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To my knowledge Greg, I have listened to every Magic tour show available. I actually have the Stockholm gig (which I've owned for well over ten years) in my car at the moment.
I'm just emphasising the point because you appear to be hinting that I'm unaware of these shows, and that you have more authority to be talking on this subject.
I don't like Freddies voice on the tour, just as I dont like his voice on the Works tour. In my opinion though, on some of the Works shows he hits notes cleaner and with more power than anything in the Magic tour.
And I will say again that in my opinion he shouts and barks through most songs in most shows.

I have every single bootleg from The Works Tour (1984 and 1985), and the Magic Tour, and I can conclude that he in fact does sing better at the Magic Tour (overall). Freddie focused more on power and sustain during the Magic Tour (rather than try to sing "lyrically" like what he did on the 1984/1985--which wasted his voice quicker). Some people love the mid-80s vocal style (myself), some don't (you). The Works Tour did have clearer vocals, up until the 1st Birmingham gig, then his voice started getting weaker and weaker. From there on, 1984 was hit-and-miss. 1st Rio gig was amazing (that's what he SHOULD'VE sounded like on the whole tour), and the first two Japan gigs are probably Freddie's best overall.

You want to talk about Freddie barking/shouting? Listen to those Milan 1984 gigs!

For the Magic Tour, Freddie changed his vocal style up (chesty belting). Freddie does scream/shout more on the Magic Tour, but I don't mind it, because at least he REACHES THE NOTES. The Works Tour was Freddie's WORST 80s tour for range and consistency. This was greatly improved during the Magic Tour (he lasted longer, and still had the same raw power--even on weaker gigs). Plus, Freddie was far LAZIER on the Works Tour (I believe Yara and On My Way Up make excellent points about that): Freddie would just "speak-sing" lines or when his voice was in great shape, he would not go for higher notes, or be uncreative with his note choices.

Please do not put words in my mouth (claiming that I have more authority/you haven't listened to gigs). You ignored my list of observations, then made the straw-man argument about me having "more authority." I merely have listened to every gig from this era and made my observations.  I was one of the people who did thought that Freddie's worst vocal tour was The Magic Tour (because I listened to Wembley, only). Then someone showed me some of those early gigs (Stockholm/Leiden/Brussels), and I was astounded!

Freddie's WORST vocal tour was the Jazz Tour, followed by The Works Tour.

I prefer the Magic Tour over the Works tour.

Freddie performed many amazing shows during the Magic Tour:
- Stockholm 06/07/1986 --> check out his singing in One vision, Tie Your mother down, we are the champions, now I'm here etc. Some of his most gutsy renditions of songs were performed at this show
- leiden 11/06/86 --> incredible to hear how freddie pushes his voice to its limits all night, he's simply on fire
- leiden 12/06/86, Paris 14/06/86 and Brussels 17/06/86 AND Leiden 19/06/1986 --> Freddie still sounds very fresh and does amazing things with his voice, sounding very powerful
- from Mannheim onwards he takes less risks, he's weak at zurich 02/07/1986 but then again, he performed a few shows that are about that weak during the works tour (Vienna second night, London 07/09/84 (he clearly had a party on the 5th;-)
- during the Magic tour his voice got better again, allowing him to sing wonderfully in Cologne (check out his creativity in AOBTD), Vienna, BUDAPEST,... I adore Knebworth too altuogh he got a bit tired by the end of the show
- by the way, I think the first Wembley night is an amazing show too! I'd go as far as to say that the second Wembley night is one of the weakest of the tour --> Freddie not great, Brian fucking up a couple of times

The Works tour has the following wonderful shows from Freddie:
- Brussels opening night (truly wonderful,!!)
- Dublin (shitty recording, which is a pity)
- Stuttgart (one of my personal favourites)
- Sun City (Freddie so creative, what an incredibly talented man!)
- Tokyo 08/05 and 09/05 ---> wow

Gregsynth wrote:

Please do not put words in my mouth (claiming that I have more authority/you haven't listened to gigs). You ignored my list of observations, then made the straw-man argument about me having "more authority." I merely have listened to every gig from this era and made my observations.  I was one of the people who did thought that Freddie's worst vocal tour was The Magic Tour (because I listened to Wembley, only). Then someone showed me some of those early gigs (Stockholm/Leiden/Brussels), and I was astounded!

I did not put words into your mouth. I was simply trying to say that 'Go listen to the early Magic shows, then get back to me...' sounded very much like you were implying that I hadn't listened to those shows, and I was making an argument without listening to the evidence.
I could say please dont put words into my mouth (claiming that I ignored your list). I did not ignore your list, I simply didn't make comment on it.

Of course, like all fans I'd like to hear more Crazy tour recordings.

Those recordings do exist...:-) let's hope we'll be able to enjoy (at least some of them) one day (soon:-)

Gregsynth wrote: The NOTW era was great, and Freddie was great live--but he lacked the power and range he would later develop.
Maybe Freddie wanted to "try a new method of live singing?"

I'm such a Queen maniac I like all those different "Freddie voices".

