Research: Queen in Sun City in 1984

I'm still trying to find out what dates Queen played in Sun City in 1984 and what dates were cancelled.

Almost all concertographies and books say:
Queen played on October 5, 10, 13, 14, 18, 19 and 20.
Cancelled gigs were on October 6, 7, 9, 12.

Now I managed to get at least some info from a South African promoter who worked for Queen:
Queen played 11 gigs over 3 weeks with Mondays/Tuesdays off and the 3 x cancelled shows on the Sunday, Tuesday & Wednesday.
Cancelled gigs were on October 9 and 10 (October 7 was interrupted after Under Pressure).

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Now I'm trying to put all this info together. I assume the "11 gigs" include the two cancelled and the one interrupted. I can't imagine Queen planning 14 gigs in one city :-)

So I've come to conclusion that Queen played on October 5, 6, 7 (interrupted), 12, 13, 14, 18, 19 and 20. Two gigs (October 9 and 10) were cancelled.

Does it sound reasonable? :-)

I personally find 11 gigs in Sun City unbelievable already. No one could fill Sun City's stadium for 11 nights in one run.

Moreover, 11 shows, and only ONE bootleg recording, which itself is of dubious nature? That would be surprising to say the least, especially halfway through the '80s.

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]<b><font color = "crimson">Thomas Quinn wrote: [/QUOTENAME]I personally find 11 gigs in Sun City unbelievable already. No one could fill Sun City's stadium for 11 nights in one run.

Moreover, 11 shows, and only ONE bootleg recording, which itself is of dubious nature? That would be surprising to say the least, especially halfway through the '80s.[/QUOTE]

How do you know that there is only one bootleg recording?

Actually the Sun City "Superbowl" is an indoor arena seating 6000. Not hard to believe really then that Queen could sell it out 11 times. They were and still are huge in SA.

PLEASE let's not make this turn into another discussion about bootlegs from Sun City.

A 6000 arena? A South African article says that "by noon on the first day of booking, all 63,000 seats were sold out."

Now I found another old email from a South African Queen fan who attended a gig there and he thinks that "Queen signed up for five nights. Fred lost his voice after the first gig so the 2nd and 3rd nights were cancelled. I have seen them on the fourth night of the tour so in reality they only played 3 nights."

More and more confusion!

Is there any info on why the concert stopped after Under Pressure, or was that Fred's voice?

i like to read more information from south africa
in october 1984.
because there is someting mysterious about this
1984 south african tour.
where can i find this information.
please don’t mention www.queenconcerts.com i’ve been there and it’s avery good site on the net.
what i want if it’s exists an anotyher queensite
with detailed information or magazins or books
about queen live in sun city.
what has happened,music they played,what the audience did,wich voice problems accured to freddie,maybe wich support act was out there.
maybe recordings from the south african 1984 tour.
maybe not.
i can search for this what i did.
but i did’nt find anything.
there is an possibilaty that missed something.
or i searched in the wrong way/arrea.
does anyone has other queensites in mind.

if so many thanks.

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Mr. Scully wrote: [/QUOTENAME]PLEASE let's not make this turn into another discussion about bootlegs from Sun City.

A 6000 arena? A South African article says that "by noon on the first day of booking, all 63,000 seats were sold out."

Now I found another old email from a South African Queen fan who attended a gig there and he thinks that "Queen signed up for five nights. Fred lost his voice after the first gig so the 2nd and 3rd nights were cancelled. I have seen them on the fourth night of the tour so in reality they only played 3 nights."

More and more confusion![/QUOTE]

Maybe 11 times 6000 seats makes an total of 66.000 seats. It could be possible.


note: maybe our big friend Mr. Brooks could help us out and search the archives.

This is a very interesting topic about the most hidden information about Queen concerts.

As far as i´m concern, i found it strange that no- one knows the answer to this question, but to tell you the truth i think that on this one i´m going for the Greg Brooks live compilation, unless someone finds new (with substantial facts) information about this.

just be carefull, because i think this is TABOO for the Queen people!!

Take care

I am South African and I can say for definite that there is no 63 000 seat stadium at Sun City. I am sure the article refers to the number of seats sold over all nights.

http://sun-city-south-africa.go2africa.com/sun-city-events.asp

Not 100% sure of the number of nights as I was too young to remember. An old friend of mines parents still have their program from the concert. That might shed some light on the number of gigs played but I have since lost touch with them.

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Mr. Scully wrote: [/QUOTENAME]I'm still trying to find out what dates Queen played in Sun City in 1984 and what dates were cancelled.

Almost all concertographies and books say:
Queen played on October 5, 10, 13, 14, 18, 19 and 20.
Cancelled gigs were on October 6, 7, 9, 12.

Now I managed to get at least some info from a South African promoter who worked for Queen:
Queen played 11 gigs over 3 weeks with Mondays/Tuesdays off and the 3 x cancelled shows on the Sunday, Tuesday & Wednesday.
Cancelled gigs were on October 9 and 10 (October 7 was interrupted after Under Pressure).

---

Now I'm trying to put all this info together. I assume the "11 gigs" include the two cancelled and the one interrupted. I can't imagine Queen planning 14 gigs in one city :-)

So I've come to conclusion that Queen played on October 5, 6, 7 (interrupted), 12, 13, 14, 18, 19 and 20. Two gigs (October 9 and 10) were cancelled.

Does it sound reasonable? :-)[/QUOTE]

Maybe you can write Brian May a letter (if you didn't do that already). I also remeber Queen got banned by some international organisation after playing at Sun City. Maybe you can aks the organisation some more details....

I was told the Sun city bowl, with the Queen gear for stage made it to were it was less then 6,000 people, around 5,500 a show.
I'm sure the tour internary can help, I dont fantom Queen staying there for 2 weeks, I think it was little more then 1 week.

I'll check the tour program when I get home on Friday, it should give us at least an idea about how many gigs were SCHEDULED. Tour itinerary would be the best but I have never seen it.

My summary is:

Queen played:
October 5, 6 (interrupted), 12, 13, 14, 18, 19 and 20.

Cancelled gigs:
October 7 (Sunday), 9 (Tuesday), 10 (Wednesday).

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Mr. Scully wrote: [/QUOTENAME]PLEASE let's not make this turn into another discussion about bootlegs from Sun City.

A 6000 arena? A South African article says that "by noon on the first day of booking, all 63,000 seats were sold out."

Now I found another old email from a South African Queen fan who attended a gig there and he thinks that "Queen signed up for five nights. Fred lost his voice after the first gig so the 2nd and 3rd nights were cancelled. I have seen them on the fourth night of the tour so in reality they only played 3 nights."

More and more confusion![/QUOTE]

I think this sounds more realistic, actually.

Could it be possible that 11 nights were considered as possible dates, out of which 5 were finally set?