Queen: The Complete Works

by Georg Purvis

September 18: Omnisports, Paris, France

  September 20: Groenoordhalle, Leiden, Holland

  September 21: Forêt Nationale, Brussels, Belgium

  September 22: Europhalle, Hannover, Germany

  September 24: Deutschlandhalle, Berlin, Germany

  September 26: Festhalle, Frankfurt, Germany

  September 27: Schleyerhalle, Stuttgart, Germany

  September 29/30: Stadhalle, Vienna, Austria

  After a nearly two-year vacation from live performance, Queen decided to tour their new album The Works, which was released in February 1984, yet, for some unfathomable reason, no live dates came around until over six months later. Peter “Ratty” Hince, head of the road crew, recalled later that discussions were taking place for a North American tour, though these were ultimately scrapped with dates never materializing.

  It’s also possible that Freddie was now in no condition to perform lengthy American tours. Listening to several recordings from the 1984 tours, it’s clear his voice was dodgy night after night, with rumours circulating that he would have to undergo throat surgery. Instead, his doctors ordered him to rest; after the onslaught of gigs in 1984, the next year’s tour would consist of only a handful of dates. Another reason for the long delay was that Freddie was in the process of recording his solo album. There’s no doubting that the band weren’t entirely pleased with this, but they respected his wishes: knowing what a perfectionist Freddie was, the band knew the project would likely take a long period of time to complete; indeed, the album would finally be released in April 1985. This caused the press to speculate – and often opine – that Queen were going to break up, starting the tradition of Freddie publically dismissing these rumours.

  Rehearsals were held sporadically throughout the summer of 1984, and saw a drastic change in the chosen songs. Gone was the introductory fast version of ‘We Will Rock You’, as well as most of the Hot Space material. ‘Staying Power’ survived for the first half of the tour, as an abridged introduction to ‘Dragon Attack’, but the most tantalising segment of the show was a heavily restructured medley. Oddly, there were three sets of medleys: the first included ‘Somebody To Love’, ‘Killer Queen’, ‘Seven Seas Of Rhye’, ‘Keep Yourself Alive’ and ‘Liar’; the second consisted of the ‘Mustapha’ intro (depending on the date), ‘Staying Power’, ‘Dragon Attack’ and ‘Now I’m Here’; the third, and most interesting, was ‘Stone Cold Crazy’, ‘Great King Rat’, keyboard and guitar solos from Spike and Brian respectively, and the conclusion of ‘Brighton Rock’.

  The band had dropped their newer songs in favour of a blast from the past, which satisfied older fans, and only confirmed that this tour was designed as cross-section of Queen’s entire discography, promoting not the new album but Queen as a brand: for the first time in several years, three songs from the first and third albums were performed, with over half of the material drawn from the 1970s. Once the band found an acceptable running order, the set remained static throughout the year, though one necessary change happened in Hannover, when Freddie slipped during ‘Hammer To Fall’ and damaged his knee. He was helped to the piano and the set was curtailed, with ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, ‘We Will Rock You’ and ‘We Are The Champions’ finishing up the night. Of the new material, ‘I Want To Break Free’ got a huge reception as an encore number, with Freddie relishing in his cross-dressing image from the accompanying video, bounding onstage in a pair of falsies and a wig, discarding the former midway through the performance. Other toys were more contentious for instrumentally-minded fans: Roger insisted on playing electronic drums on ‘Another One Bites The Dust’ – not as accents, as on the previous tour, but as the main instrument. The result sounds tinny and extremely dated.

  The tour started on 24 August in Brussels, which was more or less a warm-up gig (and an opportunity to film the ‘Hammer To Fall’ promotional video), before winding its way through Eire, England, Germany, Italy (their first-ever live dates there) and Austria. At Queen’s London shows, Brian’s daughter Louisa was in attendance, witnessing her father in action for the very first time. He dedicated ‘Love Of My Life’ to her, and even played a snippet of Brahms’ ‘Lullaby’ in the solo. The following night, Roger’s son Felix was in the audience, and Brian once again addressed the youth: “I would like to dedicate this song to all the children in the audience... of any age at all. And especially to young Felix because it’s his first concert. He’s gonna be the drummer in the band one day.” Not quite: Felix’s brother, Rufus, would play with Brian on his 2011 tour with Kerry Ellis, though Felix would sing vocals on his father’s ‘Woman You’re So Beautiful (But Still A Pain In The Ass)’ single in 2006. The band recorded all of the London shows, with the intent of releasing a follow-up to Live Killers, though these plans were ultimately scrapped.

