| Gregsynth 20.09.2010 20:09 |
Lets start another topic: Your favorite and least favorite legs/tours of Queen: FAVORITE: 1. Crazy Tour (Everybody's in top shape, Freddie's voice is never better) 2. NOTW Tour (Freddie's first "great" vocal tour, plenty of fantastic gigs-especially on the 1978 leg) 3. European Hot Space Tour (Love the rotating setlists, Freddie's improvs are awesome, Everybody's on fire)! 4. The 1981 South American/Latin American legs (Audiences are awesome, gigs are legendary, Freddie's in top form) 5. European A Day At The Races Tour (Some awesome performances, Freddie's first "great" tour leg. MIXED (These are ones you like, but have something you dislike about them): 1. Magic Tour (Freddie's voice is much better than the last tour, but I wasn't too fond of the setlist (mostly Acoustic section) 2. Japan 1982 Hot Space (I love the performances and the setlists, though Freddie's voice was a bit iffy). 3. The Game Tour of 1980 (There's alot of great moments throughout, but I wasn't fond of the oversinging on some songs) 4. Japan 1985 (I love the first two concerts, the next 3 are pretty good, but not up to the standards of the first two) 5. North American A Day At the Races Tour (Freddie's voice wasn't quite the best--but overall this leg is great). LEAST FAVORITE: 1. Australia 1985 (The band just sound tired throughout the leg) 2. North American Hot Space Tour (Compared to the European leg, the band seem very laid-back and almost "tired." I also didn't like the setlist. 3. Japan 1981 (Although there's some strong moments, the band sound like they are either holding back, or were "out of it" in a way. 4. The Works Tour of 1984 (Wasn't too fond of the setlist/opener, hated the drums, and Freddie's voice was often shot). 5. Jazz/Live Killers tour: Freddie's weakest tour overall, though this is made up for by some GREAT band performances--especially during the 1979 leg). DISCUSS!! |
| Yara 21.09.2010 11:00 |
Very good guide to Queen's live gigs! I can't remember these things in such detail, but I can say without a doubt that the gig from 1979 at the Hammersmith Odeon is my all-time favorite Queen concert and the one I'd love to see released in a decent quality: I'd enjoy it thoroughly. The setlist still features some of my favorite songs - Spread Your Wings, Don't Stop Me Now, Mustapha - but the guys had become by that time much more mature as musicians - years of touring, and an exhaustive tour which had just ended, must have tought them a thing or two! The band puts on a hell of a performance: Brian's playing in "Let Me Entertain You" and the slightly modified - maybe partially improvised - solo of "Don't Stop Me Now" are wonderful; his playing is stellar for most of the gig. Roger has rarely sounded better - both his drumming and his singing - his singing in "We Are The Champions" and "Don't Stop Me Know" is thrilling. And, of course, Freddie is in wonderful shape, displaying all the qualities which made him such a towering rockstar. He delivers some of the best performances of such songs as We Are The Champions, Somebody To Love and Don't Stop Me Now, John's playing just fine as well. My favorite tour is by far the News Of The World tour, which is my favorite album as well. Next would come the Latin American leg of the 1981 tour - the performances were great, the audience was very enthusiastic and, of course, we have a pretty good record of it, as many gigs were professionally recorded. The problem in assessing the Crazy Tour lies both in the lack of good recordings of the concerts and in the fact that it was just too short. |
| Bad Seed 21.09.2010 12:10 |
In no particular order FAVORITE: 1. Crazy Tour 2. NOTW European Tour 3. European Hot Space Tour 4. The 1981 South American/Latin American legs 5. Sheer Heart Attack 74/75 MIXED: 1. European Races Tour 2. Magic Tour (Potentialy great but the repeatative set list and weak guitar sound spoil it) 3. Live Killers (Great performances let down by poor vocals) 4. Japan 1985 (Good and bad) 5. The Game 80 (Great, but just does'nt do it enough for me? Cant quite understand why) LEAST FAVORITE: 1. Jazz 78 2. North American Hot Space Tour 3. Japan 79 (Unbearable vocals, cant listen to these shows) 4. The Works Tour (Just poor in general, bad vocals, bad guitar sound, bad drum sound) 5. ANATO Japan 76 (Some shocking vocal performances) |
| Gregsynth 21.09.2010 12:35 |
