I was there also and remember cameras everywhere. Hated the Twitty Conway stuff and always felt instead of just playing a snippet of Dance With The Devil they should've played the full song as a tribute to Cozy. Had great seats in a box dead center looking down on the stage. Joe Elliott was there, spoke to him on the way to the loo.
Would be nice if it was released.
cmsdrums · Member since
[QUOTE] [b]dudeofqueen wrote:[/b]
I walked out of the show after Brian appeared on stage in fancy dress - I couldn't believe that a true guitar genius had been reduced to this. I spent the rest of the evening at The Queen's Arms in Queensgate Mews waiting for a mate of mine who wouldn't leave.
Hopefully it remains unreleased and they put out something from the BTTL tour.[/QUOTE]
I can't believe you left a fantastic two hour show based purely on the fact that as an opening 'illusion' piece Brian appeared dressed differently (and for a specific purpose) for all of 3 minutes before reverting to 'normal' clothing for the rest of the gig.
brians wig · Member since
Thank You Miklos for that GREAT piece of information and confirmation that it WAS filmed.
e-man · Member since
thanks Miklos for a very informative post. (do you still have the video of Brian's Milan 98 gig? very sought after :) )
I followed the tour very closely via various online sources. I remember a german guy had a good website about the tour, and it was widely reported on different queen sites too.
Apparently, Linz (in DoRo's home Austria) was originally the choice for recording / filming, but it was shelved after it turned out the venue was too small for a nice film shoot. (please correct me on this if I'm wrong!)
By the time Albert Hall came along it was reported that it would be filmed for release.
To this day, for nostalgic reasons, it's one of the things in the archive I would most like to see. There are many good bootlegs from that tour, but a properly mixed dvd (maybe even blu ray) would make the thing come alive in a whole new way.
The band was very good, and the set list was also nice.
To all of a sudden have a 20 year old Brian May live release pop up on its own is probably too far fetched. BUT; if there indeed is a box set in the works, this is a great way to get Albert Hall 98 out there. I'd much rather see Albert Hall than a remastered Brixton
last-horizon 42265 · Member since
Besides, Offenbach was filmed too, but only the very early stage of the show has surfaced. The Russian dates were also professionally filmed by local TV stations.
Brian had a terrible flu during the week prior to the RAH show which made him cancel a couple of italian dates. He saw a doctor in Vienna that helped him a lot to resume the tour.
By the time that the RAH took place, Brian was still in bad shape. He still brought 'Business' back for one more time because it had been a single and would have been weird it not to be included in a VHS of a show promoting that album. Business had been removed from the set list earlier in the tour due to its demanding vocal skills, which were probably hurting Brian's throat.
Still, there is an audience recording made by Paul Sheaffer (aka Toyrx, RIP) which is the evidency of the condition that Brian was going through and we can clearly see why, being the perfectionist he is, didn't want a second of it to seeing the light of day. Paul also captured Birmingham 98 (first Sail Away Sweeet Sister performance ever) and some RT 1999 shows that have never circulated, and unfortunately got lost forever since he passed away under tragic circumstances before he had the chance to send them to me (cassettes snail mail trades era).
In my opinion the AW tour was under average. Cozy's empty space hadn't been filled even in a 5% by ES. Cozy was the soul of the 1992/3 incarnation of the BM Band. The AW set list was ok but too long and boring during the acoustic On My Way Up, Driven By You section and We Will Rock You was played at an insanely slow speed. And Resurrection, as a respect to Cozy, shouldn't have been played at all, even as a tribute. That song without Cozy was reduced to tears and is still shameful to listen to. They should have left that one alone. And the Twitty Conway thing was just embarrasing (yet trying to be kind). On the contrary, the 1993 Band was on fire. I can understand that Brian had all the touring contracts singed by the time that Cozy died and he just had to go on, and I can also understand why Brian's solo career was interrupted after the AW tour. No Cozy, no BM band. My two cents.
Negative Creep · Member since
Sorry guys - they set up all them cameras just so the guys in the mobile recording truck could watch it from outside and no one thought to put any tapes into the machines to actually record it. Bummer! :) Seriously though, the "interference from taxi drivers radios" story has got to be bollocks and just sounds like a typical QPL/Associates bullshit line.
dudeofqueen · Member since
>I can't believe you left a fantastic two hour show based purely on the fact that as an opening 'illusion' piece Brian appeared dressed differently (and for a specific purpose) for all of 3 minutes before reverting to 'normal' clothing for the rest of the gig.
True story. I thought it was a complete fucking shambles that he would piss about like that.
I felt short-changed by the entire AW album being a collection of crap ballads and some cover versions that had been previously available in other formats. I was just really looking forward to him doing what he does best; playing unmatchable lead guitar with that truly unique tone.