  The British press were still on the attack. Sounds, reviewing the Birmingham gig, had a bone to pick with the fans: “The disciples are here in their thousands, and at a mere glimpse of their heroes they become so noisy, so full of joy, it’s like they actually believe in this band; like their lives are fully dependent on them; it’s almost as if they honestly look upon Queen as (sincere, respectufl [sic] tones) IMPORTANT. Freddie Mercury is aware of this, knows exactly how they feel, and agrees with them completely. An explosion of sound and light: the crowd gasps. So many important songs to come, so much serious ‘quality’ music to enjoy. There’s ‘Radio Ga Ga’, there’s ‘I Want To Break Free’, there’s ... endless crap.”

  Melody Maker, in a typo-ridden and poorly-researched review, seethed viciously, “Naively hoping to hear a selection of the very best singles which this band have produced over the years, we were treated (sic) instead to the biggest grossout this side of Giant Haystacks’ beergut. All horrible frenzied guitar breaks, forgettable album tracks, and no sign at all of the subtleties one might hope to expect from a band who have written something as glorious as ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’. And no, I’m being totally serious ... At the end of this very bad day for Freddie, only rescued from total distaster by trotting out the entire back catalogue, a great ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ included, two comparisons spring to mind. One, Queen are not unlike an all-male British ABBA, good enough when they stick to the hits but big on the crap factor when they are let loose in public. And Freddie has a far better bum of course. Two, for all his camp peacock and feathers posturing, Fred still manages to look something like a perverse cross between a veteran bullfighter and a part-time member of the RUC.”

  Kerrang! sounded like an embarrassing but well-intentioned child witnessing a concert for the very first time. “I do not believe it! I am stunned, I am astounded! I have been in the presence of something that stretched beyond the boundaries of mortality and attained the heights of something quite inexpressibly wonderful. I have witnessed a concert that has re-established my faith in the power of the rock medium as a truly awe-inspiring force! Guys, guys, if only you’d been there, you’d have seen it and felt it and lived it too!” After three more full paragraphs of slobbering fanboyism, the reviewer finally gets onto the show, concluding, “When Freddie cries out: ‘We Are The Champions Of The World!’ can you doubt the truthfulness of the old tart’s words? Not me, squire, cos this was quite simply rock‘n’roll at its very, very best.”

  QUEEN WORKS! SOUTH AFRICAN TOUR

  5 TO 20 OCTOBER 1984

  Musicians: John Deacon (bass guitar), Brian May (guitar, vocals, acoustic guitar on ‘Is This The World We Created...?’, ‘Love Of My Life’ and ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’), Freddie Mercury (vocals, piano, electric rhythm guitar on ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’), Roger Taylor (drums, electronic drums, vocals), Spike Edney (keyboards, piano, vocals, guitar on ‘Hammer To Fall’)

  Repertoire: ‘Machines (Or “Back To Humans”)’ (intro), ‘Tear It Up’, ‘Tie Your Mother Down’, ‘Under Pressure’, ‘Somebody To Love’ / ‘Killer Queen’ / ‘Seven Seas Of Rhye’ / ‘Keep Yourself Alive’ / ‘Liar’, Improvisation, ‘It’s A Hard Life’, ‘Dragon
Attack’ / ‘Now I’m Here’, ‘Is This The World We Created...?’, ‘Love Of My Life’, ‘Another One Bites The Dust’, ‘Hammer To Fall’, ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, ‘Radio Ga Ga’, ‘I Want To Break Free’, ‘Jailhouse Rock’, ‘We Will Rock You’, ‘We Are The Champions’, ‘God Save The Queen’

  Itinerary:

  October 5/6/7, 12/13/14, 18/19/20: Super Bowl, Sun City, Bophuthatswana

  The European leg of the Queen Works! tour concluded on 30 September, later moving onto the band’s first shows in South Africa, which were a disaster from the word go. The band flew into Bophuthatswana to play at least seven dates at the Sun City Superbowl in the first week of October, with the first date set for the 5th. Eleven dates were scheduled, but only eight were fully fulfilled: at the third show, Freddie’s voice gave out completely during ‘Under Pressure’, and instead of risking further damage, the band decided to end the show early, and canceled the dates on the 9th and 10th to allow him time to rest. Elsewhere on the tour, Freddie would have a bit of fun during the set by performing ‘My Fairy King’ and ‘The March Of The Black Queen’, tracks which had long been absent from Queen’s set.

