In the days when there was no Internet, the chronicles of the concerts tried to transport us to the places that were far away, to the shows that we could not attend.
The editor risks that in Argentina, "Love of My Life" would have had a deathly silence, he was wrong, three years later, people sang it.
This is the translation, generated by Google translate of the review. Enjoy it.
Exclusive
SPECIAL ENVOY TO USA
For the first time an Argentine publication was especially invited to the United States to witness the concert, the party and subsequent press conference of the group QUEEN. This compliment that corresponded to PELO made it possible to see and listen to the performances of the English band in New Orleans and Miami. We also got interviews with the group and its current producer as a preview of all that material, we reproduced the chronicle of the New Orleans concert witnessed by our special envoy.
QUEEN
New Orleans, Lousiana state. New Orleans with all its enormous genesis of jazz and blues. With a history of music and art born on the banks of the Mississippi River. A city where the constructions and European (Franco-Hispanic) style coexist in eloquent contrast with the steel, cement and glass that make up the visible face of this country. And this is where we came to hear one of the most powerful English rock bands: Queen.
It's no coincidence, his new album is called 'Jazz'' and New Orleans breathes it everywhere. This charming city, which seems unreal, hosted a group of journalists from various nations, specially invited by the EMI to witness the concert, party and subsequent press conference that Queen was going to give.
Orleans was the third date of the group's 32 concerts to perform in 29 cities across the country. With overwhelming success in Europe, this tour meant Queen's final blow in the United States. And they got it, because the band is playing like never before, with much more rock and roll than when they started, also as a condescension to this country. This is what happened on stage.
AN HOUR BEFORE
The concert in New Orleans was held in the Auditorium, an immense theater belonging to the Municipality with a capacity for 20,000 spectators. This was Queen's third performance in the United States, having played two days earlier in legendary Memphis, Tennessee.
The show started at eight o'clock at night, and an hour before we decided to go to the concert venue to reconnoitre the terrain. The Auditorium is located practically in the center of the city, so the access to the place, and the subsequent exit, were done quickly and efficiently. The concert is barely an hour away and the number of people waiting at the gates is barely a hundred.
We come over to chat a bit with the guys who hang around drinking soda or the very light American beer. Almost everyone sees Queen for the first time and; not coincidentally, his number one group is Led Zeppelin. They all show they know quite a bit about the band and are excited when the colleague from Argentine television — Juan Alberto Badía and cameraman— begins to take them with the video machine.
When we left we observed the four huge trucks in which the stage that Queen uses in their shows is transported. We return to the hotel where a special bus will take us to the stadium.
STAGE
The New Orleans Auditorium is a large, rectangular-shaped concrete stadium.
It has a tray of stalls that completely surrounds it. In the lower part no seats were placed, while upstairs it is easy to accommodate in the stands, where there are a large number of exits and corridors to the outside. People enter comfortably and quickly and few police officers are seen, who act as ushers, indicating where to stand and how to avoid crowds. New Orleans has among its traditions Mardi Gras (our carnival), which is why it is customary to attend events in disguise. Thus parade before our bewildered eyes four witches, a mummy, three wild animals, a princess, two Martians, and some more difficult to identify. Everything serves to color the party. The stage is about thirty meters wide by ten deep. On the sides are two one-meter-high platforms, just below the amplification columns. These hang from the ceiling of the stage in two groups of six. The stage is open, in the dark.
You can only see a kind of grid of lights, These hang directly in front of the public. In a few minutes the stadium fills up. The turnout is estimated at 18,000 people. All tickets were sold in advance: the single price of $ 8.50. There are no numbered locations and those who are arriving are those who get the best location.
There are no fights and everything goes smoothly. In the area without seats, two huge consoles are located to the right of the computerized lighting system (programmed). These are the ones on the stage, above and to the sides, and the ones that fall from the back to the front of the stage. To the left is the sound console - one of them - and like the previous one, it does not have any protection or barricade around it.
OPENING
It's eight thirty and with the stadium full all the lights go out. The scream is hellish and is only subdued by Queen's music. The stage is illuminated "a giorno" as the huge grill of 500 lamps alternately red, green and white lights up. As a dense column of smoke rises from the floor, the grill begins until finally constituting the roof of the stage.
The effect is super achieved and makes the crowd scream even louder. Music is the basis of a rock and roll. Now we do see the musicians May on the left, Deacon (bass) on the right, Mercury right forward, and Taylor with his drums back in the middle. On the right is the grand piano that Mercury will use several times. The battery is mounted on a three-story platform with white light reflectors directed at the public. Above Taylor's head hangs a huge gong also surrounded by lights and, to his right, a pair of concert timpani.