What did I get? A bloke in a wig, some 'brothel creepers' and a drape jacket crooning badly. Completely and utterly destroyed his aura as far as I was concerned and I vowed never to spend another penny on his solo material.
dudeofqueen · Member since
Negative Creep, re:
>Seriously though, the "interference from taxi drivers radios" story has got to be bollocks and just sounds like a typical QPL/Associates bullshit line.
TFFMS was never played live.
Hangman was never recorded.
......and the beat goes on.
Vocal harmony · Member since
^^ reminds me of someone I spoke too years ago who walked out of a Queen gig in Edinburgh in 1982. He left during the intro Because he hadn't liked anything they'd done since ADATR and hated Flash Gordon!
brians wig · Member since
[QUOTE] [b]Negative Creep wrote:[/b]
Sorry guys - they set up all them cameras just so the guys in the mobile recording truck could watch it from outside and no one thought to put any tapes into the machines to actually record it. Bummer! :) Seriously though, the "interference from taxi drivers radios" story has got to be bollocks and just sounds like a typical QPL/Associates bullshit line.[/QUOTE]
Brian WAS having this trouble at a number of his '98 gigs. He said as much on stage a few times.
Some of us are old enough to have been there!
e-man · Member since
[QUOTE] [b]last-horizon 42265 wrote:[/b]
Besides, Offenbach was filmed too, but only the very early stage of the show has surfaced. The Russian dates were also professionally filmed by local TV stations.
Brian had a terrible flu during the week prior to the RAH show which made him cancel a couple of italian dates. He saw a doctor in Vienna that helped him a lot to resume the tour.
By the time that the RAH took place, Brian was still in bad shape. He still brought 'Business' back for one more time because it had been a single and would have been weird it not to be included in a VHS of a show promoting that album. Business had been removed from the set list earlier in the tour due to its demanding vocal skills, which were probably hurting Brian's throat.
Still, there is an audience recording made by Paul Sheaffer (aka Toyrx, RIP) which is the evidency of the condition that Brian was going through and we can clearly see why, being the perfectionist he is, didn't want a second of it to seeing the light of day. Paul also captured Birmingham 98 (first Sail Away Sweeet Sister performance ever) and some RT 1999 shows that have never circulated, and unfortunately got lost forever since he passed away under tragic circumstances before he had the chance to send them to me (cassettes snail mail trades era).
In my opinion the AW tour was under average. Cozy's empty space hadn't been filled even in a 5% by ES. Cozy was the soul of the 1992/3 incarnation of the BM Band. The AW set list was ok but too long and boring during the acoustic On My Way Up, Driven By You section and We Will Rock You was played at an insanely slow speed. And Resurrection, as a respect to Cozy, shouldn't have been played at all, even as a tribute. That song without Cozy was reduced to tears and is still shameful to listen to. They should have left that one alone. And the Twitty Conway thing was just embarrasing (yet trying to be kind). On the contrary, the 1993 Band was on fire. I can understand that Brian had all the touring contracts singed by the time that Cozy died and he just had to go on, and I can also understand why Brian's solo career was interrupted after the AW tour. No Cozy, no BM band. My two cents.[/QUOTE]
True about Offenbach, but only the first two songs are out there. The story, at the time at least, was that they (local tv station) weren't allowed to film more than the first few songs.
St. Petersburg was filmed by a tv station, and about 40% of the gig has surfaced. There are tracks from different parts of the concert, so it's safe to assume the whole thing is in an archive somewhere.
I have both of these on VHS, which took quite a bit of work to get hold of in 1998/1999!!
Moscow though is an audience shot. Afaik, there's no professional footage there.
About Brian's vocal issues; the week leading up to the UK dates were indeed shaky. However, I have the audience recording of RAH and it's not THAT bad. Brian's never been a great live vocalist anyway, and imo, RAH is no doubt worthy of a release. Brixton 93 is hardly a tour de force vocally either....
As far as Cozy, no question that he was the heart and soul of that band. I do however think that Eric Singer did a great job. He's not cozy, but then again, no one is!
Togg · Member since
How many nights did he do at the Albert hall? I seriously don't remember the filming... maybe I just didnt take it in
cmsdrums · Member since
From memory, just the one night there (can't recall if there were any other London shows, like on the BTTL tour when he played Hammersmith and Brixton).
john bodega · Member since
unrelated, but can anyone explain this to me?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ux9K_G6YCJE
What the fuck was he thinking? Was Brian in a particularly dark place when he was doing this act?
Vocal harmony · Member since
[QUOTE] [b]Togg wrote:[/b]
How many nights did he do at the Albert hall? I seriously don't remember the filming... maybe I just didnt take it in[/QUOTE]
He played the Albert Hall on the second leg of the Back To The Light Tour as well. But only once on each occasion BTTL and Another World.
