Queen: The Complete Works (108 page)

CONCERTS FOR THE PEOPLE OF KAMPUCHEA

26 DECEMBER 1979

Musicians:
John Deacon
(bass guitar, fretless bass on ‘’39’)
, Brian May
(guitar, vocals, acoustic guitar on ‘Love Of My Life’, ‘’39’ and ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’, piano on ‘Save Me’)
, Freddie Mercury
(vocals, piano, acoustic guitar on ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’)
, Roger Taylor
(drums, vocals, lead vocals on ‘I’m In Love With My Car’, bass drum and tambourine on ‘’39’)

Repertoire:
‘Jailhouse Rock’, ‘We Will Rock You’
(fast)
, ‘Let Me Entertain You’, ‘Somebody To Love’, ‘If You Can’t Beat Them’, ‘Mustapha’ / ‘Death On Two Legs (Dedicated to......’ / ‘Killer Queen’ / ‘I’m In Love With My Car’ / ‘Get Down, Make Love’ / ‘You’re My Best Friend’, ‘Save Me’, ‘Now I’m Here’, ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’, ‘Spread Your Wings’, ‘Love Of My Life’, ‘’39’, ‘Keep Yourself Alive’, ‘Brighton Rock’, ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, ‘Tie Your Mother Down’, ‘Sheer Heart Attack’, ‘We Will Rock You’, ‘We Are The Champions’, ‘God Save The Queen’

In July 1979, just as Queen were finishing recording sessions in Munich, they were approached by Paul McCartney, asking if they would be interested in taking part in a series of concerts to raise money for the people of Kampuchea. The band agreed and were given the coveted time slot of performing as the sole band on the first night, 26 December. Other bands on the bill consisted mostly of the kind of acts who had helped confer ‘dinosaur’ status on Queen (and McCartney): The Clash, Ian Dury and The Blockheads, The Pretenders, Rockpile, The Specials and Elvis Costello and The Attractions were all invited to perform, while only Queen, Paul McCartney and Wings, and a newly reformed The Who were part of the ‘old guard’. The bill also included a specially formed supergroup called Rockestra.

The band didn’t offer any changes to their standard repertoire, running through their well-rehearsed set with the recently added ‘Save Me’ and ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ thrown in. In fact, at the conclusion of the latter, the audience started to sing the latter song on their own, causing the band to come back in with a reprise.

Musically, the band were tight, delivering a terrific set that closely mirrored the
Live Killers
album, but with enough additional material – especially a soaring ‘Somebody To Love’ and superb ‘If You Can’t Beat Them’, both absent from that album – to make the experience unique. ‘Save Me’ had yet to attain its status as a Queen classic – its single release would come the next month, thanks to the positive audience response on the Crazy Tour – but ‘Now I’m Here’ was always a powerhouse of a track; fittingly, the latter was the only Queen song included on the live compilation album of these concerts, released the following year. ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’, ‘If You Can’t Beat Them’, ‘’39’ and ‘Spread Your Wings’, meanwhile, received their last-ever performances at this event.

NME
was caustic about Queen’s appearance. “If my equations are right, this gig alone – the first in a sold-out series of four dedicated to Kampuchea – should raise a healthy twenty grand. Who knows, Queen may be feeding the 10,000 with their loaf of royal bran after all. But apart from the Unicef posters and Brian May briefly mentioning the cause, this was just another Queen techno-flash dry-iced affair ... Mercury still treats each precious song like a magnum opus and the audience like a cast of extras in the Cecil B. de Mille production of
The Ten Commandments
. (No prize for guessing Mercury’s role.)... I don’t admire Queen’s music but their gesture was unerringly sound (though it can’t be any big deal for a mega-band to donate one night’s earnings). Altogether, it’s a very long way from the Hammy Odeon to Kampuchea, but help is on the way.”

Queen’s entire set was filmed but has yet to surface anywhere officially apart from some footage thrown into the documentaries
The Magic Years
and
Champions Of The World
, usually seen with Peter Ustinov introducing the band, which he did for the 1980 re-broadcast.

