| cmsdrums 11.09.2014 04:02 |
Just wanted to comment on something that has for years been a hot topic, and has been fuelled by the fantastic Rainbow release - Queen's set list content in later years. Now I know that with such a vast and varied catalogue there was always room for more changes than we got, but when analysing a bit deeper, things were not as always clear cut as we seem to make out. We always clamour for more early stuff, and album tracks, and the concensus towards the The Works and Magic Tours was that they 'sold out' and just delivered 'the big hits' but is that really the case: Keep Yourself Alive: Present on every tour until the Magic Tour, then reintroduced with Adam Lambert Liar: Present on every tour until the Magic Tour, and even then a segment was 'teased' to start 'Tear it Up' Seven Seas of Rhye: Played on both The Works and Magic Tours Now I'm Here: An ever present from the SHA tour onwards, and reintroduced in 2014 In The Lap of the Gods.. Revisited: An album track played for several tours, and suprisingly reimagined for the Magic tour, and back in 2014 with AL Killer Queen: Mostly an ever present until the Magic Tour, and back again now Somebody to Love: As per 'Killer Queen' We Will Rock You (fast): A set staple only dropped for The Works onwards, but again, performed in 2012 Dragon Attack: An album track in until the Magic Tour, and again back in '39: non single, and always in Dreamers Ball: Non single that was played extensively on the 'Jazz' tours The Hero: An unexpected inclusion alongside 'Flash'? In addition, on live outings post Freddie we have had material from The Miracle, Innuendo and Made In Heaven (and Queen Forever!), with treats such as 'Bijou' and 'Love Kills' as real suprises. Even No-One But You on a couple of occasions. I think the fact that we are SO familiar with the singles from The Works and Magic that we see them as old and tired,and I think that is where the problem lies ('familiarity breeds contempt' and all that) - in reality they only appeared on their respective album tours (which is absolutely right) and so were in the set for a far shorter period than the early tracks I have listed above. It would be interesting to hear if any older fans that saw them in, say, 79, 80, 81 were saying at the time, "oh, not Liar again", "I wish they'd drop Killer Queen" etc..etc... My biggest suprise is that with 'The Game' being one of their most succesful albums, only 'Crazy Little Thing Called love', 'Another One Bites The Dust' and, suprisingly 'Dragon Attack' really lasted beyond the tour for that album. 'Save Me' and 'Play The Game' really deserved more outings, along with 'Need Your Loving Tonight' and 'Sail Away Sweet Sister'. Anyway, just my musings that perhaps we haven't always been quite so hard done by as we sometimes think...... Any thoughts guys and gals? |
| mike hunt 11.09.2014 04:44 |
I think it's cool we got the rainbow shows and the early 80s and the Magic tour on DVD, along with live killers, it's the perfect blend of hits and non hits. The Heavy days of the early 70s and the more pop hits of the 80s. Maybe a late 70s show on DVD will complete the list. |
| Oscar J 11.09.2014 06:46 |
Play The Game and Save Me were played during the Hot Space tour as well. |
| thomasquinn 32989 11.09.2014 06:52 |
Basically, TS has just proven that the Magic Tour had a much poorer setlist than any tour before it, without even mentioning that no Queen-tour before it ever had so little variation in sets from night to night. Also, I've never heard anyone complain about the SETLISTS for the Works tour. I *have* heard many complaints about the SOUND of the Works tour, particularly the drums. |
| cmsdrums 11.09.2014 07:07 |
thomasquinn 32989 wrote: Basically, TS has just proven that the Magic Tour had a much poorer setlist than any tour before it, without even mentioning that no Queen-tour before it ever had so little variation in sets from night to night. Also, I've never heard anyone complain about the SETLISTS for the Works tour. I *have* heard many complaints about the SOUND of the Works tour, particularly the drums.Whilst I would have preferred some more non album tracks on the Magic Tour, I'm not sure you can give "proof" of it being "poorer"; surely it comes down to personal preference? To start with, One Vision, A Kind of Magic, Who Wants To Live Forever and Friends Will be Friends could not have ever appeared before