| BETA215 20.12.2014 00:05 |
City: London, UK Venue: Hammersmith Odeon Date: December 14, 1973 - late show David Bowie attended this show. While Queen's opening set went without incident, Mott The Hoople's certainly did not. Here is a part of the a review of Mott's set, as reported in the 4-13-74 issue of Sounds: Fuller of themselves than they've ever been, perhaps, the band plays on and on... the safety curtain comes down... Morgan Fisher shoves his piano under it to prevent its descent. Hunter and Bender advance over the catwalk into the very audience... V-signs are flashed and punches thrown... the bouncers put up a fierce last-ditch stand but the front-row kids, Mott's long-time "Lieutenants," swarm on to the stage... chaos. Rock and roll madness rampant. ________________________________________________________ City: Sunbury, Australia Venue: a private farm Date: January 27, 1974 For some reason, Queen (at the time unknown in Australia) were actually the first non-Australian act to play at this festival, something which upset established local bands and promoters. Both Freddie and Brian were ill that day, so overall this day was one of the lowest points of their career. A local DJ named Jim Keays acting as MC introduced Queen as such: "Well, we've got another load of limey bastards tonight. They're probably going to be useless, but let's give them something to think about!" He then mooned the crowd, and proceeded to call the band "stuck up pommies" before leaving the stage. In addition to that, Queen were looked down upon as being snobs for bringing their own lighting rig and crew, and thus their lighting rig was sabotaged by the local roadies. Just before leaving the stage, Freddie allegedly said to the audience, "The next time we visit Australia we'll be one of the biggest bands in the world.". They would return to Australia in 1976, and indeed, by then they were well on their way. Another performance was scheduled for the next day, but the band flew home instead. ________________________________________________________ City: Blackpool, UK Venue: Winter Gardens Date: March 1, 1974 With the new songs White Queen and Seven Seas Of Rhye being performed on this tour, this marks the first time Freddie would be seen on stage playing piano, something which would happen every night for the remainder of their concert career (with the exception of the show in Canvey Island, where the venue only had a Wurlitzer on hand). At many shows on this tour, audiences would sing the British national anthem God Save The Queen, awaiting the band to come on stage for an encore. This would inspire the band to record their own version of the song which would be played at the end of their shows by the autumn of 1974. ________________________________________________________ City: London, UK Venue: Dagenham Roundhouse Date: March 12, 1974 Someone who attended the show recalls there being a complete power failure a few bars into Father To Son. ________________________________________________________ City: Stirling, UK Venue: University Date: March 16, 1974 Here's a translation of a second review of this show from a German magazine: Today we introduce England's new Supergroup "QUEEN" THEIR SHOW WAS TOO HOT For about four years QUEEN have worked as a warm up act for superstar bands. Now they join the circle - because of their hit "Seven Seas of Rhye." Freddie Mercury acts wild on the stage, playing with his microphone, shaking his long black hair and sings "Seven Seas of Rhye." Then it happens - about one hundred fans storm the stage at this Edinburgh [ed. actually Stirling] show. Freddie escaped with a jump off the stage. Roger Taylor (drums) and two roadies didn't have that much luck. The fanatic fans run over them and they get injured, so the show ends up in hospital for them. "That's crazy" said Freddie after the mob has calmed down. They couldn't go on with the show cause their sound system was heavily damaged in the riot. "We've played together for four years now, started in small clubs, and since about a year, we work as warm up acts for harder rock groups like "Mott the Hoople" ... but I've never seen anything like this. I have to be more gentle and not drive the people that wild - otherwise we'll get banned from British stages. And that we don't want." Responsible for all that - Their hit "Seven Seas of Rhye." Within two weeks that song gave them the status as the new "QUEEN" of the British rock camp. "Now we want to get famous in Europe and America - but without any riots. We don't support that kind of thing. Our song is about peaceful and nice things in a fantasy land called Rhye" said Freddie. ________________________________________________________ City: Cromer, UK Venue: Links Pavilion Date: March 23, 1974 After the band played Seven Seas Of Rhye, an audience member led some people in the front rows to sing the "I do like to be beside the seaside" bit as it's heard on the album. Freddie reportedly addressed him, saying, "Shut up, you drunk." ________________________________________________________ City: Harrisburg, PA, USA Venue: Farm Arena Date: May 1, 1974 Both Queen and Aerosmith were booked to open for Mott The Hoople. While the two bands argued backstage over who would