1980

THE GAME NORTH AMERICAN TOUR

30 JUNE TO 30 SEPTEMBER 1980

Musicians:
John Deacon
(bass guitar)
, Brian May
(guitar, vocals, acoustic guitar on ‘Love Of My Life’ and ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’, piano on ‘Save Me’)
, Freddie Mercury
(vocals, piano, acoustic guitar on ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’)
, Roger Taylor
(drums, vocals, lead vocals on ‘I’m In Love With My Car’, timpani)

Repertoire:
‘Jailhouse Rock’, ‘We Will Rock You’
(fast)
, ‘Let Me Entertain You’, ‘Play The Game’, ‘Mustapha’ / ‘Death On Two Legs (Dedicated to......’ / ‘Killer Queen’ / ‘I’m In Love With My Car’ / ‘Get Down, Make Love’, ‘Save Me’, ‘Now I’m Here’ / ‘Dragon Attack’ / ‘Now I’m Here’
(reprise)
, ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’, ‘Love Of My Life’, ‘Keep Yourself Alive’, ‘Instrumental Inferno’, ‘Brighton Rock’
(reprise)
, ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, ‘Tie Your Mother Down’, ‘Another One Bites The Dust’, ‘Sheer Heart Attack’, ‘We Will Rock You’, ‘We Are The Champions’, ‘God Save The Queen’, ‘You’re My Best Friend’, ‘Need Your Loving Tonight’, ‘Somebody To Love’, ‘Rock It (Prime Jive)’

Itinerary:

June 30: PNE Coliseum, Vancouver, British Columbia

July 1: Coliseum, Seattle, Washington

July 2: Coliseum, Portland, Oregon

July 5: Sports Arena, San Diego, California

July 6: Compton Terrace, Phoenix, Arizona

July 8/9, 11/12: The Forum, Los Angeles, California

July 13/14: Coliseum, Oakland, California

August 5: Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis, Tennessee

August 6: Riverside Centroplex, Baton Rouge, Louisiana

August 8: City Myriad, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

August 9: The Reunion, Dallas, Texas

August 10: The Summit, Houston, Texas

August 12: The Omni, Atlanta, Georgia

August 13: Coliseum, Charlotte, North Carolina

August 14: Coliseum, Greensboro, North Carolina

August 16: Civic Center, Charleston, South Carolina

August 17: Market Square Arena, Indianapolis, Indiana

August 20: Civic Center, Hartford, Connecticut (
rescheduled from 24 August
)

August 22: The Spectrum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (
rescheduled from 27 August
)

August 23: Civic Center, Baltimore, Maryland (
rescheduled from 26 August
)

August 24: Civic Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (
rescheduled from 31 August
)

August 26: Civic Center, Providence, Rhode Island

August 27: The Spectrum, Portland, Maine

August 29: The Forum, Montreal, Quebec

August 30: CNE Grandstand, Toronto, Quebec

August 31: Convention Center, Rochester, New York

September 10: Mecca, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

September 11: Market Square Arena, Indianapolis, Indiana

September 13: Civic Center, Omaha, Nebraska

September 14: St Paul Civic Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota

September 16: Kemper Arena, Kansas City, Missouri

September 17: Checkerdome, St Louis, Missouri

September 19: The Horizon, Chicago, Illinois

September 20: Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, Michigan

September 21: Coliseum, Cleveland, Ohio

September 23: Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum, New Haven, Connecticut

September 24: War Memorial, Syracuse, New York

September 26: Boston Gardens, Boston, Massachusetts

September 28–30: Madison Square Garden, New York, New York

It was unsurprising that Queen’s success in recent years had made them a more desirable ticket: demand for Queen tours was becoming immense, and it didn’t help that 1980 was a busy time already. Apart from spending the early part of the year finishing
The Game
, the band also had recording commitments for the
Flash Gordon
soundtrack, and plans were afoot to release their first compilation album, though this was later rescheduled for the following year. On top of that, the band had an extensive North American tour scheduled for June, lasting nearly three months and covering every major city across the country.

After
The Game
was finished in May, the band took a short break to recuperate from the exhaustive sessions before flying to Los Angeles on 19 June to begin preparations for their upcoming tour. While the basic structure of the set list had changed little from the Crazy Tour the previous November, five songs from the new album were introduced: ‘Play The Game’, ‘Dragon Attack’, ‘Another One Bites The Dust’, and ‘Need Your Loving Tonight’ and ‘Rock It (Prime Jive)’. ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ and ‘Save Me’ having
been introduced the previous year. Astonishingly, Queen’s biggest-ever North American single ‘Another One Bites The Dust’ wasn’t performed until later in August, by which time it had attracted considerable attention and was rush-released as a single. ‘Need Your Loving Tonight’ and ‘Rock It (Prime Jive)’ were performed only sporadically and would never become mainstays, alternating nightly with each other.

Surprisingly, ‘’39’ was taken out of the set list, with ‘Love Of My Life’ becoming the only remaining acoustic number of the show. Even more surprising was the omission of ‘Somebody To Love’ and ‘You’re My Best Friend’, though they were both performed on a few occasions throughout the tour; the former number would be brought back for the South American shows, while the latter was gradually taken out of the set, never to be performed again.

