I'm sure we've all heard several gigs from the Jazz/Live Killers tour of 1978-1979, so why the hell was Freddie's voice always so weak? From the start of the tour in Dallas, to the end of the tour in Sapporo 7 months later, he always sounded tired and his range. was always shot. Of course there were a lot of gigs that he sounded better and worse at but for the most part, he was always in weak voice compared to other tours. Nonetheless, the band are still in great shape and he manages to put on great shows (most of the time).
What bewilders me the most is that they had a one month break between the NA and European leg of the tour, and as you would expect that to be enough time for someone's voice to heal, Freddie's voice just sounds WORSE when he starts the European leg. And we all know what happens in Japan. :)
There are several things I have thought of that answers the question of why he was always so weak even though they had at least a month break between each leg:
1. Being the partyer he was, Freddie spent most nights between each leg partying and wearing out his voice
2. The band started the tour too soon after the Jazz recording sessions and it set off Freddie's rhythm
3. His nodes just didn't cooperate
Ideas?
I think it may just be he wore it out during the studio sessions and started touring to soon without getting to rest and his voice probably never healed and those damn nodes never went away until after Japan.
To me, the JAZZ tour was the equivalant to the Stones' tour of '72. Rock and Roll excess to the 10th power. I agree with the above posts... a lot of partying on Fred's part. And then again he's always had a history of throat problems and the weather here in 78 for the first leg of the tour was cold. Especially in the Chicago area! That was probably one of their longest tours also.
Jazz 78 wrote: To me, the JAZZ tour was the equivalant to the Stones' tour of '72. Rock and Roll excess to the 10th power. I agree with the above posts... a lot of partying on Fred's part. And then again he's always had a history of throat problems and the weather here in 78 for the first leg of the tour was cold. Especially in the Chicago area! That was probably one of their longest tours also.
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not that its just in Chicago, you can take in consideration that it was winter and Queen toured the North of the US and Canada, Obviously it was cold.
Ya but they did the same thing for the News of the World tour in late 1977 and toured the same area but Freddie was much better and after the break, he actually sounded refreshed and not worse.
From what I heard, Freddie disbanded since 1978 (more than it already was), andamong other things began to stay up late at night and sleep during the day.
While this does not explain the disaster in Japan, and also during the tour in that country,Freddie spent more Japanese to visit the country (it was his favorite)
Nor does it explain his bad voice quality during January 1979.
In simple accounts, the only logical explanation I find is that Freddie had a delicatethroat, and probably affected him quite abrupt changes in temperature and humidity,such as the climate of Britain, (wet and cold) climate is very different Germany, or the climate of France and Spain, and that could have affected more than usual in jazzperformance tour. (also adding that he had vocal nodules in 1979)
That can happen to anyone, for example I often sing, and had a voice in very poor condition in Arica, Chile (Zona desert, warm, dry and dusty), but now I'm on Valparaiso(More wet and cool) My voice recovered.
If you look good in concert, their best performances got them in England, Ireland andScotland. (Crazy tour, and Live Aid are very good examples)
The case of Japan is a good point if this is a country with a very changing climate, hashot and humid summers, and winters are very dry and cold, depending on the place is also usually affected by snow. Spring in particular has a very changing climate, with cool nights and very hot days.
Freddie may have been affected by this, and that would explain his voice unsteady, evenat times when his voice who was in better shape (February 1981).
Nevertheless, it seems that the case of 1979, is a very timely event, to hear therecordings, Freddie sounded fairly well for the jazz standard tour until April 22, 1979,after that, his voice deteriorated too much, and then again to acquire the jazz standardtour during the first days of May.
I guess that week must have had a cold, as it showed in his interviews that Tocia all the time, or who had difficulty speaking, on the other hand a week is just the period in which a person is slow to recover from a cold .
My point is the case in Japan during 1979, could not have been vocal nodules, since these take a long time to heal, and the improvement that has Freddie from May 1 through May 5, is pretty incredible too much to be just a matter of vocal nodules.