Bad Seed wrote: In no particular order FAVORITE: 1. Crazy Tour 2. NOTW European Tour 3. European Hot Space Tour 4. The 1981 South American/Latin American legs 5. Sheer Heart Attack 74/75 MIXED: 1. European Races Tour 2. Magic Tour (Potentialy great but the repeatative set list and weak guitar sound spoil it) 3. Live Killers (Great performances let down by poor vocals) 4. Japan 1985 (Good and bad) 5. The Game 80 (Great, but just does'nt do it enough for me? Cant quite understand why) LEAST FAVORITE: 1. Jazz 78 2. North American Hot Space Tour 3. Japan 79 (Unbearable vocals, cant listen to these shows) 4. The Works Tour (Just poor in general, bad vocals, bad guitar sound, bad drum sound) 5. ANATO Japan 76 (Some shocking vocal performances) ========================================= Yeah, Freddie's voice is totally screwed during those Japan 1979 shows (especially the late April ones), but I'll give Freddie some credit because he actually TRIES to sing effectively--the Works Tour/American Hot Space tour just had him singing really "plain" (almost lazy in a sense). As bad as the Japan 1979 shows were, I think the 3/26/1976 (Fukuoka) show was probably Freddie's WORST gig overall. "Shocking" is the correct word! |
| Gregsynth 21.09.2010 12:40 |
Yara wrote: Very good guide to Queen's live gigs! I can't remember these things in such detail, but I can say without a doubt that the gig from 1979 at the Hammersmith Odeon is my all-time favorite Queen concert and the one I'd love to see released in a decent quality: I'd enjoy it thoroughly. The setlist still features some of my favorite songs - Spread Your Wings, Don't Stop Me Now, Mustapha - but the guys had become by that time much more mature as musicians - years of touring, and an exhaustive tour which had just ended, must have tought them a thing or two! The band puts on a hell of a performance: Brian's playing in "Let Me Entertain You" and the slightly modified - maybe partially improvised - solo of "Don't Stop Me Now" are wonderful; his playing is stellar for most of the gig. Roger has rarely sounded better - both his drumming and his singing - his singing in "We Are The Champions" and "Don't Stop Me Know" is thrilling. And, of course, Freddie is in wonderful shape, displaying all the qualities which made him such a towering rockstar. He delivers some of the best performances of such songs as We Are The Champions, Somebody To Love and Don't Stop Me Now, John's playing just fine as well. My favorite tour is by far the News Of The World tour, which is my favorite album as well. Next would come the Latin American leg of the 1981 tour - the performances were great, the audience was very enthusiastic and, of course, we have a pretty good record of it, as many gigs were professionally recorded. The problem in assessing the Crazy Tour lies both in the lack of good recordings of the concerts and in the fact that it was just too short. ================================= That is a very good point about the Crazy Tour (and a point I've failed to realize): There's only 4 available audio downloads from that concert (out of the 20 or so). We don't know what he sounded like! That's why I'm so wanting more bootlegs from that tour--I don't mind the quality! |
| jamster1111 21.09.2010 14:33 |
You forgot the European and North American ANATO leg for first great leg(s). All gigs I have heard from those legs he is great and puts in great performances. In Japan, eh...not so much. Worst Queen tour ever = Works Tour Most successful was probably the whole game tour era (1980-1981) and Freddie did not over sing and even if he did, who the hell cares? |
| Gregsynth 21.09.2010 15:02 |
There is alot of oversinging on that 1980 leg (which is why I divided it into 1980 and 1981). Killer Queen is a prime example (almost every performance has him being "Macho Freddie" and hitting notes that are either too high, or in the WRONG KEY). That completely ruins the effect of the song (playful ballad). Death On Two Legs was oversung alot also. Except it actually WORKS! Let Me Entertain You and Save Me also had some ridiculous lines (mostly over-doing the vibrato). You're My Best Friend was oversung (yelling A4s in spots that don't even have that key, is messed up), and some Bo Rhap performances had some overdone versions. So yes, there was plenty of oversinging on that leg. Freddie wanted to be Mr. Bad Guy (lol), so he started smoking, then grew the mustache, then to further the image--he started oversinging (he stopped that by 1981). I don't care as much about the oversinging--unless it RUINS the feelings/effects of songs. |
| Yara 21.09.2010 15:41 |