The tour was a massive success, with the band playing to sold-out venues across the country, including a triumphant three-night stand at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The tour was extremely lengthy, with the band playing three legs: 30 June to 14 July, followed by a three-week break during which Roger worked further on
Fun In Space
; 5 to 31 August; and 10 to 30 September. There was also a series of cancellations and rescheduled shows, the like of which hadn’t been seen since the band’s cancelled North American tour in September 1975. In mid-August, shows in New York and Cincinnati were lost, while the week preceding Queen’s return in September saw the cancellation of dates in New Haven, Boston, Lexington, Indianapolis and Madison.

In order to top their previous tour’s lighting rig, the band introduced a new system, known as both the Fly Swatters and the Bic Razor rigs, with seven sets of moveable lights being controlled by one person each. A perfect example of this new set-up can be seen on the
Queen Rock Montreal
DVD.

This tour marked the debut of Freddie’s moustache, which he would usually address before ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’ by asking the audience what they thought of it; he was rewarded with much booing and a hail of disposable razors. Most of the venues were packed with recent Queen converts, introduced by way of ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ or ‘Another One Bites The Dust’, the latter released midway through the second leg of the tour. The constant Stateside exposure was beneficial, since the track went on to become their second US No. 1 single.

THE GAME EUROPEAN & UK TOUR:

23 NOVEMBER TO 18 DECEMBER 1980

Musicians:
John Deacon
(bass guitar)
, Brian May
(guitar, vocals, acoustic guitar on ‘Love Of My Life’ and ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’, piano on ‘Save Me’, piano and synthesizer on ‘Flash’s Theme’)
, Freddie Mercury
(vocals, piano, acoustic guitar on ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’)
, Roger Taylor
(drums, vocals, lead vocals on ‘I’m In Love With My Car’, timpani)

Repertoire:
‘Jailhouse Rock’, ‘We Will Rock You’
(fast)
, Let Me Entertain You’, ‘Play The Game’, ‘Mustapha’ / Death On Two Legs (Dedicated to......’ / ‘Killer Queen’ / ‘I’m In Love With My Car’ / ‘Get Down, Make Love’, Save Me’, ‘Now I’m Here’ / ‘Dragon Attack’ / ‘Now I’m Here’
(reprise)
, ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’, ‘Love Of My Life’, Keep Yourself Alive’, ‘Instrumental Inferno’, ‘Flash’s Theme’, ‘The Hero’, ‘Brighton Rock’
(reprise)
, ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, ‘Tie Your Mother Down’, ‘Another One Bites The Dust’, Sheer Heart Attack’, ‘We Will Rock You’, ‘We Are The Champions’, ‘God Save The Queen’, ‘Battle Theme’, Need Your Loving Tonight’, ‘Imagine’

Itinerary:

November 23: Hallenstadio, Zurich, Switzerland

November 25: Le Bourget La Retonde, Paris, France

November 26: Sportshalle, Cologne, Germany

November 27: Groenoordhalle, Leiden, Holland

November 29: Gurgahalle, Essen, Germany

November 30: Deutschlandhalle, Berlin, Germany

December 1: Stadhalle, Bremen, Germany

December 5: NEC, Birmingham

December 8–10: Wembley Arena, London

December 12/13: Forêt Nationale, Brussels, Belgium

December 14: Festhalle, Frankfurt, Germany

December 16: Hall Rheus, Strasbourg, France

December 18: Olympiahalle, Munich, Germany

Following the North American tour, the band entered studios around London to continue sessions on
Flash Gordon
before leaving for Zurich on 20 November to start rehearsals for the upcoming European tour. The set list remained the same from the summer with the exception of ‘Flash’s Theme’ and ‘The Hero’ (and occasionally ‘Battle Theme’) inserted into the lengthy ‘Keep Yourself Alive’ / ‘Instrumental Inferno’ section. Though
Flash Gordon
would be released on 8 December, the band still considered the European and
Japanese tours as promotional tools for
The Game
. The support band for all shows was Straight Eight.

For the first time, synthesizers were introduced to the instrumentation, and were primarily performed by Brian during ‘Flash’s Theme’, though they weren’t used on any of the songs from
The Game
that, on record, featured them so prominently. On the following tours throughout 1981, Freddie would also play synths on ‘Vultan’s Theme (Attack Of The Hawkmen)’, but the band would bring in an auxiliary keyboardist on subsequent tours.

In an effort to give freshness to the set list, the band occasionally ended shows with ‘Sheer Heart Attack’ or ‘Tie Your Mother Down’, with ‘We Will Rock You’ and ‘We Are The Champions’ becoming the first encore. The only other notable addition came on 9 December, the night after John Lennon’s assassination in New York City: the band performed his 1971 song ‘Imagine’ after ‘Love Of My Life’. It would be performed only three more times during the remainder of the tour, with the most commonly heard version appearing on a bootleg from the 14 December show in Frankfurt.