Did anyone go to a Queen concert (1970-1986)?

I always wondered why so many US fans bowed out in the 80s on Queen. Bites the Dust was
a HUGE single here,but after 1982 they never played in the US again.

 

not a serious fan and it was a top 10 concert easily

it addressed my latent fascist thoughts, but not other latent thoughts...

 

I was at the Cardiff outdoor gig. As you said poured down. Saw them in Cardiff indoors in I think 1975. Fourth row.

 

Agree. After A Night at The Opera their albums became rather patchy.

 

The Game was monster huge in North America

they couldn't rise to that occasion again

 

Saw them in Denver in 1982 w/ Billy Squire opening.
Freddy was way ahead of his time fashion-wise...

 

In June '86 my parents called time on their marriage. I was 14. My mother said there was a holiday to Greece booked I could go on instead of my dad. My dad said there was a Queen gig I could go to. Easy choice. I think his mate got him tickets. Three of us drove down there. Never been to anything other than one man playing in a pub in Brum before then. Johnny Marrs.

I remember Beloius Some came on. Quo played which was great. I'd recently got into them so wasn't bothered by any 'not as good as the Frantic Four' stuff. Big Country played too. Queen were fantastic. When it got dark little fires popped up across the field which was huge. I'd probably never seen that many people in one place before. A dude we were stood by asked if I could see and offered to put me on his shoulders for a bit. He was huge. Great view for a while.

There was no way out of the car park in a hurry so three of us slept 'til morning in the car. An old-school Mini. Fortunately I got the back seat! Still queueing in the morning. I managed to get a half decent sounding bootleg last year. I bought Live Magic when it came out and back then it sounded brilliant. Especially knowing I had seen some of it.

It's a shame that was the last live gig for them but a fantastic first gig for me. The shirt went the way of all things but I've still got the ticket.

 

That End Of The Road video is one of half a dozen I still have. Don't even have a player anymore! By the time I got 12 Gold Bars it over for Quo so I never really noticed that had new members. I never got to the FF reunion but I saw them in '13 and they were brilliant. Right down the front and the band seemed to be having a great time.

 

Do you have part 2 aswell?

 

Saw Queen at Winterland in 1975, with Mahogany Rush and Yesterday & Today. Don't remember much about it, other than being excited to see both Frank Marino and Brian May play. There's a 10-minute audio clip from the set on youtube.

 

I saw them in March 1975 at The Erlanger Theater in Philly. Kansas opened and it was a great concert as I was crazy about Queen around that time. Saw them again at The Tower Theater in Jan. '76(Night at The Opera tour)with a bunch of my friends. Incredible concert with highlights being Ogre Battle, Father To Son, Doing All Right as well as many others.

 

Xmas '85 I was given 12 Gold Bars Vol I+II, A Night At The Opera & Springsteen's Darkness On The Edge Of Town.
When I saw the End Of The Road show on TV I recognised where the cover had come from.

 

1980, The Game tour, Madison Square Garden. It was my second rock concert.

I went with my cousin and his high school buddies. Two of them drank so much beforehand that they spent the entire show doubled over with their fingers in their ears. I never understood why they didn't just go out into the hallway.

It was my first experience with weed. A joint was passed to me and I sucked on it but didn't really know how to draw the smoke down into my lungs. I still believe that Bill Clinton "didn't inhale". There's actually a bit of a technique involved.

The concert? I loved it but I can't say I have many specific memories. One small thing does stick out: Freddie up on top of the amp stacks singing. He was sitting down and he pulled one of his legs up and rested it on the other. We were on the opposite side of the arena and this was before giant video screens, but even though he was a tiny figure in the distance I could see how relaxed he was (or seemed), how casually he could hold 15,000 people in the palm of his hand. That was real rock star charisma and I could feel it even at a great distance.

Glad I got to see him.

 

Saw Queen in July 1982 on the "Hot Space" tour. Billy Squier, who was hotter than Queen on the USA charts at the time, opened.

 

Don't know where I saw it but this was covered to some extent in one of their docos. Several factors came to play: the follow up album Hot Space failed, while especially Freddie wanted to go more on the "dancing" side after "Dust", the others apparently not so much so that lead to a lot of friction inside the band. Personally this is one of my favourite albums, but "Body Language" is a weird song and not really good. The decision to make that the first single didn't help in any way. Then they took a pause after the album and got back together two years later with the completely different The Works. Also there seemed to be a lot of backlash worldwide and in the US for playing at Sun City. And all that lead to the fact that they couldn't sustain the momentum gained from "Dust" and "Little Thing" and success in America dried out.

 

We wouldn't have let you in our gang. Minimum entry requirements were patchouli oil and old Scorpions LP's.

 

I've never felt so jealous reading a thread on this forum as I'm feeling now. If I had a time machine, my 1st stop would have been Live Aid or Wembley next year.
Please carry on.

 

If you ever get one can I book a seat in that time machine ?

 

I did. Saw the first Jazz tour show in Dallas. If you have a recording of that show it is from my tape.

 

The thing is, the final dates of the Hot Space tour were in November 1982. A year later they had already recorded and shot the video for Radio Ga Ga. So I don't think they took a pause at all to be honest. They just continued in the same format they had always done, 1 year recording, 1 year touring.

 

That ticket brings back memories of Bullets & Caps games w my Dad in the late-70's/early-80's. Lived in Greenbelt, MD.

 

September 1984 Wembley Arena on the Works Tour. I remember a large cake being wheeled on and Freddie spraying the front of the crowd with Champagne as it was his birthday.

From what I remember it was a superb set list as well as it had the hits but a decent enough nod to the back catalogue.

I seem to remember songs like Stone Cold Crazy, Great King Rat, Dragon Attack etc which as I had just turned 16 at the time I'd got into them through the Greatest Hits when it came out so to see them play those sort of deep cuts outside of the hits was a little unexpected...in a good way!

All that after seeing Van Halen at Monsters of Rock 3 weeks before was just awesome...two of my all time favourite guitarists in the flesh was just fantastic.

Wow we really were spoilt.

 

We forget about that now, almost 40 years later, but you're right -- there was a lot of blowback for playing Sun City. I remember reading an interview with Brian May in the mid-80s and his head almost exploded when asked about it because no one seemed satisfied with the band's many apologies.

 

I saw them in September 1984 at Wembley Arena during the Works Tour. I was 15 at the time and a huge Queen fan (still am) and this was my first live concert. General Public were the support group, Rick Parfitt was the special guest and I keep a copy of the tour programme and the ticket with my copy of 'The Works'. I think the ticket only cost £8, although that seemed like a lot at the time! Unfortunately, I never saw them live again but I have got tickets for a rescheduled Queen and Adam Lambert show in June 2022. Not quite the same thing but still something to look forward to.

 

Small world! I was living in Bowie during that same time. Went to junior high and high school within a couple miles of the Cap Centre. We may have been at the same Bullets and Caps games.