The Hot Space tour had some new songs from the newly released album, so they probably had decided to remove Killer Queen from the setlist. Otherwise, there would've been too many songs played on each night of the tour. Of course, Killer Queen wouldn't have made a concert much longer, but don't forget they had either removed some other songs.
Also, it is possible that they thought the song just wouldn't fit in the tour.
It would come back to the setlist in 1984, and I think it really did fit in great at the time.
killer queen (mainly) fitted into a medley....correct me if i'm wrong but i don't recall it ever getting a "full play" live
the HS tour dropped the medley completely?
brENsKi wrote:
killer queen (mainly) fitted into a medley....correct me if i'm wrong but i don't recall it ever getting a "full play" live
the HS tour dropped the medley completely?
That, and I think Mercury just got tired of playing it.
The way he kept changing the melodies by 1980 indicates he was pretty bored with it.
master marathon runner wrote:
'Pretty bored with it' ???!!!!!- crikey, thats my favourite song of all time, you cant slur Freddie like that.
Well, they DID play it on virtually every concert between 1974 and 1981?
It was a staple and is one of the most played live songs by the band. Hot Space tour was quite similar to Magic Tour in that it focused more on the "rocking" songs and less on their old piano-driven material.
I can't find a list of most played live songs but I am quite sure Killer Queen was top 3 with Now I'm Here being #1.
master marathon runner wrote:
'Pretty bored with it' ???!!!!!- crikey, thats my favourite song of all time, you cant slur Freddie like that.
He wasn't perfect - and he certainly had the capacity to get sick of singing songs, particularly ones that he sang every night for 7 years.
By the end of 1980, his readings of the song sounded very forced. Without a doubt that's why they started to weed it out in 1981.
And - did you digitize those Edinburgh 82 pics yet?
Of course, there were great versions of the song live (with the live arrangement) but:
Killer Queen is for me one of the few songs which is superior in the studio to the live versions...
Normally I do not compare live to studio because - to me, and certainly in Queen's case - it are two different things and I do especially enjoy the fact that Queen live a totally different animal:-)
But in Killer Queen's case, it's not just different but it's (certainly most of the time) inferior...
That said, I find Killer Queen one of the most beautiful and important songs in Queen's catalogue. I would even go as far as to say that is about the perfect pop song (of course such a thing does not exist but I'm sure (some of you) know what I mean:-)
Why ask "why"?
I think they played he same songs tour after tour. It became really boring, especially in the 80's. Y'know, "Crazy Little", "AOBTD", "Now I'm Here"(for the billionth time).
PrimeJiveUSA wrote:
Why ask "why"?
I think they played he same songs tour after tour. It became really boring, especially in the 80's. Y'know, "Crazy Little", "AOBTD", "Now I'm Here"(for the billionth time).
well we never got a chance to find out if "they" became bored with CLTCL or AOBTD...they were playing them right up til the end?
unless you're implying that Freddie got so sick of playing those songs, that he went out and deliberately caught HIV just to get away from touring? - it's a stretch, but possible i suppose :-)
thefallenqueen wrote:
At least they also sometimes realized that other songs (e.g. Staying Power) just did not work live and stopped playing them...
Oh come on, Staying Power had a great run.
It's just that it felt shoehorned in poorly during the Works tour while Freddie not being able to deliver it as good as during the end of the European Hot Space Tour.
The list of songs that just didn't plain work is probably pretty short. Most songs that were only played on certain tours were usually dropped to make room for new material.
Only song I can remember that didnt work at all was the full version of Friends Will Be Friends. Even if its slightly fun to listen to them having no idea how to end the song. Looking at the first performance of Dragon Attack that song could have probably been canned for good as well (based on that performance).
I've said this many times ref Killer Queen it never really worked live and the fact when it was played it was part of a medley says it all, its very much a studio recording
OMG - In all the years I've LOVED Queen and all the bootlegs I've had over the years.....I DID NOT KNOW that FWBF was played live in full at any point. Any links, please????
I never thought this song worked well live, and it being awkwardly wedged between WWRY and WATC didn't help. The shortening was an improvement, in my opinion.