When you see Freddie perform live it was always on big stages with plenty of high platforms and stairs for Freddie to move around on. How did he cope in indoor theatres,venues etc.
I mean Queen are coming to Leeds indoor arena next year which hasnt a massive stage and Im thinking would Freddie in the day have wanted custom built platforms and areas to roam around whilst performing in such an arena or did he play in such venues without the platforms in the 80s?
He coped it like a fish in the water.
It is Freddie Mercury,you can ask nothing more,he is a real deal when it comes to play in front indoors,venues,stadiums.
Freddie had that something!
It wasn't until the 80's that they really started to do those huge arenas regularly, so they were probably quite comfortable with doing smaller indoor shows. There are footage from plenty of small 70's shows to study if you're interested.
barnsleybob wrote:
Thankyou Mr Mouth.
Master M.R. keep your trap shut unless you have something better to say.
google/youtube are your friend.
and in this instance i can undertsand his "groan" - because it's fairly obvious that Freddie must've done "small stages" at some point - all bands have to start somewhere.
master marathon runner wrote:
,/Thanks brenski.spot on
But does it actually answer the question in any way?
A actual answer to the question might come e.g. from comparing the 1986 performances from Wembley and Montreux.
It's not an ideal comparison because the Montreux show is mimed, but it does tell you about the differences between performing on a stadium vs. a small theatre.
barnsleybob wrote:
When you see Freddie perform live it was always on big stages with plenty of high platforms and stairs for Freddie to move around on. How did he cope in indoor theatres,venues etc.
I mean Queen are coming to Leeds indoor arena next year which hasnt a massive stage and Im thinking would Freddie in the day have wanted custom built platforms and areas to roam around whilst performing in such an arena or did he play in such venues without the platforms in the 80s?
Leeds Arena, like most arena's has a 60x40 in house stage platform. This is a standard size. But when Queen tour arena's, like a number of other artists the in house stage isn't used, they tour with their own production including staging. As you will see from photos of the Works tour or the US Hot Space tour or any other arena show they played, the stage is the same from venue to venue.
The current tour is no different, they are touring with a stage platform that is 75 ft wide and 40 ft deep with a long curved walkway that extends from behind and above the drum kit to the B stage on the arena floor. The set up will be the same whether it's a show in Leeds, London or any other city.
The reason for the high walk ways each side of the stage at outdoor shows is because the size of the venues mean that the audience covers a wider and deeper area, so rather then keep the physical activity of the bands performance to one single level area it makes sense to use as much of the stage structure as possible, if you have a performer or band that are comfortable doing so.
You could argue that Freddie did better on bigger stages because they more naturally fit his (developing) act. Which was essentially "largeing it".
To my mind his 80's stage performances were better - and I saw him & them on 4 tours 80, 82, 84, 86, and I'd add Live Aid which I saw on TV - then eg Rainbow 74.
But your opinion might differ. And that's fine.
Freddie developed very quickly into a performer who could handle a large audience and cope with performing on a large stage. Many don't. I know it's old now but look at Live Aid, the whole day, not many artists at wembley knew how to put themselves over to such a large crowd.
One of my best live memories is the Crazy Tour. They had been playing arenas and returned to the UK to play small venues. The impact of seeing them assaulting theatre sized venues as if they were arenas was mind blowing.
I liked Freddie staging most from 1977-1979, with all the outrageous outfits and champagne. I also preferred how he during that period called the audience a "load of tarts" and stuff like that rather than "beauties" or "beautiful people" in the middle 80's.