play first, Brian May and Joe Perry (both of whom couldn't care less about who played when) took the time to get to know each other while sharing a bottle of Jack Daniel's. By the time the bands reached an agreement, both May and Perry couldn't stand up straight. Brian recalls that when the concert began and he played the first chord of Father To Son, he couldn't hear much besides the echo, so he had to play the whole concert from memory. The next day he was told that his performance was akin to coming out of his shell, making his playing fiery and spicy. That said, because of this experience he promised himself to never again have more than one drink before playing. (I would love to hear that fiery and spicy guitar solo.) ________________________________________________________ City: East Rutherford, NJ, USA Venue: Brendan Byrne Arena Date: August 9, 1982 A fan wrote to Brian at his Soapbox about the show: During the show you had problems with The Old Lady and came out with the Birch copy. Then the birch copy had some problems and you threw it and your roadie missed it I think because he held up something that looked like a broken Birch Guitar. You then played a good part of the concert on a Flying V. I remember wishing I had a camera to see you playing on the V. You played Life is real while repairs were being done. Freddie even joked if someone had an extra guitar to please bring it up. After the break in BORHAP you came back with the Old Lady." Brian's reply: You evidently saw a special night ... the only night when I ever threw a guitar off stage in despair ! And, yes, I did hit the ground behind the stage - I'm pretty sure I thought I was throwing to someone, but evidently I misjudged it. And, yes, its neck snapped clean through. I kept it for a while, intending to get it fixed. But we decided it would probably never be good at staying in tune, because it wasn't a very rigid instrument. And not being able to get it tune was what drove me to distraction that night, and this was what led to its demise! As I remember, this was on top of having problems with the Red Special in the beginning - in the heat of the moment, this was the final straw ! I imagine your bootleg of the show will rev |
| BETA215 20.12.2014 00:06 |
in the moment... I don't like giving people less than the best. So this picture really does tell a story ... a unique story. I wonder what happened to the Flying V ... As for the Birch guitar, well, we lent it Guild, to compare, while they were making their Red specials under license in the 80's. Then we all forgot about it for many years. Then it turned up, and thanks to a friend (I think I told the story here) it now resides back with me. We have decided to keep it as it is, in pieces, just for historical interest, for the same reasons as before. ________________________________________________ I hope you enjoyed it! Thanks to The Real Wizard for all the hard work and time spent in his page. :) |
| The Real Wizard 20.12.2014 02:23 |
BETA215 wrote: I would love to hear that fiery and spicy guitar solo.Me too ! Glad you've enjoyed reading :-) |
| tomchristie22 20.12.2014 02:30 |
Their reception at that early Australian show sounds like it was ridiculously prejudiced. Shame. Meh, sounds like they couldn't touch Freddie's confidence anyway, and he was right that they'd be world famous! |
| Vocal harmony 20.12.2014 06:03 |
Queenlive.ca is a brilliantly researched collection of info on Queens touring career. A far more reliable source than Greg Brooks' book which unfortunately falls short so often. |
| brunogorski 20.12.2014 16:42 |
Great topic. :) |
| The King Of Rhye 20.12.2014 18:24 |
Holy crap..........thats your site, Real Wizard??? Ha........been checking that out for a while and I never even knew! |
| The Real Wizard 21.12.2014 01:16 |
The wonders of this world go on :-) |
| BETA215 21.12.2014 01:48 |
If you like, I can do a second part. That website deserves the attention it starts to get |
| Chief Mouse 21.12.2014 02:43 |
This was great! Thanks for all the hard work, Bob :-) |
| brunogorski 21.12.2014 12:54 |
It would be really cool, Beta! Do a second, third part! :P (By the way BETA, can you please check your FUCKING MESSAGES?! I'VE SENT YOU A PM 4 YEARS AGO AND YOU DIDN'T ANSWER ME. JESUS CHRIST. IS IT SO HARD TO CHECK YOUR PRIVATE MESSAGES, THIS MAGIC THING THAT NOBODY USES?! COME ON!!! [Just kidding, sent it 15 days ago. :/ ) |
| BETA215 21.12.2014 14:19 |
brunogorski wrote: It would be really cool, Beta! Do a second, third part! :P (By the way BETA, can you please check your FUCKING MESSAGES?! I'VE SENT YOU A PM 4 YEARS AGO AND YOU DIDN'T ANSWER ME. JESUS CHRIST. IS IT SO HARD TO CHECK YOUR PRIVATE MESSAGES, THIS MAGIC THING THAT NOBODY USES?! COME ON!!! [Just kidding, sent it 15 days ago. :/ )I don't know what happens, but I'm having problems with the PMs. I don't receive every PM you send me (for example, your), and you don't receive every PM I send you (for example, a PM I'm trying to send to The Real Wizard). |
| brunogorski 21.12.2014 17:40 |
Weird. õ_o |
| The Real Wizard 23.12.2014 01:07 |
Make sure you get the little yellow box that says the message was sent. If not, then go back, right click and copy your text, and start over. |