Gregsynth wrote: There is alot of oversinging on that 1980 leg (which is why I divided it into 1980 and 1981). Killer Queen is a prime example (almost every performance has him being "Macho Freddie" and hitting notes that are either too high, or in the WRONG KEY). That completely ruins the effect of the song (playful ballad). Death On Two Legs was oversung alot also. Except it actually WORKS! Let Me Entertain You and Save Me also had some ridiculous lines (mostly over-doing the vibrato). You're My Best Friend was oversung (yelling A4s in spots that don't even have that key, is messed up), and some Bo Rhap performances had some overdone versions. So yes, there was plenty of oversinging on that leg. Freddie wanted to be Mr. Bad Guy (lol), so he started smoking, then grew the mustache, then to further the image--he started oversinging (he stopped that by 1981). I don't care as much about the oversinging--unless it RUINS the feelings/effects of songs. I agree with everything you wrote, though I'd like to suggest that, despite all these problems you correctly pointed out, I guess The GameTour from 1980 features some of the best versions of a couple of songs, "Let Me Entertain You" from Oklahoma being for sure one of them. What Freddie does there works wonders and fits the mood of the song just perfectly. I'd say the same about "I Need Your Loving Tonight" and "Dragon Attack" - the latter having received awe-inspiring renditions at those year-end Wembley concerts. I like this tour because he's more daring than usual - you're right, he's sloppier and overbearing in his singing, but the need for making the songs sound different is commendable: one can't help but feel very excited by the way the whole band plays "We Are The Champion" at the very last of those Wembley concerts - Freddie sings it as daringly and passionately as he had done at the Hammersmith in the previous year. |
| Bad Seed 21.09.2010 16:23 |
I often wonder if the oversinging was because he was getting bored of singing the song? Most of these songs were dropped for the Hot Space tour |
| Gregsynth 21.09.2010 17:13 |
I do love when Freddie changes up lines/improvs--I really do. But if you start adding random high notes in songs that either mess up the feeling, or don't even fit in the key, I gotta draw the line somewhere! This is exactly why I'm not really fond of his vocals on the Works Tour overall: There's alot of Under-singing--which also doesn't feel right with the faster/harder songs, and there's alot of "speak-singing" on that tour. I love deviations from the original songs--but too much (either overdoing it, or under-doing it) just doesn't sit well. As for Bad Seed's comment: I think it's a combination of being bored (what you wrote), and then my theory (the "Mr. Bad Guy" one): Freddie wanted to beef up his image, so he grew the mustache, started smoking, and starting over-doing some songs live (probably because of being "bored with the songs," or he was trying to "beef up" his image on stage). |
| marvinp01 22.09.2010 09:24 |
FAVORITE The Game Tour USA West Coast leg (Freddie's new vocals) Hot Space Europe (Freddie's funky vocals and energetic setlist) A Day At The Races European Tour (Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee) Sheer Heart Attack Europe (one word: Heavy) Jazz USA (Freddie's new throat vocals are interesting) LEAST FAVORITE The Works World Tour (Freddie sucked and the drums are horrible) Live Killers Japan (Freddie sucked) Hot Space Japan (Band was dying to end the tour) Hot Space USA (Freddie's thicker vocals are arising and interesting to hear his high notes) Queen debut UK (Freddie is a sheep!) |
| The Real Wizard 22.09.2010 10:02 |
Yara wrote:
The GameTour from 1980 features some of the best versions of a couple of songs, "Let Me Entertain You" from Oklahoma being for sure one of them.Oklahoma 80? Have you heard something we haven't.. ? |
| Gregsynth 22.09.2010 10:14 |
I think she meant "Oakland 1980." LMFAO! |
| tcc 22.09.2010 10:32 |
I always laugh when I listen to Freddie singing We Are The Champions in the Queen Rock Montreal album. He sang like he was really tired and he just dragged and "fling" the lyrics around. I think somewhere in the commentary Roger also laughed and he said he knew when Freddie was really tired by the way he sang the songs. |
| Benn 22.09.2010 10:37 |
Best - UK Summer 1977 - variety across the band's career up to that point and great interplay between the band members. Worst - Magic Tour start to finish - sterile boring set list, lack of variety and Spike Edney too high in the mix. |
| Yara 22.09.2010 10:57 |