the Magic tour and were promoting the new album, so were expected and welcomed for their first live outing. Then you have Radio Ga Ga, Hammer To Fall, Tear It Up, I Want To Break Free and Is This The World We Created..? which were all only one tour old, and so fairly fresh to both the band and the audience. Add in Seven Seas of Rhye, and In The Lap of the Gods.. Revisited and that's two old classics that would have been welcomed by the vast majority. Tie Your Mother Down was expected, but was possible the best live version of the track for a long time. Now I'm Here could have bene dropped to be honest. Love Of My Life had always been the standard singlaong/interaction moment and no-one would expect that to be missing? A handful of unexpected covers was actually a suprise. Another One Bites the Dust saw it's best live version, and Under Pressure was at the time their only other no 1 single in the UK (after Bo Rhap) so is justified. Bo Rhap, WWRY and We Are The Champions are probably the only three absolute certs. Whilst not a fan of the Magic Tour NOW because of the familiarity of the versions, at the time I thought it worked very well, and so am just outlining the above as a counter of your claim to "proof" that it was "poorer" than others. I do agree however that The Works tour setlist was a corker, with a great mix of tracks, but just sadly (as you say) suffering from a really poor audio mix and sound on all fronts, and a below par performance at a number of shows. |
| Doga 11.09.2014 07:43 |
I always had the impression that during the Magic Tour Queen wanted to copy the Live Aid show. the second part of the magic tour shows have the same setlist than the Live Aid, in earlier gigs of the tour even We Will Rock You was shortened to one verse. |
| cmsdrums 11.09.2014 08:55 |
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| Vocal harmony 11.09.2014 09:27 |
The sound on The Works tour was defined and loud. The one thing that didn't sit well was RT's use of pads for some portions of some songs, that wasn't a sound issue but rather a musical choice of instrument type. The PA ( Clair Brothers s4 and subs ) was the same as the two previous tours, as was the FOH guy ( Trip ). Audience recordings from any tour only show how the band were playing, and maybe whether or not the vocals were audible. The overall real sound will never transfer accurately from a venues vast ambience through a small mic in to a hand held recorder. |
| queenfan78.1 11.09.2014 11:22 |
Keep Yourself Alive: Present on every tour until the Magic Tour, then reintroduced with Adam Lambert Liar: Present on every tour until the Magic Tour, and even then a segment was 'teased' to start 'Tear it Up' Seven Seas of Rhye: Played on both The Works and Magic Tours Now I'm Here: An ever present from the SHA tour onwards, and reintroduced in 2014 In The Lap of the Gods.. Revisited: An album track played for several tours, and suprisingly reimagined for the Magic tour, and back in 2014 with AL Killer Queen: Mostly an ever present until the Magic Tour, and back again now Somebody to Love: As per 'Killer Queen' We Will Rock You (fast): A set staple only dropped for The Works onwards, but again, performed in 2012 Dragon Attack: An album track in until the Magic Tour, and again back in '39: non single, and always in Dreamers Ball: Non single that was played extensively on the 'Jazz' tours The Hero: An unexpected inclusion alongside 'Flash'? All due respect, but keep yourself alive wasn't played on the hot space tour, Liar wasn't played after '77, a couple times in '79 and '82. '39 wasn't performed after '79. Just saying. I like the magic tour, but always felt they should have played with the set list more. |
| queenfan78.1 11.09.2014 11:25 |
Sorry, forgot about the short version of liar from '84 |
| Oscar J 11.09.2014 12:08 |
cmsdrums wrote: Tie Your Mother Down was expected, but was possible the best live version of the track for a long time.Compared to the 70's versions, it sounds like Status Quo. It's so tame! |
| ANAGRAMER 11.09.2014 12:31 |
Let's not forget the inclusion of FWBF in the magic tour set list ..... Oooft |
| Oscar J 11.09.2014 13:08 |
I hate Friends Will Be Friends! :( |
| TomP63 11.09.2014 15:51 |
But then again, Hammer To Fall, live at Wembley is a stunning version, speaking of a tame version, I found the versions as on the Works Tour a bit tame, hasty done so the speak. At Live Aid Hammer To Fall is almost flawless, but the defintive version, for me that is, must be the Wembley one... Tom |
