"QUEEN'S NEW SHOW" - from German magazine 'Popcorn', summer 1984
Mar 30, 2024 8:51:19 GMT
leo82br, Chopin1995, and 1 more like this
Post by fabiogminero on Mar 30, 2024 8:51:19 GMT
Hi everyone.
Today I propose to you a nice article that appeared in the German music magazine Popcorn in the summer of 1984; it is originally titled DIE NEUE SHOW VON QUEEN (translated as QUEEN'S NEW SHOW).
What will be the European tour of 'The Works' is presented through the words of Roger Taylor (during his press conference in London for the album 'Strange Frontier') and Brian May, who is interviewed in Munich during the rehearsals for the tour. German readers are informed of Queen's new stage and the presence of a new keyboard player; the Dortmund date of 10th September 1984, the first German stop of the European tour, is also communicated - the concerts in Hanover, Berlin, Frankfurt and Stuttgart are not yet mentioned.
Below is the original article in German and my translation into English. Enjoy!
Today I propose to you a nice article that appeared in the German music magazine Popcorn in the summer of 1984; it is originally titled DIE NEUE SHOW VON QUEEN (translated as QUEEN'S NEW SHOW).
What will be the European tour of 'The Works' is presented through the words of Roger Taylor (during his press conference in London for the album 'Strange Frontier') and Brian May, who is interviewed in Munich during the rehearsals for the tour. German readers are informed of Queen's new stage and the presence of a new keyboard player; the Dortmund date of 10th September 1984, the first German stop of the European tour, is also communicated - the concerts in Hanover, Berlin, Frankfurt and Stuttgart are not yet mentioned.
Below is the original article in German and my translation into English. Enjoy!
QUEEN'S NEW SHOW
Two days after the tour was announced, 70,000 tickets were sold in England. Reason for the flash sales: it could be Queen's last tour. Drummer Roger Taylor (32) literally said at the London press conference for his solo album "Strange Frontier": "Whether this will be our last tour? You can never know - but from our side we're not selling the tour under the banner of farewell, so that we can sell more tickets.. But who knows, maybe it really is the last one, maybe not…."
In any case, it is certain that Queen, after a two-year live break, will present a show that will surpass their previous gigantomania. Roger Taylor reveals: "This time, for the first time in Queen's history, there will be a real stage setting with superstructures. We will be using elements from the film "Metropolis" which we have already used in our "Radio Ga Ga" video. In addition, there will be a kind of mechanical comic strips that show the function of hypermodern machines – after all, our album "The Works" is about the struggle between man and computer. However, there will be no real robots like from 'Star Wars' on stage. That would be too clumsy. The show will be very modern, very stylish. You might compare it to the design of David Bowie’s "Diamond Dogs" tour years ago. I am sure that with this stage presentation we are once again a big step ahead of all other bands."
The preparations for the tour this time ran from Munich, which has become the secret Queen headquarters. Freddie Mercury has fallen in love with Munich and lives here permanently. Three weeks ago, he was still curing a tendon strain and even had to wear plaster. He shaved off his famous beard and acted in the last video to "lt's A Hard Life" with an artificial beard. Whether he will grow his trademark again?
"I think people should be able to rack their brains over whether my beard is real or a fake," he says with a grin. But it is certain that Freddie will not be wearing one of those bizarre costumes, with which he appeared in the last videoclips to prove to be admired. Something so completely freaky only works in the video, on stage people would laugh their heads off.
As part of the tour, which began on August 24th in Brussels and heads to Germany from September 10th (Dortmund), Queen will not be playing any open-air festivals as originally planned. Brian May: "The risk with the weather is simply too big for us. Now we like to play a few nights in a row in a city, if the demand is accordingly large."
Musically, Queen will have the complete album "The Works" as well as the big hits of their 13-year career in the setlist. Brian Way: "We'll have an additional keyboard player with us, so that Freddie is somewhat relieved and can present the show all the better. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get our guest musician Fred Mandel this time. Elton John stole him from us for his tour, although we discovered him…"
Whether it will be the last Queen tour or not, it is certain that the four musicians are highly committed. "Preparing a tour and seeing it through is by far the most exciting part of our job," explains Brian May, "although the trend is moving more and more to the video, and it’s going to get to that point soon, that people will say: Okay – we'll do a single show and it will go around the world. But for me that would be a kind of castration of rock’n’roll. The tingling, the nervousness, the effort and the satisfaction that a good concert can give me can’t be replaced by anything!"
Two days after the tour was announced, 70,000 tickets were sold in England. Reason for the flash sales: it could be Queen's last tour. Drummer Roger Taylor (32) literally said at the London press conference for his solo album "Strange Frontier": "Whether this will be our last tour? You can never know - but from our side we're not selling the tour under the banner of farewell, so that we can sell more tickets.. But who knows, maybe it really is the last one, maybe not…."
In any case, it is certain that Queen, after a two-year live break, will present a show that will surpass their previous gigantomania. Roger Taylor reveals: "This time, for the first time in Queen's history, there will be a real stage setting with superstructures. We will be using elements from the film "Metropolis" which we have already used in our "Radio Ga Ga" video. In addition, there will be a kind of mechanical comic strips that show the function of hypermodern machines – after all, our album "The Works" is about the struggle between man and computer. However, there will be no real robots like from 'Star Wars' on stage. That would be too clumsy. The show will be very modern, very stylish. You might compare it to the design of David Bowie’s "Diamond Dogs" tour years ago. I am sure that with this stage presentation we are once again a big step ahead of all other bands."
The preparations for the tour this time ran from Munich, which has become the secret Queen headquarters. Freddie Mercury has fallen in love with Munich and lives here permanently. Three weeks ago, he was still curing a tendon strain and even had to wear plaster. He shaved off his famous beard and acted in the last video to "lt's A Hard Life" with an artificial beard. Whether he will grow his trademark again?
"I think people should be able to rack their brains over whether my beard is real or a fake," he says with a grin. But it is certain that Freddie will not be wearing one of those bizarre costumes, with which he appeared in the last videoclips to prove to be admired. Something so completely freaky only works in the video, on stage people would laugh their heads off.
As part of the tour, which began on August 24th in Brussels and heads to Germany from September 10th (Dortmund), Queen will not be playing any open-air festivals as originally planned. Brian May: "The risk with the weather is simply too big for us. Now we like to play a few nights in a row in a city, if the demand is accordingly large."
Musically, Queen will have the complete album "The Works" as well as the big hits of their 13-year career in the setlist. Brian Way: "We'll have an additional keyboard player with us, so that Freddie is somewhat relieved and can present the show all the better. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get our guest musician Fred Mandel this time. Elton John stole him from us for his tour, although we discovered him…"
Whether it will be the last Queen tour or not, it is certain that the four musicians are highly committed. "Preparing a tour and seeing it through is by far the most exciting part of our job," explains Brian May, "although the trend is moving more and more to the video, and it’s going to get to that point soon, that people will say: Okay – we'll do a single show and it will go around the world. But for me that would be a kind of castration of rock’n’roll. The tingling, the nervousness, the effort and the satisfaction that a good concert can give me can’t be replaced by anything!"