Works tour revelation

......and look at what The Who are doing with their current setlists. As they did in '89 (for better or worse) they're making things interesting and dangerous as opposed to safe and boring.

@ 12yrslouetta, I totally agree!!! Unfortunately I didn't see Queen until Leeds in 82 but as you say, that show was astounding. However, I saw them next on the Saturday night at the N.E.C. in 84 and it was unbelievable. I clearly remember seeing people standing there with their mouths open in amazement of how good Queen were that night. The sound was crystal clear and VERY powerful. That said, I raved about the show all week to my mates in the Navy as we were going to the Wembley Arena show the following Friday. Guess what? A total disappointment but largely to do with our position in the arena and the dreadful sound. Wembley and Knebworth 86 were great and obviously legendary gigs as time would come to show but after having seen 100's of gigs since, that N.E.C. show is pretty hard to beat in my book. I now look back at the 86 shows as more of a spectacle than from a performance perspective.

Thank God!!!! I thought it was just me. Any time anyone mentions the 84 tour on this forum it seems to get met with sadness and disappointment. It would be interesting to know if we are in the minority. I loved the song choices as well - I couldn’t believe it when they pulled out Great King Rat. If I remember I think they played Stone Cold Crazy, I may be wrong. Great gigs indeed.

And yeah, the sound quality at Wembley was horrible. And it wasn’t warm either if I remember.

Stuttgart 1984 is one of my favorite bootlegs. I think the band was on fire that night!

[QUOTE] [b]12yrslouetta wrote:[/b]

Actually I have to disagree. I was lucky to see Queen twice in 1980 and they were great and wonderful. Saw them in 1982 and they were good – I thought they were better in 1980 actually. But in Leeds they were just fantastic. Have to say that all the Hot Space stuff they did was stupendous. You could see that they enjoyed playing those tracks. But the leap when I saw them in 1984 was incredible. The lights, the volume, the stage presentation was like nothing id ever seen from them. I saw them twice on that tour and it was maybe the best Id ever seen them. In 86 they seemed much more smiley and content with each other so it was a different experience really. In Manchester 86 for example they were fine but it was lacklustre after what I had seen from them before. But 1984 was great.
Id be interested to know if people are commenting how 84 was dreadful after just listening to rips/ audio or if you actually went to any of the gigs (by the way, im not saying that you cant enjoy it if you didn’t go to any of the gigs of course). Im just wondering if anybody else who went felt if Queen had jumped a few rungs up the ladder in their live progression, or did you think after seeing them that it wasn’t great and the gig was a step backwards.
[/QUOTE]

Good post.

Based on all I hear from those present at the gigs, the sound was great in the room, and I wholeheartedly agree that it was a great setlist too, and so I think a lot of the negative comments about The Works tour comes from the audio mixes of the officially released gigs from then: the (in most minds) unwise choice of really inappropriate use of keys and electronic drums (along with Roger's chrome Ludwig kit which did not suit their sound at all).

The audio mixes (Rio, Japan 85) are atrocious on the official releases; guitar muddy and buried in the mix, keys too synthesised, and electronic drums too loud and poorly selected as to when to play them.

I have no issues with keys being used; I think they work brilliantly on the Magic Tour - Now I'm Here, A Kind of Magic, Tie Your Mother Down etc.. . all sound great with subtle piano playing. I can only think however that on The Works tour that Spike and the band were testing various things out, and the 'trial and error' stage was more 'error' than 'trial' , as everything was just far too synth based on the keys sounds on most songs.

Roger's use of the electronic pads was poor in a lot of places – Another One Bites The Dust being a particular example where the songs just suffers for the whole song being played on them. Thankfully, that particular itch seems to have been scratched by 86 too!

Having heard the remixes from the tour released as bonus tracks (It's A Hard Life and Rock In Rio Blues), there is massive potential to get a fantastic sounding live release from The Works period, so I haven't given up hope just yet!

[QUOTE] [b]12yrslouetta wrote:[/b]
If I remember I think they played Stone Cold Crazy, I may be wrong. Great gigs indeed.
[/QUOTE]

Indeed they did :)

It seems to be something of a consensus that The Works shows sounded better in person.

[QUOTE]

[b]cmsdrums wrote:[/b] [QUOTE]... (along with Roger's chrome Ludwig kit which did not suit their sound at all). [/QUOTE] [/QUOTE]

This sounds interesting - could you explain a bit more what you mean?

Great King Rat (longer version)

I think that could have been amazing, doing it like they did in 1973.

