Live '89

ST17 wrote:I did find in the 80s Queen kept the same set lists far too long and it became boring and stale .
I wish they had mixed things up a little and had a surprise part of the show where they would pick at random a song they had never ever done live!

I'd go one further than this ^.

Many older bands are doing "classic album" tours - with their setlist split in two. first half = a classic LP / second half = hits.

Leppard did a Hysteria 30 / Gr Hits tour a couple of years ago
and Eagles are doing a Hotel California / Gr Hits tour this year.

what if Queen were still around (as a four piece) now? and had done that for, say Opera 40th (in 2015). I'd have paid good money for that gig!

runner_70 wrote:

Thistle wrote:

Fuck, I've entered The Twilight Zone lol - nice to see everyone burying the hatchet and having good discussion :)

Fuck off then lol

LOL - no, you fuck off ;)

Brenski: Yeah For me The Woks Tour offered "Great King Rat" which was such a great surprise but The Magic Tour been special for me the song set list was a bit of a let down and many classic songs had been ignored, I always use to love "Sweet Lady" live and "Ogre Battle" But i have to admit Freddie nailed "Who Wants To Live Forever" on the Magic Tour his vocals where strong powerful and made me so proud to support Freddie & the band.

ST17 wrote:Brenski: Yeah For me The Woks Tour offered "Great King Rat" which was such a great surprise but The Magic Tour been special for me the song set list was a bit of a let down and many classic songs had been ignored,

I think that the reason for the Magic Tour setlist being how it was, goes back to a year earlier.

The Magic Tour was in reality a Greatest Hits tour. The band were fully aware of their raised profile after Live Aid, and took that whole "global jukebox" idea to fill out a whole concert.

There were a couple of "Live Aid" style medleys - ITLOTG/SSOR/Tear It Up/AKOM and You're So square/Hello Mary Lou/Tutti Frutti.

The only song I felt was missing from The Magic Tour was Somebody To Love, which was dropped as freddie was struggling with the high-notes throughout The Works tour. Other than that, I think it was their most interesting setlist for years, maybe since 77 even.

Our over-familiarity and subsequent complacency with the setflist is really down to the number of live releases from the tour.

I never felt The Magic Tour setlist was that good.

Yes it delivered hits but the more interesting older (bits of) songs were buried in the medley mostly, and I felt they wasted the chance of playing more of their songs with the Rock n'Roll medley at the end. Brian's explanation for these type of covers in the early 70's was that not everyone would be familiar with Queen's material and it gave the audience a chance to hear something familiar. That's fair enough when you're a new band supporting Mott The Hoople but surely when your selling out stadiums you're not paying to the uninitiated, even if they'd only heard Greatest Hits 1or 2.

The Hot Space tour was a real break with the norm as the setlist had followed the same pattern from 77 to 81. The Works setlist was a nod to the mid 70's in that it used material from all the albums in what was a well paced and presented gig.

Vocal harmony wrote:Brian's explanation for these type of covers in the early 70's was that not everyone would be familiar with Queen's material and it gave the audience a chance to hear something familiar. That's fair enough when you're a new band supporting Mott The Hoople but surely when your selling out stadiums you're not paying to the uninitiated, even if they'd only heard Greatest Hits 1or 2.

...and Brian's argument (if that was his real reason) doesn't stack up.
When Queen started out, they were playing to college audiences/early 20s young adults. That generation were into songs from 1955-60. Early 70s teens/early 20s grew up with Beatles, Zep, Hendrix etc - the bands Queen were influenced by.

I never really felt the rock n roll stuff belonged in their live gigs. Covers like "Immigrant Song" and other rock standards "Gimme Some Lovin'", definitely.

I agree with Vocal Harmony in a way because Queen became more and more commercial as times went on and there set list was proof of this, and they started catering for the general public and not the fans favourites!
Gone was "Sweet Lady" "Ogre Battle" "Father to Son" and even "Don't Stop Me Now" got dropped!

I don't think DSMN ever really worked live, tbh.

Thistle wrote:

I don't think DSMN ever really worked live, tbh.

I agree - it sounds better without Guitar as on record. May will disagree of course and come up with more "guitar versions" of this great song after he learned that it is a fan favourite and he hated it as it was without guitars

runner_70 wrote:

Thistle wrote:

I don't think DSMN ever really worked live, tbh.

I agree - it sounds better without Guitar as on record. May will disagree of course and come up with more "guitar versions" of this great song after he learned that it is a fan favourite and he hated it as it was without guitars

Not sure what you've been listening to. No guitar on DSMN, are you sure?

Vocal harmony wrote:

runner_70 wrote:

Thistle wrote:

I don't think DSMN ever really worked live, tbh.

I agree - it sounds better without Guitar as on record. May will disagree of course and come up with more "guitar versions" of this great song after he learned that it is a fan favourite and he hated it as it was without guitars

Not sure what you've been listening to. No guitar on DSMN, are you sure?

Apart from the solo it has no rythm guitars. Thats why there are those "Long lost Guitar "versions lately

I remember Brian & Roger saying that they hated "Don't Stop Me Now" but it has become second favourite of all time in Queen fans top ten! I wonder what they think of that, another Mercury smash!

ST17 wrote:I remember Brian & Roger saying that they hated "Don't Stop Me Now" but it has become second favourite of all time in Queen fans top ten! I wonder what they think of that, another Mercury smash!

Roger didn't say he hated it. His exact words were:
"I don't necessarily think it's one of our best songs, but I love the sentiment"

Don't get me wrong, I love DSMN. It's a great song (original as well as "long lost guitar" versions lol), I just don't think it translated well on stage. I think that's why it only lasted a single tour.