About 2:05 into the song, when he sings "my life is pumping through my veins", he gives a good display of his dynamic range (i.e, his hability of changing the volume of the lines without significant alterations in pitch - it's used to build momentum and make the phrase sound progressively stronger and bigger).
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Put Out The Fire-Dragon Attack - Freddie doesn't stretch the "fire" in the chorus as he'd do in other concerts, but his delivery is more consistent here. Dragon Attack is great: once John and Brian enter the scene, Freddie keeps enthusiastically cheering up the crowd. "Let's do it together, that's the way I like it", and all this stuff. Take a look at Brian's amazing little jam between 2:59 and 3:04 - he does it elsewhere in the song, but here the contrast between a very crisp staccato (notes played briefly or barely played) and long distored chords is just amazingly clever and beautifully done.
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And, now, for those who haven't had the chance to listen to it yet, enjoy, above all!
I'm glad you found that show, Yara. It's incredible indeed:-) You should also check out NY 28/7/82. Freddie was on fire during that show. Those shows make you wish there were more US 1982 recordings. I think there are about 10 in a row we don't have a recording of:-(