Sir GH wrote: Yara wrote: The GameTour from 1980 features some of the best versions of a couple of songs, "Let Me Entertain You" from Oklahoma being for sure one of them. Oklahoma 80? Have you heard something we haven't.. ? Greg is right, sorry, I was thinking about Oakland 80! |
| jamster1111 22.09.2010 13:33 |
Singing all those notes in Killer Queen in 1980 were totally fine. In fact, one of my favorite versions is from Brussels 1980. And I agree he oversang save me many times but he never over sang your my best friend. Hitting that A4 was totally fine and fit with the song. That was his making up for the fact that he never went for the C5's. |
| Gregsynth 22.09.2010 13:37 |
You LOVE oversinging! Hey, you should check out the New York 1980 versions of Killer Queen--boy, was I wrong about Harford/Brussels/Frankfurt being the most ridiculous! |
| Gregsynth 22.09.2010 13:40 |
Oversinging Killer Queen doesn't fit! Sustaining and over-vibratoing G4s and Ab4s, plus going up the scale (instead of down), completely messes the song's meaning up. You gotta be fucking with me here! |
| Yara 22.09.2010 13:49 |
Gregsynth wrote: Oversinging Killer Queen doesn't fit! Sustaining and over-vibratoing G4s and Ab4s, plus going up the scale (instead of down), completely messes the song's meaning up. You gotta be fucking with me here! I agree that oversinging Killer Queen doesn't work, but I'd go even further: Killer Queen never worked live. It's a charming, delicate and ironic tune which was made live into a dull and minor footnote to whatever came before or next. |
| Gregsynth 22.09.2010 13:56 |
I mostly agree with you about KQ not working live--but there's some REALLY good versions from 1974-1975! |
| freddiefan91 23.09.2010 02:16 |
Some of you have said the Magic tour is repetitve, maybe only to the band, im sure not everybody would of gone to every single show I quite like the wembley gig, the band as a whole have so much energy on that one and freddie especially he gives everything Wembley and Milton Keynes gig are my current favorites, somebody to love is just awesome from all the gigs that i have managed to see, the only one that slightly disapoints me is the japan 85 gig, the sound quality of the dvd is awful and it makes the band seem less good than usual Live aid on its own is blooming fantastic |
| Benn 23.09.2010 08:07 |
freddiefan91, The "Magic Tour" featured the same songs, played the same way in the same arrangements night after night for the whole tour when the band had a HUGE wealth of material from which they could choose. Of course, they had the new album to promote and rightly, they played a lot of material from that period, but there was NOTHING in the set list to excite, stimulate and thrill. Brian looked bored shitless for much of the time and rightly so - a large number of "us" were too. |
| plumrach 23.09.2010 09:10 |
The magic tour was quite sucessful according to the band themselves I like the montreal concert, shame about the crowd though!!! Have seen bits and pieces of some 70's concerts but i couldnt say what was best or worst |
| Thistle 23.09.2010 09:41 |
You guys have way too much time on your hands lol! I have just about every *well known* live recording in some format or another, whether shit in quality or the most up to date "remasters" and I don't think I've even had the chance to listen to them all, let alone analyse every note of every track and be able to comment on which song was played better when. You guys are fuckin amazing! I have no idea which tour was the best, but I can say that I absolutely hate Freddie's warbling through most of the early 70's shows although the setlists were interesting, I absolutely fuckin hate Hyde Park'76, '77 picked right up and then they flopped again in the latter 70's. The Hot Space stuff, I thought, was good, '84/'85 was rank but I did like the Birmingham '84 show. Magic tour seems stale to us because it's been overdone over the years on TV and radio (Wembley and Budapest, obviously!!!). Same with Montreal '81. Songs I LOVE live, though - Save Me (Montreal is best!), Father To Son, Spread Your Wings, You Take My Breath Away, My Melancholy Blues, It's Late, Dreamer's Ball, Love Of My Life, If You Can't Beat Them, Need Your Loving Tonight, Play The Game, Rock It, Put Out The Fire, Fat Bottomed Girls., Flick Of The Wrist, Death On Two Legs, Flash/The Hero. Songs I HATE live - Killer Queen , We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions, Get Down Make Love, That fuckin Guitar Solo that's never changed in the past 500 years, I'm In Love With My Car, Another One Bites The Dust, Crazy Little Thing Called Love. Milton Keynes '82 has the best Somebody To Love, apart from that I couldn't care less if I heard it live or not. Doin' Alright was interesting but lasted too long.... Just my opinions, don't kill me lol |