| dysan 11.09.2014 15:56 |
Good thread. I would be happy replacing the covers on the Magic Tour for some other Queen songs. Actually, with a few exceptions, I could loose the covers from most of the gigs. Exception to the rule - the edit of the RNR Medley on Rare Live is probably my favourite Queen moment. |
| tomchristie22 11.09.2014 16:30 |
The Tutti Frutti cover from the Magic Tour was pretty awesome, I wouldn't have had them get rid of that. |
| Oscar J 12.09.2014 00:11 |
I love when they did Big Spender and Bama Lama Bama Loo in the early years. |
| Martin Packer 12.09.2014 01:37 |
I actually rather like FWBF ON RECORD but I suspect it's a bit like WATC: Something put in for a good concert singalong. Interesting people don't like the live rendering of it. For once I have no opinion. :-) |
| dysan 12.09.2014 02:35 |
I like FWBF on Live Magic - great that they tried to freshen up the WWRY / WATC finale. Commendable. Would've been even more fantastic if they'd stuck ITLOTG...R in there at the end too. Just like the old days. MAybe it was a bit too obscure by that point?. |
| musicland munich 12.09.2014 02:45 |
The thing I was always annoying is that they played some of their 70's tunes a little bit hastily and uninspired on the "Magic Tour". It's just my personal point of view of course...someone with a same feeling or is it just me ? |
| tomchristie22 12.09.2014 06:03 |
musicland munich wrote: The thing I was always annoying is that they played some of their 70's tunes a little bit hastily and uninspired on the "Magic Tour". It's just my personal point of view of course...someone with a same feeling or is it just me ?For sure. Now I'm Here is much faster and less melodic, Seven Seas of Rhye is brief and a complete bore compared to the versions from the early-mid seventies, Lap of the Gods Revisited drops the second verse and replaces all the chorus lyrics with the 'whoah's from the Coda. Very underwhelming. |
| Vocal harmony 12.09.2014 09:56 |
The older, early album, songs on the Magic Tour kind of felt like. Here's a little bit of what we used to do, but that's not us now. Let's get on with some 80's stuff. |
| brENsKi 12.09.2014 10:12 |
yeah it did ^^^ quite a bit. almost like "oh for fucks sake, we'll get lynched if we don't" which is bizarre when you consider that queen's love for doing cover versions of older songs live never waned throughout touring career. even the magic tour included: Gimme Some Lovin' You're So Square Hello, Mary-Lou Tutti-Fruiti almost as if they love playing old stuff...just NOT their own old stuff |
| j0ck3 12.09.2014 12:45 |
Wasn't the Magic Tour unique in that it also was the only tour in their entire time with Freddie where they did not play Jailhouse Rock at all? My memory is a bit iffy, but I'm quite sure the only time Jailhouse wasn't a staple was during the Jazz and Hot Space Tours where it was only performed at a few select shows. |
| Holly2003 14.09.2014 04:24 |
Song choices for the Magic Tour were driven by the massive stadium venues, so they went for songs they considered would reach the whole crowd i.e. big anthems, big hits, and well-known covers. |
| Vocal harmony 14.09.2014 08:14 |
Holly2003 wrote: Song choices for the Magic Tour were driven by the massive stadium venues, so they went for songs they considered would reach the whole crowd i.e. big anthems, big hits, and well-known covers.Yes that's exactly what they did, however was it really what they had to do. If you ever get a chance to see Muse, in a big open air stadium, yes they play the hits, but they also dig into their albums and play things that are of interest to genuine fans The Rolling Stones were/are the same. Yes on the Magic tour they performed a few older songs as mentioned but it was things that had been played countless times before. For a band with such a wealth of material they seemed to choose from a very narrow field |
| Holly2003 14.09.2014 11:02 |
No they didn;t have to do that but it must;ve seemed the thing to do back then for their first and last European stadium tour. Maybe they took some tips from their experiences in South America? In any event, it was hugely successful. But I take your point about setlists. I don;t like edited versions of songs, live or otherwise, and I think the Magic Tour setlist was a bit dull. |