Im just wondering how clearly John's bass could be heard at concerts. We can't really tell from dvd's and cd's becuase it largely depends on the mixing and recording. There bass was easily heard on the albums but was it like this live, becuase some bands i've seen have droned out bass in concerts.
Download some non-soundboard bootlegs and hear by yourself.
To me, it's loud enough. All the instruments can be heard cleary enough. Sometimes drums can't be heard well, but that's a problem with the recordings, not really with the concert.
I saw them twice in their hey day and to answer your question YES... it was definitely loud enough. To be quite honest with you their shows were fucking LOUD. It was great!!! John and Roger held down a solid back section especially when Brian had a solo. The sound engineer Trip Khalef did a great job back then which is probably why he was out with them last year. But yeah, John was loud enough...
I saw Queen perform live on three different occasions. Yes, John's bass was loud, but it was very well balanced with the other components of the music and the show. The focal point of a Queen concert was nearly always on Freddie, so it was important that neither the bass nor Brian's guitar (nor the drums) drown out or otherwise overshadow Freddie. As a point of reference, it was never so loud as to be deafening ala Entwistle with The Who.
I saw them when I was a kid and the thing I remember was how loud it was.
It was way loud, my seven year old ears had never experienced anything like it, it was almost too much and made me uncomfortable at first.
Soon my ears adjusted though.
I saw them 6 times, 7 if you count the truly awful Queen + PR at MEN in Manchester, and they usually got a good balance for all the instruments. John's bass was loud enough when required and quiet enough when it wasn't.