by Georg Purvis
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 The
me’ 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.
Just to prove that Queen’s commercial success with The Game and its singles hadn’t changed critics’ assessments of them and the transition from rock band to pop band, Record Mirror dragged them across the coals, criticizing the precision of their show in Paris: “Clearly [Queen are] just in it for the money. Cynical? You should have heard what Freddie had to say to the kids who’d mortgaged an arm and a leg to be there: ‘It’s very nice to see you all in this shithole tonight. What the fuck are we doing here?’ Indeed, Freddie, what? Your usual pre-gig huddle with accountants, managers and promoters revealed that only 6,000 out of a possible 15,000 tickets had been sold for the first-ever show in this Le Bourget aircraft hangar. That’s still a bob or two, Fred, but I don’t suppose those lights come cheap, not that they could even rescue this distressing debacle.” Sounds was more complimentary: “Almost too perfect was the timing, too seemingly effortless the delivery of a set which covered the entire span of Queen’s output to date, from ‘Keep Yourself Alive’ to Flash Gordon ... Undoubtedly the sovereign of UK pomp rock, Freddie strutted, posed and preened himself through two hours of it, helped along by a spectacular light show and a few carefully placed pyrotechnics.”
1981
THE GAME JAPANESE DATES
12 TO 18 FEBRUARY 1981
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’, synthesizer on ‘Vultan’s Theme (Attack Of The Hawkmen)’), 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’, ‘Battle Theme’, ‘Flash’s Theme’, ‘The Hero’, ‘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’, ‘Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together)’, ‘God Save The Queen’, ‘Vultan’s Theme (Attack Of The Hawkmen)’, ‘Need Your Loving Tonight’, ‘Rock It (Prime Jive)’
Itinerary:
February 12/13, 16–18: Budokan Hall, Tokyo
After the completion of their brief European tour in December 1980, the band flew home on 19 December 1980, the break lasting until 8 February, when they went to Tokyo to commence rehearsals for an even more abbreviated stint in Japan. On the 10th, they attended the Japanese premiere of Flash Gordon, performing for the first time two days later.
These five dates – all at the same venue, so hardly constituting a tour – can be seen as a warm-up for the upcoming South American shows. The set list remained similar to the previous two tours, though ‘Vultan’s Theme (Attack Of The Hawkmen)’, with Freddie on synthesizer, was introduced to the set for the first time; surprisingly, ‘Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together)’ wasn’t performed every night, and when it was, it was only half a verse and three choruses. Surprisingly, on the final night, the band performed the song after ‘We Are The Champions’, in an unprecedented third encore.
The band were clearly pleased with these five dates. “It’s the best tour we’ve done there,” Brian recalled later that year, “and we’ve done four tours, and it was clearly hysterical. Our audience is changing a bit from a kind of teeny-bop audience into a more rock audience in Japan. Japan was one of the few places where we had a young audience, but now it’s more in line with how it is in the States and Europe.”
SOUTH AMERICA BITES THE DUST TOUR
28 FEBRUARY TO 21 MARCH 1981
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: ‘We Will Rock You’ (fast), ‘Let Me Entertain You’, ‘Play The Game’, ‘Somebody To Love’, ‘Mustapha’ / ‘Death On Two Legs (Dedicated to......’ / ‘Killer Queen’ / ‘I’m In Love With My Car’ / ‘Get Down, Make Love’, ‘Need Your Loving Tonight’, ‘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’ / ‘The Hero’, ‘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’, ‘Rock It (Prime Jive)’, ‘Jailhouse Rock’
Itinerary:
February 28/March 1: Estadio José Amalfitani, Buenos Aires, Argentina
March 4: Estadio José María Minella, Mar del Plata, Argentina
March 6: Estadio Mundialista Gigante de Arroyito, Rosario, Argentina
March 8: Estadio José Amalfitani, Buenos Aires, Argentina
March 20/21: Estádio Cícero Pompeu de Toledo, São Paulo, Brazil
Queen were always open to performing in new countries, with South America proving an attractive proposition given that the live version of ‘Love Of My Life’ had been in the singles chart there for over twelve months. When the itinerary was announced, fans and critics alike were shocked: bands as big as Queen didn’t travel to South America (though The Rolling Stones came close in 1975) due to the logistical nightmares involved. Promoter José Rota, for example, was approached by the Argentinean intelligence service and presented with various hypothetical situations, one of which involved a terrorist strolling on stage, holding a gun to Freddie’s head and ordering him to say “Viva Perón.” Rota replied with an impassioned speech lamenting the fact that thousands of Queen fans couldn’t come together for a few hours just to enjoy a rock concert. His ruse worked, and the tour went ahead.
While the band was in Japan, Jim Beach flew over to Rio de Janeiro with Gerry Stickells to organize everything. “There was no one at all in South America who had the experience to promote anything as huge as a Queen tour,” Beach explained in As It Began, “so I personally flew down to Rio and set up a temporary production office at the Rio Sheraton Hotel for three months. From there I could easily commute to Buenos Aires to keep an eye on the proceedings.” The band’s production manager,
Chris Lamb, flew into Argentina in February and duly had his cases searched at customs. The passes for the tour were discovered: two naked young ladies, one Japanese and one South American, sharing a banana in a suggestive pose. Lamb had to spend the next few hours covering the women’s chests with a black marker.
There were also equipment problems: to fly twenty tons of gear from Tokyo to Buenos Aires was exorbitant in price and also lengthy (nearly thirty-six hours). Additionally, forty tons of equipment were flown in from Miami as well as additional artificial turf to cover the countries’ coveted football fields, plus sixteen tons of stage scaffolding from Los Angeles and five tons of lights. In the bustle of transportation, an oversized, forty-foot container fell from its truck and remained in the street for forty-eight hours before a crane large enough to accommodate the container’s size could be located.
When Queen arrived in Argentina on 23 February, the country virtually exploded in a frenzy: when the band emerged from their plane, the airport’s sound system broadcast Queen music non-stop, and the band’s every move was transmitted on local television. Never before had a country embraced Queen so warmly, with the possible exception of Japan. On the first night of the tour at the Velez Sarfield in Buenos Aires, the band went down a storm, though special mention should be given to the audience who sang so vociferously that Freddie willingly stopped singing to let them carry on. No one was prepared for the performance of ‘Love Of My Life’, though: the opening chords were obscured by the din of the 54,000-strong audience cheering and applauding, which quickly died down in time for the vocals so that every fan could sing each word perfectly.