new to the boards, but have been reacing through it lots lately.
in the 'what was freddys best live vocal performance' i was surprised 'somebody to love at milton keynes' wasnt a run away winner as far as the votes go.
for me, its the best live performance ive ever heard. period.
freddy had so much work to do with that performance, and he absolutely nailed it with precision from start to finish. the memory needed alone is off the charts. the bum slam on the piano at the end was even in key lol. his voice cracks once, but its slight, and as with FM..it doesnt detract but actually ads to the song.
so im very interested in hearing the real switched on music people here, whether that performance had some detractions, that im not aware of and havent
picked up.
cheers.
I've been at the Bowl, but I never saw or heard Freddy....
But you're right about STL, it is a good perfomance, high up in the ranks for the best live perfomance vocal wise, but in the top 10.
Yes! Milton Keynes and Sao Paulo I always thought were the two best live renditions of that song...Brian a little less impressive in Sao Paulo lol. The Hammersmith 79 show was also a strong showing from Freddie vocally.
I've always enjoyed that song live. The bit towards the end where Freddie gets to improvise vocally is what makes each one unique.
In my opinion, the period 1979 - 1982 was the best as far as live performances are concerned. That was the peak performance and the band was trully on fire. Love every bootleg. Also, Freddie's interpretation of Imagine, right after Lennon's death, is in my view, the best perforamce of that song ever.
i used to think that the seattle 77 version of STL was the pinnacle...
but then for years i put the one vocal fuck up down to nervous energy
but it does actually sound like Freddie's vocal chords are shredding
I was there back in 82. I hitch hiked from Portsmouth and got a lift from a channel 4 bloke who said he was filming it for the tube on ch 4.
I've seen Queen about 9 times and this version of S to L is lush and spot on. The ending is so tight and oo just Fab ...1, 2, 3, yeah! Fucking love it.
And Freddie bring them off at the end with Professional, Camp preciseness....Brilliant!
People forget What a Pro he was.
link
at 5:55 "yup" with the slight hand clap.
at 6.53 the pressure to go from "find me find me find me to - HIGH NOTE "whoaaaa..." if he messes that high sound/note, it would have been obvious to all. but he delivers it in key.
and then his timing to get the jumping up the steps on stage and the fist pump to coincide with the close off. it was perfect.
little things like that just resonate with me. have listened to this version about 542 times and i reckon i have about 542 more to go. :)
where was this version at? link
im not too keen on it...does freddy start singing in the wrong key when he is handed the microphone/gets up from piano) ... its at 2:16. ????
plus it seems like the improvised stuff winding up to close off the song is very ad lib and not rehersed. the milton keynes version is so much more precise, melodic and really seems part of the song.
ixtapa wrote:link
im not too keen on it...does freddy start singing in the wrong key when he is handed the microphone/gets up from piano) ... its at 2:16. ????
No, he is not.
He is just improvising in a way that less musical trained ears may think he is off-key.
The Earls court has to be my fav, one of their first time live performances of the song. Along with all of the 77 performances it was a huge step into the unknown for a band who wrote the complicated Bohem Rhap and as of that day at the races tour, they had just found a technique that would allowed them to play the complete song and that difficult opera middle section. I guess they were thinking about how the three of them were going to pull of this performance with the multi layered harmonies, as a result John was needed to give it that thickness which was one of the first definite time you could clearly hear his voice and funnily enough ended up after this tour with his mic being permanently turned down barring an odd mistake by the roddies
Quote from that Queen live website..
The band initially thought Somebody To Love would be difficult to perform live, with the absence of the dozens of voices on the record. In a March 1977 interview, Roger Taylor stated, "Somebody To Love was hard to do because there are so many voices on the record that I didn't know if we'd be able to do it. I enjoy playing it now, but when we first started the tour, we were dreading it when it came round in the set."