| Gregsynth 23.09.2010 12:35 |
freddiefan91 wrote: Some of you have said the Magic tour is repetitve, maybe only to the band, im sure not everybody would of gone to every single show I quite like the wembley gig, the band as a whole have so much energy on that one and freddie especially he gives everything Wembley and Milton Keynes gig are my current favorites, somebody to love is just awesome from all the gigs that i have managed to see, the only one that slightly disapoints me is the japan 85 gig, the sound quality of the dvd is awful and it makes the band seem less good than usual Live aid on its own is blooming fantastic ========== That 5/11/1985 gig doesn't do the band justice during that leg: The original VHS/DVD mix has an AWFUL audio mix. There's a bootleg of that show (LemonySnick123 uploaded it on his channel), that has a much better mix. 5/8 and 5/9 are overall much better gigs: Those are considered to be some of Freddie's best Works Tour gigs--I agree. |
| Gregsynth 23.09.2010 12:40 |
Benn wrote: freddiefan91, The "Magic Tour" featured the same songs, played the same way in the same arrangements night after night for the whole tour when the band had a HUGE wealth of material from which they could choose. Of course, they had the new album to promote and rightly, they played a lot of material from that period, but there was NOTHING in the set list to excite, stimulate and thrill. Brian looked bored shitless for much of the time and rightly so - a large number of "us" were too. =============================== That's really the only criticism I have of the Magic Tour: The set-list. If I had to change the set-list, I'd drop Seven Seas Of Rhye (every version seems "average"), and the Acoustic cover section. I'd replace it with songs like Somebody To Love and probably a song that got dropped from the last tour (It's A Hard Life). |
| The Real Wizard 23.09.2010 13:20 |
I'm probably in the minority here, but I think the Magic tour setlist was perfect. After Live Aid, the man on the street was aware of Queen again. To have mass appeal for stadium-sized audiences, they played most of the older hits, plenty of songs from their last two albums, and 50s rock and roll stuff to please middle-aged folks. Sure, in retrospect it was a greatest hits setlist, but back then, the songs from The Works and A Kind Of Magic were pretty current and popular. The band were wise enough not to spend more than 5 minutes playing old songs that 75% of the audience didn't know. |
| on my way up 23.09.2010 13:50 |
Sir GH wrote: I'm probably in the minority here, but I think the Magic tour setlist was perfect. After Live Aid, the man on the street was aware of Queen again. To have mass appeal for stadium-sized audiences, they played most of the older hits, plenty of songs from their last two albums, and 50s rock and roll stuff to please middle-aged folks. Sure, in retrospect it was a greatest hits setlist, but back then, the songs from The Works and A Kind Of Magic were pretty current and popular. The band were wise enough not to spend more than 5 minutes playing old songs that 75% of the audience didn't know. i agree with you. In my opinion one of the great talents of Queen as a live band is that they knew how to put together a setlist that works and they clearly had a concept. I'd even go as far as to say that they perfected their typical Queen concept for the Magic tour. I agree with Greg tabout the section with the 50's songs though. Some nights it worked but at other nights less so. |
| neokaden 23.09.2010 22:27 |
Gregsynth wrote: That is a very good point about the Crazy Tour (and a point I've failed to realize): There's only 4 available audio downloads from that concert (out of the 20 or so). We don't know what he sounded like! That's why I'm so wanting more bootlegs from that tour--I don't mind the quality! ----------------- Listen to an amateur video is available, in addition to Hammersmith. Waaaaahh, why do not more epic bootleg from this tour? : ( PD: About which I consider better tour, it is quite clear ... 1. Crazy Tour 2. Crazy Tour 3. Crazy Tour 4. Crazy Tour 5. Crazy Tour And the worst: 1. Live Killers (Japan) 2. Hot Space Tour (U.S.) 3. Works Tour (1984, except the concert brussels) 4. Day at the Races Tour (Japan) Good, but not exceptional: 1. Hot Space Europe 2. The Game Tour 3. Magic Tour |
| Gregsynth 24.09.2010 00:33 |
