Brian May abused a secutity guy in Finland in 1974

Inreresting story about Queen's first (and only) gig in Finland in 1974 can be read in here (in Finnish): http://www.radiorock.fi/legendat/uutinen.asp?id=55.

Basically, it says that Brian abused an enthusiastic security guy. In those days there was no standing area in front of the stage in Kulttuuritalo (=the venue), and audience were instructed to sit down the whole concert. Of course, people didn't want to just sit on their arses as Queen were rocking on the stage, and started to move towards the stage. This was not allowed and the security personel tried to calm people down and and put them back to their seats. The band didn't like this, and apparently Brian suddenly turned up the volume & hit a big chord just as the most enthusiastic security guy walked by in front of the speakers nearly deafening the poor man.

The article also suggest that this (poor reception by the audience) might be the reason the band never returned to Finland again.

This was just a quick (and definately not exact) translation. Maybe someone has a time to translate the whole thing, since it's quite funny story.

Haha. If that's true, would serve that security person right.
Rock music is meant to get people MOVING around.

You want to sit on your arse, that's what Pink Floyd's for.
Alas, with Rick Wright now gone, Pink Floyd is done with as far as I'm concerned. (Am I turning into a stepford by saying that...?)

Sounds like a load of bollocks!
Someone that is on stage is not able to just turn up the volume of the speakers.

They were done after "Animals" came out. There wasn't a proper Pink Floyd album done after that; even though I absolutely adore The Wall, it's really a Roger Waters indulgence with help from the other guys.

I probably sound like a fuckstick for saying this but I was still hoping that there'd be another Pink Floyd gig, even if new material was out of the question...
I guess Live 8 was 'that' final hurrah after all. Pity.

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Jjeroen wrote: [/QUOTENAME]Sounds like a load of bollocks!
Someone that is on stage is not able to just turn up the volume of the speakers.
[/QUOTE]

But one IS able to turn up the volume of his guitar, right?

But I must say I had my doubts when I read the article, too. I've gathered quite a lot of information of Queen's visit to Finland and I've never come across with this story before.

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]August R. wrote: [/QUOTENAME][QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Jjeroen wrote: [/QUOTENAME]Sounds like a load of bollocks!
Someone that is on stage is not able to just turn up the volume of the speakers.
[/QUOTE]

But one IS able to turn up the volume of his guitar, right?

But I must say I had my doubts when I read the article, too. I've gathered quite a lot of information of Queen's visit to Finland and I've never come across with this story before.[/QUOTE]
Yes, of course. But only the volume on the guitar itsself and the guitar amplifiers that are on stage. But it will not make a difference to the volume of the output sound in the arena.
As Brian already plays at full blast most of the time, there is not much more volume to open up.
Besides; if he would turn it up as much that it deafened the security guy, Brian himself is much closer to the sources and would deafen himself first! :-)

Jjeroen, you go walk past a speaker while Brian suddenly plays a massive chord and you'll see what it's like! A sudden blast of sound can be difficult for the ear and can hurt bigtime.

And yeah, Brian is partially deaf in one ear from playing his amps so close to him. So there ya go.

Dunno about the story, but it's a bit mean of Brian.

Adam.

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Adam Baboolal wrote: [/QUOTENAME]Jjeroen, you go walk past a speaker while Brian suddenly plays a massive chord and you'll see what it's like! A sudden blast of sound can be difficult for the ear and can hurt bigtime.
Adam.[/QUOTE]
So?
Did I say it did not?

This must be fiction.

Jjereon is correct. Brian could not change the level that much from his volume knob, as the guitar is maxed most of the time. And if he could, the amount in the house speakers is still controlled by the FOH engineer. There are compressors and limiters, not to mention EQs for each of those speakers. Brian does not have the means to override that... (unless he ran out front to the mixing console)

The roadie would have to have walked stupidly close (without ear protection) to whatever amp/s Brian was using, for it to have 'nearly deafened' the guy.

Although I will admit to a bit of confusion here... Brian usually says 'his' sound comes from having the amp all the way up (or close to it), and that he controls the volume purely using his guitar. (Turning down gives a cleaner tone, etc.)

Does he change this setup when he's playing live, or have I missed something?

(Been a long time since I did any reading about how Brian works, so go easy on me).

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Zebonka12 wrote: [/QUOTENAME]Although I will admit to a bit of confusion here... Brian usually says 'his' sound comes from having the amp all the way up (or close to it), and that he controls the volume purely using his guitar. (Turning down gives a cleaner tone, etc.)

Does he change this setup when he's playing live, or have I missed something?

(Been a long time since I did any reading about how Brian works, so go easy on me).[/QUOTE]No, he is still doing that.
His own amplifiers (the ones ON the stage behind him) up to the maximum it allows to still be able to control feedback. He uses the volume switch on the guitar indeed to change the tone.
NOTE: this is indeed confusing as the volume nob on the isntrument itself does nothing to the actual amount of decibels produced! Only a seperate footpedal could do so. Volume is not in the guitar, it is in the amplier. So it has nothing to do with volume as in loudness... this has to do with the power of the guitarsignel that is sent TO the amplifier.

Then the SOUND of the amplifier is sent to the mixing desk. The volume (loudness) that the desk then sends out onto the audience can NOT be influenced by the volume (loudness) of the amplifiers on stage.

The only way that Brian himself could have made someone near deaf is when that person would have been ON stage, next to his amplifier.
Since this story states that it is a security guard that was harrassing visitors, I assume he did that from the floor...

Since this has caused so much discussion I should clear up that the article actually said that Brian used a footswitch in order to make it louder and played very high notes as the man was in front of the amps.

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]August R. wrote: [/QUOTENAME]Since this has caused so much discussion I should clear up that the article actually said that Brian used a footswitch in order to make it louder and played very high notes as the man was in front of the amps. [/QUOTE]
Sorry, but how can a security guy that is hired to tame the audience be ON stage in front of Brian's amps?

Sounds like a Pete Townshend vs. Abbie Hoffman moment to me.
Fuck, if someone were trespassing on my stage, I'd do the same thing!