Did Queen ever do "private" gigs?

emrabt wrote:

There's a couple of things like When Freddie Joined in at a local pub gig in 1982 and The Roof party at Kensington Garden club in 1986 where there were impromptu performances.

The Cross + Brain and John did a 1989 fan club gig.

But not as Queen.

But how can we know for sure, since it's not public information?

Most bands then and now do private functions in any number of circumstances. It's one of those things we just won't know about unless we were there or speak with people who were. And even if you ask them, they will almost certainly deny it unless they trust you (which is a million to one odds in this business) because even decades later there are still any number of reasons why they'd need to do so.

There is far more that goes on than is in the public eye, and all the players involved (bands, techs, management, etc.) know what can be said openly and what cannot. And if anyone opens their yap when they shouldn't, they'll probably never work again.

MisterCosmicc wrote:

Peter Freestone said Freddie didn’t want to do private gigs. He said Freddie didn’t want to be used as a puppet by record executives or anyone else, he preferred playing to the public.

And that could just be smart PR, even all these years later. People connected to rock stars will tow the company line even well after death. It's the same reason why McCartney continues to say Getting Better isn't about Lennon beating his woman, insisting it's character portrayal in song. Friends protect their friends.

Mr Freestone is an honourable man, and he would never throw Mercury under the bus if given the opportunity. He tells stories, but he'll never tell all of them. After all these years, these guys are all experts at filtering when necessary (which is pretty well always).

Peter Hince didn't understand this, and that's why Brian let him have it publicly. Of course it seemed unfair on the surface, but that's the price you pay when you look the gift horse in the mouth even decades after the fact.

What about the story related to the saudi arabian millionaire Adnán Jashogyi? I heard once that the song Kashoggi's Ship from The Miracle album was about the time Queen played a private gig for that man, in his ship.

i think this one was relatively private:
Truro City Hall, June 27, 1970

I don't know. I do know however, that her sister Margaret could sing quite good and actually did ocassionally at private meetings. I've seen that in The Crown.

I heard that the Q+AL incarnation played a very private gig for a very famous writer before Christmas. I can't say the source or name the name, but by all accounts, it was a kind of magic. Potter on now.

Bo Alex wrote:

What about the story related to the saudi arabian millionaire Adnán Jashogyi? I heard once that the song Kashoggi's Ship from The Miracle album was about the time Queen played a private gig for that man, in his ship.

Brian said in an interview in 1989 that it was Freddie’s song and made a joke about Freddie partying on a yacht, not sure if he really did, particularly Khashoggi’s yacht, but it was Freddie’s concept either way.

The Real Wizard wrote:
But how can we know for sure, since it's not public information?

We can't which is why i gave the 3 things i know for a fact happened as we have proof of all three of them.

http://adamlamberttv.blogspot.com/2019/09/queen-adam-lambert-performed-private.html

How can i edit this post to do it linkable ?

https://www.bookingentertainment.com/artists/classic_rock/queen-with-adam-lambert.php

Check the list!

Yeah, they played at my then girlfriend's party in the backyard, somewhere in 1976.
Her parents got fed up with the noise, so we had to tie her mother down
Then her brother went swimming with a brick or something.
Anyway...star of the party was not Queen but a fella called Kashoggi
There you have it....