Which Crazy Tour was your favorite? :) |
| The Real Wizard 24.09.2010 12:29 |
Ok.. Time to spread some love for the tours that don't get enough of it.. Live Killers (Japan) - Freddie's voice was at its worst on some nights, but the band were absolutely smoking and made up for it. That said, Freddie still sounded great through the Osaka shows, and the Sapporo shows had many great moments. Hot Space tour (North America) - There is a sense of urgency on this tour, as they are trying to make up for the commercial failure of the album. Their choices of songs made this a very difficult task, but their rationale was likely that they wanted to be as current as possible. Their sound was very heavy on this tour, and they performed in the US in a way they hadn't in years - like they had something to prove. Just about every review I've read was incredibly positive, a total 180 from all the other North American tours. Works tour (1984) - There were many great shows from Freddie - Brussels, Dublin, Birmingham, Milan, Stuttgart, and Sun City. This tour gets way too much flack. The setlist was one of their best - a true cross-section of their music. |
| pittrek 24.09.2010 14:54 |
1. Crazy Tour, especially Hammersmith Odeon 79 2. Live Killers tour - Freddie's voice was terrible (but still much better than vocals of today's modern singers), but the band made some perfect performances 3. First Japan tour in 1975 4. Magic Tour - they really conquered the world at this time 5. European Hot Space Tour - I seriously HATE Hot Space, but I absolutely LOVE the live versions of the HS songs, they are so full of energy ... |
| The Real Wizard 24.09.2010 15:56 |
I'll actually answer the original query now. My five favourite tours.. Europe 77 - musically solid, Freddie in great shape North America late 77 - great setlists and flow, long shows Europe 79 - personal affinity to the Live Killers album, and Brian's best guitar tone ever UK 79 - Freddie in brilliant voice Europe 82 - great variation from show to show, and Freddie's r&b influence rules the day I'd include North America 76, but there's only one decent recording to judge it at this point. But if all the shows were as good as Boston, then I'd say that was their best tour overall. Freddie was strong, the band were solid, and the focus was purely on the music, before they became commercial and superstars. By 1977 the visual and showmanship elements started to take over, and the old songs started to get dropped. As much as I love the band's late 70s phase and all the changes they went through, their creative peak was A Night At The Opera, and the tour that followed reflected that peak. It's not that they got any better or worse after 1976 - it was just different. But I do know a lot of people whose cut-off point for Queen is 76-77. |
| neokaden 24.09.2010 19:50 |
[quote] Which Crazy Tour was your favorite? :) [/quote] ---- xD It was just to graph that is the best tour of all time of Queen, and that just shows a total "balance" between the classic Queen and the Queen "Pop" of 80. For example, the Newcastle version of Liar far surpasses any version of this song before and after tours, the same with Bohemian Rhapsody, Somebody To Love and many classics of the 70, in turn, many songs "pop" would come out later, make their appearance now, as Save Me, I earlier songs that were not as classic as Dont Stop Me Now. |
| on my way up 26.09.2010 13:32 |
I truly adore all Queen-tours because it has become one of my hobbies to listen to all their shows and analyse them for my own sake:-) I'm very happy we've had the wonderful Tokyo'75, Boston and Fukuoka '76 shows. Those shows are probably my favourites, next to Freddie's best shows like Copenhagen'78 (brilliant on all levels, also the others are on fire), Newcastle'79, Oakland'80, Tokyo'85 both Budokan, Stockholm'78... If I'd have to choose my favourite setlist it'd be the LA 22/12/1977 show... hearing that show is a dream of mine...:-) With the Works-tour I've got a hate-love relationship. Some shows are among my favourites: Sun City, Stuttgart, Brussels (first night), Budokan shows while others are very average in Queen-terms: most notably London 07/09/1984 (Freddie clearly had a very heavy birthday party:-), Vienna shows (especially the second night); When I first got into collecting the roio's I was totally going for all the Magic tour shows. I'm still very fond of several shows but I wouldn't name it as one of my favourite tours. I really hope Mr. Peach recordings for all Japanese Queen-tours. You can only judge a show when you can listen to it properly... |