Today I watched the live at the Bowl DVD for the thousands time. (great performances of STL and PG by the way) While watching this DVD I'am a bit "dissapointed" by the attendance... it looks not like a sell out:(
And so I wondered for the thousands time, why should a show be recorded for a broadcast transmission, which was not a sell-out (or at least close to it). Artists normaly don't accept to record or broadcast a show with a low attendance (ego things and so on). I know, the most important thing is the performance and not the audience-shots. But it looks better that way ;)
So I have two theories :
I read once that this show had to start ealier due to a "not nice" welcome to one of the supports. And I said to myself, "not all people had arrivied during daylight as the concert started, and so it was a sell-out" (as Freddie said, it's not typicall, that they do shows in daylight).
But when I watch Rare Live it's said "Attendance: 40.000" an the bowl has a cappacity of 65.000, which supports the non-sell-out-theory. (but Rare Live has many other mistakes;)
I hope there are people who can confirm the sell-out-theory and make me sleep better or if not, at least the uncertainty will be over :D
well, I don't mind watching the MK Bowl not sold out as it is a different - or non regular - open-air venue.
It would have been different in case this same show had taken place in an indoor hall or an open-air stadium.
Playing a non sold-out gig in such venues would have made it difficult to release officially, at least in video (DVD) format. You're right on that point, wich, imho, doesn't fit in a venue like the Bowl, a place that even not full at all looks great.
And you also said it: quantity does not equal quality. QPR at Kharkov and even Rock In Rio '85 will always be the gigs I avoid watching more from the Queen and QPR catalogue.
I think Queen were one of the first acts to play at the MK Bowl, and in those days it was amlost just a field as oppsed to a recognised venue. They had to build their own stage etc... from scratch.
I'm pretty sure that there was no official capacity, so they didn't really know how many tickets they could safely sell. I guess there were around 30-40,000 there, but once they squeezed together there did appear to be more space at the back ( it was the same when I saw Bon Jovi there in 1989).
I don't know whether they only printed 30-40,000 tickets for the Queen show and they all actually sold, or whether they printed more but did have loads left.
I was there and i remember julian cope played as support and the audience threw beer cans at him( i mean a lot) I remember feeling quite sorry for him although he was not my cup of tea he didn't deserve that.
I think the Kerrang review said 46,000. Not bad, but Queen weren't a stadium rock band back then. They usually played indoor concerts. And Hot Space bombed, so there wasn't a boost from that. Why was it filmed? Why not. It was first shown on the British TV show The Tube, so I've always assumed ITV wanted it filmed, rather than Queen.