what do people (the good fans, not the people who think all the members of queen are gay etc) know about freddie mercury on stage? that he could entertain a crowd. that he had an incredibly tight relationship with an audience, and was able to communicate with them as if they were the only one in the audience. that he had an incredible singing voice, able to hit notes with such precision and beauty it put most other singers to shame.
i could go on.
but i've found a new thing to love about freddie.
singers should know their words on stage. and many of them don't forget too often. neither did freddie.
however, queen's lyrics were a lot harder to remember than most other groups. they were very intricite. and so far as i know, queen switched up the songs on a fairly regular basis. and as a result of that, freddie had a lot of lines to remember, and he scarcely forgot any of them. yes, he practised, and practised makes perfect, we know, but it's still pretty impressive if you ask me
I'm amazed at his movements on stage what with lights flashing on and off and changing colors (good grief, I have enough trouble walking into a dark movie theater), running up and down stairs, not tripping over microphone cords, maneuvering through smoke. It's a good thing/plan that John and Brian were relatively motionless so he didn't have to concern himself with crashing into them as he moved about on stage. I know nothing about spotlights, but he seemed to always be in the right place at the right time.
carboengine wrote: I'm amazed at his movements on stage what with lights flashing on and off and changing colors (good grief, I have enough trouble walking into a dark movie theater), running up and down stairs, not tripping over microphone cords, maneuvering through smoke. It's a good thing/plan that John and Brian were relatively motionless so he didn't have to concern himself with crashing into them as he moved about on stage. I know nothing about spotlights, but he seemed to always be in the right place at the right time.
yeah you know? i watch bands like silvertide nad chili peppers where the guys pretty much jump all over the place nad how they donty run into eachother is beyond me!
freddie DID forget his lines...often enough to be remembered...and also he got his time=ings wrong from time to time...either coming in too early or two late
also think there's once where he song the verses of one song in the wrong order
Also, they didn't switch up the songs very much. Setlists remained fairly constant.
Calling Brian motionless is a bit of an overstatement. He may not have sprinted back and forth, but he did his share of moving.
I recommend listening to some more concerts to hear that Freddie quite infrequently "hit such notes". That's not to say that he wasn't amazing, just that his LIVE greatness was much different than his STUDIO greatness.
I still belive that Queen's worst concert was probably better than many band's best.
There's a moment during Live Aid where you can see Freddie's mic wire move as if someone stumbled over it while he was singing. He didn't miss a beat, he simply continued singing, gripped the wire in his fist and held on. If he hadn't, a second later, it would have been yanked right out of his hand. I just love that bit of extra awareness on his part.
It's during Hammer to Fall, not long after he grinds the cameraman. ;-)
Rien wrote: one of the things I remember him doing live is looking straight into my eyes for a few seconds while was singing. True!
Something I'll never forget.
Rien wrote: one of the things I remember him doing live is looking straight into my eyes for a few seconds while was singing. True!
Something I'll never forget.