I listened to Rotterdam '77 yesterday --> wow, what a voice!

Bad Seed wrote: Gregsynth wrote: Please do not put words in my mouth (claiming that I have more authority/you haven't listened to gigs). You ignored my list of observations, then made the straw-man argument about me having "more authority." I merely have listened to every gig from this era and made my observations.  I was one of the people who did thought that Freddie's worst vocal tour was The Magic Tour (because I listened to Wembley, only). Then someone showed me some of those early gigs (Stockholm/Leiden/Brussels), and I was astounded! I did not put words into your mouth. I was simply trying to say that 'Go listen to the early Magic shows, then get back to me...' sounded very much like you were implying that I hadn't listened to those shows, and I was making an argument without listening to the evidence. I could say please dont put words into my mouth (claiming that I ignored your list). I did not ignore your list, I simply didn't make comment on it. ============== You did ignore the list, though. Not commenting on the observations is in fact ignoring it. You said he sounded "dreadful" on the Magic Tour (which isn't true for the most part--unless you aren't a fan of Freddie's chesty mid-80s voice). I may have wrote my intended sentence wrong, but my point is this: Why would you say the Magic Tour's vocals were "dreadful," when there's evidence of the Works Tour being WORSE, yet you only talk about the Magic Tour? This version of Rhapsody is leaps and bounds above any of the Works Tour Versions!

Must agree with Greg about Magic being so much better than Works! Even though I love the Works tour setlist as it has all my favourite songs, Freddie is only in good shape for about 4 gigs on the European leg whereas the Magic tour he's in bad shape for only 2/3 gigs

Works Tour Best Gigs
Brussels
Dublin
Birmingham 1st night
Stuttgart
Rio 1st night
Japan first 2 nights

Magic Tour Best Gigs
Stockholm
Leiden (all 3 nights)
Paris
Brussels
Mannheim
Berlin
Wembley 1st night
Manchester
Cologne
Vienna (both nights)
Budapest
Frejus
Barcelona
Knebworth

It's so much easier to name good Magic gigs than Works tour ones (even though I believe some of 9-5 London is great unlike Greg and others haha!)

But we should all agree that this is Freddie at his absolute best ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wxJA0Ew1IU

tsskiller wrote:

[QUOTE]I think that I've found the bridge between his "old" voice and his "new" voice (as in his "Prime Live" voice)...it's not Saarbrucken. It's Sapporo (5-5-1979). I've posted a video syncing the Killer Queen from the first Sapporo night to the official 4-25 footage. On this version, he NAILS the song in a lot of spots, with phrasing at times BETTER than the Crazy and Game tours (I'm not kidding, take a look for yourself)."[/QUOTE]

I think you're being a bit too generous, but you're certainly right that this is one of Freddie's best Live Killers shows, along with the Tokyo and Osaka shows (14th, 19th, 20th).  I think the transition Freddie went through was after the Japanese tour, as he had two months to reflect on the ups and downs of his voice over the last 6 months.

Starting in Saarbrucken, he'd enter his golden period, peaking in 1982.  As far as I'm concerned, 1982 was the year where he perfectly balanced the voice, improvisational abilities, and showmanship.

As for the Works vs Magic tour discussion, formulaone's analysis is right on the money.  I'd just add Sun City to the list, as the tape we've heard is probably Freddie's best 1984 performance.

I have read comments on the internet--saying that 1981 was Freddie's best year as a live vocalist! With the exception of a couple of those weaker Japan 1981 gigs, he was almost invincible: He hit the WATC C5 in EVERY mexican gig!

The only criticism I have of the "Prime Live" era, was that unlike the earlier eras, Freddie would oversing Killer Queen (and a few other songs) like CRAZY (AKA Hartford 1980)!

Here's my analysis:

Crazy Tour 1979: Little-to-no oversinging, excellent range, good power
1980: Too Much oversinging, good range, great power
1981: Little oversinging, excellent range, great power
Euro 1982: Generally little oversinging (except some Bohemian Rhapsody's were a bit OTT), Good range, excellent power

I would actually have to surprisingly disagree with SirGH's comment. I think he was at the peak of his voice in 1981 since he had both part of the sweetness and the power and sustain. I think he sang the smoothest in the crazy tour though.

Also I would have to say i think Stuggart is the best 1984 works performance and ROR first night would be the best 1985 one (minus live aid).

The Crazy Tour was Freddie's last tour with his "pure" (non-smoking) voice. So he was able to sing the songs without sounding "harsh," or using too much chest power.

jamster1111 wrote:

[QUOTE]I would actually have to surprisingly disagree with SirGH's comment. I think he was at the peak of his voice in 1981 since he had both part of the sweetness and the power and sustain.[/QUOTE]

I meant that Freddie as a whole peaked in 1982.  I'll definitely agree that his voice peaked in 1981.

I always wondered what a 1981 Freddie would sound like live--doing the Hot Space stuff!

After reviewing some of the December 1980 versions of Killer Queen, I can safely back up Sapporo's Killer Queen being a much better version.