Brighton Rock (full song)

I don't know if this would have made a big difference, as it would have just book-ended Brian's solo. Still would have been great.

I'm In Love With My Car

This would have been great, since Roger would have sung lead on a song.

Sweet Lady, White Man

Sweet Lady would have been interesting, but I think White Man could have been more amazing than ever, with a super heavy live rendition.

We Will Rock You (fast)

I don't think this would have really worked, to be honest. Sounds a bit out of place, unless they'd get rid of the Machines intro.

Play The Game, Need Your Loving Tonight, Put Out The Fire, Las Palabras de Amor

All very nice, especially Play The Game and Las Palabras de Amor.

Life Is Real (Freddie solo piano)/Life Is Real (Freddie/Brian acoustic duet)

One of my favourite Queen songs, I would have loved this.

[QUOTE] [b]Oscar J wrote:[/b]

[QUOTE]

[b]cmsdrums wrote:[/b] [QUOTE]... (along with Roger's chrome Ludwig kit which did not suit their sound at all). [/QUOTE] [/QUOTE]

This sounds interesting - could you explain a bit more what you mean?[/QUOTE]

happy to....

Roger is famous for his 'big, open' drum sound, which in conjunction with his playing style has always been enhanced by his choice of drums - mostly until the last few years these were Ludwig Classic Maple drums. The kit he used on The Works tour (and Hot Space from meomory too)was still a Maple kit, but finished with a full ply of chrome all over. This produces a very distinct, and very different, sound, and one that (to me) doesn't sound great for Roger, or Queen.

He also chose to leave the factory Ludwig drum heads on too - most drummers use better quality, branded heads to suit their sound, and it is odd that he didn't do this for that tour. Those Ludwig heads, coupled with the layer of chrome, seem to muffle the drums and not give much clear definition, attack or ambience - all trademarks of his sound.

Having said all that, the kit may have sounded incredible ithe room, but it certainly was not captured very well on any of the recordings I have heard.

^^^ the overall sound, including drums, on The Works tour was very good, clear, heavy and powerful. I was a bit surprised after the tour hearing some of the recordings, the drums particularly sounded different. A strange anomaly! What was noticeable was that the drums, on the night, on both Hot Space and Works Tour shows had a more defined sound than previous tours.

As regards the songs that were rehearsed but not played, I think the works setlist ideas had a lot more of BM's input after the Hot Space tour and album. It would seem that he was trying to get back to what he believed Queen were about

Wow, thanks Wizard for posting this. It is indeed a great info. White Man and Sweet Lady would sound dreadful with those electronic drums ! A pity I'm in Love with My Car and Life is Real and so many other great tracks were crossed out of the final setlist.

Wouldn't it be great if QPL released The Works Box set and started it with CD containing the rehearsal :) :) ?

Saw them in 1982, 1984 and 1986). I have to say that the Works tour was by far the best of these shows. Amazing set-list, best lighting rig ever and a brilliant sound system. I agree that most of the 1984 records are not that good. But live is was just brilliant.

12yrslouetta : You are absolutely spot on Queen were on fire in 1982 and i too saw the band in Leeds and they were fantastic and unbeatable,
Also saw Queen at Birminghams NEC in september 1984 and the sound and lights were amazing, you could not fault the band at all.
People who moan on here that the sound was no good must be deaf.

It's such a shame we have no decent video or audio document of this tour.
I never got the chance to see Queen live but a few of my mates did, stretching back to '74. All of them are in agreement that the '84 shows blew the socks off everything else. Even 'Ratty' in his book mentions The Works tour as being the very best.

I'd quite like to see the 1st night of Rio released where Freddie is fairly strong vocally. 2nd night highlights as a bonus, and I bet they've got all sorts of news footage etc. which could also be added. Would be a good one IMO.

[QUOTE] [b]gerry wrote:[/b]
Queen were on fire in 1982[/QUOTE]

Ooooh is that why they called the Milton Keynes concert 'Queen on Fire'!?

[QUOTE] [b]gerry wrote:[/b]
People who moan on here that the sound was no good must be deaf.[/QUOTE]

I haven't listened to much of The Works tour, but surely the people who 'moan' about the sound being bad have listened to bootlegs to reach that conclusion, where the sound often is bad.

Based on the Japan 1985 clips that have recently been posted, for instance, the synth being used to pad out vocal harmonies sounds awful, and Brian's guitar sound often has an unnecessary chorus effect, making it sound kind of hollow.

Also, it's undeniable that Freddie had vocal issues on the tour, and many bad performances.