  Deflecting the criticism surrounding Sun City – essentially a wealthy white man’s casino resort surrounded by poverty-stricken black communities – by merely stating that they played where they were asked to, Brian travelled to Soweto, just outside the capital of Johannesburg, during the unscheduled time off and came across a Black African Awards Show: he was asked by the organizers to present some of the awards, an offer initially refused by the authorities of Sun City. Brian, however, was adamant and won in the end. The experience touched him deeply. “It was quite amazing,” he said later. “The whole atmosphere, the warmth, the great friendliness of the people ... It was a night I’ll never forget. I promised those people that one day Queen would go back to Soweto and play the stadium for them.”

  It was a promise that Brian would reluctantly have to break, for when the band returned to England following the tour, the Musicians’ Union fined the band for breaking their guidelines: Sun City was the one place in the world the Union banned their members from playing in due to its stance on apartheid. Queen weren’t proponents of segregation in any form, and Brian appeared in front of the Musicians’ Union General Committee to give a passionate speech in defence of Queen’s decision. In a year full of ups and downs, South Africa was the lowest Queen could get; fortunately, 1985 would prove to be the exact opposite.

  1985

  ROCK IN RIO FESTIVAL

  12 TO 19 JANUARY 1985

  Musicians: John Deacon (bass guitar), Brian May (guitar, vocals, acoustic guitar on ‘Is This The World We Created...?’, ‘Love Of My Life’ and ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’), Freddie Mercury (vocals, piano, electric rhythm guitar on ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’), Roger Taylor (drums, electronic drums, vocals), Spike Edney (keyboards, piano, vocals, guitar on ‘Hammer To Fall’)

  Repertoire: ‘Machines (Or “Back To Humans”)’ (intro), ‘Tear It Up’, ‘Tie Your Mother Down’, ‘Under Pressure’, ‘Somebody To Love’ / ‘Killer Queen’ / ‘Seven Seas Of Rhye’ / ‘Keep Yourself Alive’ / ‘Liar’, ‘Rock In Rio Blues’ (second night only), Improvisation, ‘It’s A Hard Life’, ‘Dragon Attack’ / ‘Now I’m Here’, ‘Is This The World We Created...?’, ‘Love Of My Life’, Guitar Solo, ‘Brighton Rock’, ‘Another One Bites The Dust’, ‘Hammer To Fall’, ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, ‘Radio Ga Ga’, ‘I Want To Break Free’, ‘Jailhouse Rock’, ‘We Will Rock You’, ‘We Are The Champions’, ‘God Save The Queen’

  Arranged by Queen’s longtime tour manager Gerry Stickells, the Rock In Rio Festival was held over an eight-day period, with the band closing the shows on the first and last nights. Other major bands involved, along with several local Brazilian groups, were AC/DC, Def Leppard, Iron Maiden, Yes, James Taylor, George Benson and Ozzy Osbourne. Queen were asked to headline the event due to South America’s love affair with them on their 1981 tour; the band readily agreed because they had felt such a connection with the audience the first time around.

  Roger, Brian and John left from London on Sunday 6 January, with Freddie journeying from Munich via Paris due to bad weather. The set list was unchanged apart from a specially written ‘improvisation’ called ‘Rock In Rio Blues’, based on what was more commonly known as ‘Instrumental Inferno’ on prior tours. The venue was Barra da Tijuca, a specially built site with a capacity of 250,000 – this would turn out to be one of Queen’s biggest audiences, and one of the reasons they agreed to play in the first place. Gerry had arranged with the local Brazilian television station, Globo, to televise the festival throughout South America, while the band started negotiations with Globo about acquiring the rights to their segments, which were enthusiastically granted.

  The first night, the band took the stage at two in the morning, though the audience’s enthusiasm hadn’t waned. In an ‘event’ that was widely reported in the British press, Freddie was apparently bombarded with rubbish when he appeared for the first encore performance of ‘I Want To Break Free’ in his usual wig, falsies and pink sweater; audio and video proof exists, however, that such an occurrence did not happen. (He was, however, booed, and promptly discarded the offending items, and they wouldn’t return for the following night.) Following the show, EMI held a party at the Copacabana, which was also televised all over South America. Having been thrown into the pool fully clothed, Brian got wind of the fact that hundreds of fans had gathered on the beach outside the hotel and spelled out ‘Queen’ in the sand with 1500 candles. The guitarist and his daughter went to see for themselves, mingling with the fans for several hours in preference to the glittering celebrity affair.

