'The Works' Tour - Opinion?

Sir GH wrote: His voice was in bad shape at a lot of Opera, Races and Jazz gigs too ... but the Works tour is the one that gets the most flack.  Why is that?  Are people just applying their distaste of the album to the tour? ===================== This is exactly why the Works tour gets the most flack. TERRIBLE drums, low mixed guitar, and Freddie's voice completely FAILING. This is the absolute worst version of the song (no joke). Freddie was great on the Opera tour overall (a little rough on Hammy 1975, some bad gigs in Japan), he was tired on the North American leg of the Races leg (not too bad overall, though), but good on the European leg, and the Jazz Tour was very hit and miss: Freddie was decent on the 1978 leg (best gigs for him are the the New York gigs, Philly, Richfield, and Oakland). He starts off weak on the 1979 leg, but improves by Cologne (he remains in decent enough shape until Paris). Japan? What more can I say? Cracked notes, wrong keys, failing to hit 4th octave notes, cracking and airing third octave notes, dropping to second octave notes in the wrong key, etc. The Japan leg is Freddie's worst vocal tour--but the reason that it doesn't get as much flack as the Works Tour, is because it's only Freddie that's bad--everybody else is wonderful, creative, and they step it up a notch to make up for Freddie. On the Works Tour, Freddie tries to sing everything he can on his (many) bad gigs, and often fails, least at Japan, he wisely stays in lower octaves (for the most part). So results: The Works Tour is the weakest tour overall (for the band), and the Jazz Tour is Freddie's weakest tour (but one of the band's strongest tours).

Sir GH wrote: His voice was in bad shape at a lot of Opera, Races and Jazz gigs too ... but the Works tour is the one that gets the most flack.  Why is that?  Are people just applying their distaste of the album to the tour?

No but the thing about the Works tour is he is in bad shape a lot of the time PLUS he has that deep husky voice...and the two do not mix and match well. He barely even sounds like himself on gigs like London 9/7 and Vienna 9/29. On the Jazz tour, when he was weak and could barely make it through the songs on some gigs, at least he sounded like Freddie. He just sounded really tired.

The Works tour does have some great gigs though and the first Rio gig of 1985 is one of their greatest concerts of all time.

jamster1111 wrote: Sir GH wrote: His voice was in bad shape at a lot of Opera, Races and Jazz gigs too ... but the Works tour is the one that gets the most flack.  Why is that?  Are people just applying their distaste of the album to the tour? No but the thing about the Works tour is he is in bad shape a lot of the time PLUS he has that deep husky voice...and the two do not mix and match well. He barely even sounds like himself on gigs like London 9/7 and Vienna 9/29. On the Jazz tour, when he was weak and could barely make it through the songs on some gigs, at least he sounded like Freddie. He just sounded really tired. The Works tour does have some great gigs though and the first Rio gig of 1985 is one of their greatest concerts of all time. ================= Here's some classic examples! Gotta love these performances!

probably the best Queen set list ever though on that tour. Too much keyboards and tinny drum sound on a lot of shows though.

Ooh, can't believe the Wembley songs!!

I remember the Works at the NEC as a top gig, although it was my first concert and I may have rose tinted specs on. I know I walked out thinking the night was the dogs B's though. But I've never been impressed by the bootlegs (eg Tokyo or the Rock in Rio vid) all of which sound poor. I've alway put that down to poor 80's mixng/production on Rio and poor quality recording elsewhere.

I'm sure a bit of remastering glitter would make Rock in Rio a great DVD/CD release of the tour - I'd buy it in a nano-second.

Woody43 wrote: Ooh, can't believe the Wembley songs!!

I remember the Works at the NEC as a top gig, although it was my first concert and I may have rose tinted specs on. I know I walked out thinking the night was the dogs B's though. But I've never been impressed by the bootlegs (eg Tokyo or the Rock in Rio vid) all of which sound poor. I've alway put that down to poor 80's mixng/production on Rio and poor quality recording elsewhere.

I'm sure a bit of remastering glitter would make Rock in Rio a great DVD/CD release of the tour - I'd buy it in a nano-second.
=================

Stuttgart sounds wonderful! As well as 5/9/1985 and Osaka!

Nice recovery on IAHL from the example above, I think.  Shocking start, but nice recovery.

I know! Gotta love the crack to Eb5! hehehe

I don't care that his voice cracked a few times during the show.  That recording is in my top 20 favourites, because of the wonderful atmosphere.  The shows at home were so informal .. almost feels like you're having tea with them while listening.

Sir GH wrote: I don't care that his voice cracked a few times during the show.  That recording is in my top 20 favourites, because of the wonderful atmosphere.  The shows at home were so informal .. almost feels like you're having tea with them while listening.
==================

I dropped my tea cup by mistake when the It's A Hard Life intro came on :)

Bob, what are your favorite recordings anyway?

Thistleboy 1980 wrote: Nice recovery on IAHL from the example above, I think.  Shocking start, but nice recovery.

==================
Yeah, "with a broken heart" line sounds really good.

As for me I would like to mention (besides first six shows) Stuttgart and Milan gigs.  And the general atmosphere at Leiden gig was superb!

I think Queen performed many great shows during the Works tour.

My personal favourites are:
- opening night in Brussels
- Stuttgart
- Leiden (wonderful atmosphere)
- Berlin
- Freddie's birthday show for atmosphere
- Sun City and Tokyo 9 may 1985: 2 of my very favourite Freddie Mercury performances
- Osaka (such a beautiful intro to STL, nobody ever mentions this one!)

The drums are a real problem in Another one bites the dust and Hammer to fall (thank god they corrected that for the magic tour). The official products sound way worse than the best audience recordings! Also, the stereo soundboard from Sun City is way more enjoyable than the releases... Especially Brian's guitar!

The Works Tour......what i heard is that the sound and lighting failed at most gigs.

We've heard just about every Works tour show, and not a single show had technical issues sound-wise.  So that's likely an urban myth.

As for the lights, I've only heard of a couple shows where the lights went out, or half of them - in Birmingham and Melbourne.  But it was one hell of a rig (the most expensive one they ever used, I think), so no doubt it was hard to keep it in full operation from night to night.

This is why they paid their crew very well, so that they had the very best on board with them.  Queen put so much money into their show that they almost always took a loss when touring.  The Magic tour was the only time when they actually made a profit.