  By the time of Queen’s second appearance, Rio had experienced torrential downpours, which turned the stadium into a veritable swamp. This didn’t dampen the spirits of the audience, though, and the band were touched by their enthusiasm. The difficulty of playing in the rain during the small hours shows in the band’s performance, however; amazingly, the band agreed for the show to be released, with a heavily edited video performance appearing on 13 May 1985 and entitled Live In Rio.

  The following month, Brian was a guest DJ on Capital Radio, and talked briefly of how Rock In Rio had affected him: “We never quite believed that it was going to happen and we were going to get quarter of a million people a night or whatever, and it just actually happened. They all rolled up and one night it was pouring with rain and they were still there until two in the morning from four in the afternoon. It was very well-organized and very well-lit which is unusual, so you could actually see the audience very well, all in pools of different coloured lights. I think there is going to be a video of that some time and perhaps people will be able to see, but it was quite something, I must say. And there was the feeling of it being the first time, which it was, because there never was that much rock and roll in Rio. Now there is mate, I tell you!”

  QUEEN WORKS! AUSTRALASIAN

  & JAPANESE TOUR

  13 APRIL TO 15 MAY 1985

  Musicians: John Deacon (bass guitar), Brian May (guitar, vocals, acoustic guitar on ‘Is This The World We Created...?’, ‘Love Of My Life’ and ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’), Freddie Mercury (vocals, piano, electric rhythm guitar on ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’), Roger Taylor (drums, electronic drums, vocals), Spike Edney (keyboards, piano, vocals, guitar on ‘Hammer To Fall’)

  Repertoire: ‘Machines (Or “Back To Humans”)’ (intro), ‘Tear It Up’, ‘Tie Your Mother Down’, ‘Under Pressure’, ‘Somebody To Love’ / ‘Killer Queen’ / ‘Seven Seas Of Rhye’ / ‘Keep Yourself Alive’ / ‘Liar’, Improvisation, ‘It’s A Hard Life’, ‘Dragon Attack’ / ‘Now I’m Here’, ‘Is This The World We Created...?’, ‘Love Of My Life’, Guitar Solo, ‘Brighton Rock’, ‘Another One Bites The Dust’, ‘Hammer To Fall’, ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’,
‘Radio Ga Ga’, ‘I Want To Break Free’, ‘Jailhouse Rock’, ‘We Will Rock You’, ‘We Are The Champions’, ‘God Save The Queen’, ‘Rock In Rio Blues’, ‘Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting’, ‘Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On’

  Itinerary, Australiasian tour:

  April 13: Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand

  April 16/17, 19/20: Sports and Entertainment Centre, Melbourne, Australia

  April 25/26, 28/29: Entertainment Centre, Sydney, Australia

  Itinerary, Japanese tour:

  May 8/9: Budokan Hall, Tokyo

  May 11: Yogishi Swimming Pool Auditorium, Tokyo

  May 13: Aichi Auditorium, Nagoya

  May 15: Castle Hall, Osaka

  After yet another lengthy break, which afforded Freddie enough time to complete his first solo album, the band flew to New Zealand on 5 April to start rehearsals for their first Australasian tour in nearly a decade. The band took a week to get acquainted with their surroundings since it was their first – and only – appearance in New Zealand. The tour was destined to start on 11 April at Hawks Bay in Tamoana, with a third date on 14 April at Queen Elizabeth II Park in Christchurch, but ticket sales were poor – even the Auckland gig didn’t sell out.

  The band’s first show on 13 April was memorable: Tony Hadley from Spandau Ballet joined them on stage for a performance of ‘Jailhouse Rock’. Before the show, Freddie and Tony imbibed a little too much, which was noticeable whenever Freddie addressed the crowd. His first words of the night were, “Hello New Zealand, we’re gonna have one motherfucker of a time!” When introducing ‘Hammer To Fall’, he yelled, “Here’s one for all you heavy metal fans to have a good jerk-off to!” When Tony appeared for the first encore, the two messed up the words to ‘Jailhouse Rock’ by singing ‘Tutti Frutti’ instead. And, as luck would have it, this was the one Queen show that was broadcast all over the country.

  The band moved on to Melbourne on 15 April to commence a four-night stand at the Sports and Entertainment Center there. The final night was dogged with technical problems: the lights gave out midway through the show and the sound fluctuated throughout as well, much to the audible annoyance of Freddie. Because the band had visited Phil Collins on their one night off (18 April), he duly repaid the compliment and later explained that, despite all the problems, the show was still enjoyable.