Mercury sings and this is "'We Will Rock You" in a revamped rock and roll version. The bass sustains the tones with astonishing assurance, and the rhythm invites movement. Mercury sings like on records, the whole group sounds perfect in clear, undistorted stereo. He moves with the grace of a contortionist or a classical dancer, always holding on to the microphone rod, a kind of cane that he will use in a thousand ways throughout the show.
BERRY AND HENDRIX
"Good evening, New Orleans," shouts Mercury and the audience responds enthusiastically. We still can't react to such a flood of light and sound, when Mercury sits at the piano to attack "Somebody to Love." A beautiful gospel song that allows us to enjoy Queen's best instrument: their voices. The group reels off the safe, comfortable theme, and at the end, Mercury is played in a solo that sets the audience on their feet.
Almost without breathing we went to one of the top albums of Queen's career "A night at the opera." The opening, "Death on Two Legs," is a forceful and overwhelming display of Brian May on guitar. There are probably a dozen guitarists more skilled in rock than he is, but very few have the style and imagination that he does. His guitar - is part of the original Queen sound, at times stale and distorted and at times clear and classic. Almost without stopping they continue with “Reina Asesina”, one of the first successful songs in Buenos Aires. A combination of hard rock with Beatle vocalizations. The main instrument in this song are the voices of Mercury, Taylor and May.
This time the next song "I'm in love with my car" is hooked and kicks off with a heavy riff. Mercury's voice transforms into Chuck Berry. May performs a very polished solo with a very Hendrix sound (he loves it) and Mercury stands beside him, gesturing with the microphone as if he were an imaginary guitarist. At the end he sits down at the piano and abruptly the theme turns into "Get Down, Make Love" A true monument or heavy rock. A dense, choppy riff, sustained by the piano and the forcefulness of the rhythm. The lights immediately go out from the stage and the spotlights begin to rotate over the audience. Lights sweep across the stage grill in precise effect. May plays all sorts of effects on her guitar, accompanying Mercury's vocal acrobatics.
The drums explode and the riff comes back, repeating itself tirelessly. The next number is "You are my Best Friend", a moment of tranquility for all with this song in the best style of the sixties.
THE NEW TRICK
We all need a break but it is very brief because Mercury announces that the following is a song by John Deacon, using a play on words he sits down at the piano and begins "Spread Your Wings" a typical American ballad, with a deeply inspired Mercury Mc Cartney - is not it wonderful? -.
The end is prolonged with the band in full orchestra and the surprise arrives. From the top of the stage it begins to
descend another stage with a full armed battery. The timing is perfect, when the song ends the stage is already installed. The new stage fits perfectly with a platform located on the sides, with the musicians being one meter above the audience.
May picks up the guitar, Taylor sits on this new drum kit that has the cover of "News of the World " on the kick drum. This is how the acoustic set begins. It begins with a very raw, super stale boogie. With this song we forget certain insecurities in Mercury's voice, perhaps from exhaustion. The pretend trumpet solo is a beautiful parody of Brian May.
Mercury clarifies that the next song was specially composed for New Orleans and that they would not play it again in the
tour. The public raves and accompanies with clapping. Everyone participates and the festive mood is on the rise. In front of the new stage a curtain of lights is formed that amazes and gives rise to the jokes of the musicians. The acoustic ending is in charge of May and Mercury. Alone, sitting in the middle of the new stage they sing the beautiful ballad "Love of my Life." The public is restless and does not pay much attention to this number. In our country it would have had a deathly silence, but they see groups like this all the weeks.
ACROBATICS AND ROCK
With "´39" this singular apart ends. A skiffle correctly played, where the vocal arrangements replace the bronzes. Everything is dark for a few seconds and when the reflectors turn on, May is located on the left stage and Mercury on the opposite. They start with the riff of "It's Late" and the stage rises again.
At the right time lets see Deacon and Taylor on the original stage. May and Mercury descend and the subject gains intensity. And what may come will not surprise us, our astonishment was overcome. Mercury and May are constantly crossing from one end of the stage to the other. This is democracy, no boy is left without seeing his idol up close. "Fat bottom Girls" is the single from the new Queen album. A song with country airs and a title that ... we leave it to the recorder.
The beginning of the subject is a vocal acrobatics of the four. A resounding display of the ability to sing with those undulations of the chorus that we thought impossible to hear live. The song takes on rigor with May's riff, perfectly marked by Taylor with a crushing tempo. They continue with "Sheer Heart Attack", a fast-paced rock and roll from the LP "News of the World". May's guitar becomes incisive, crackles and howls. There is one of the most fantastic rock guitarists. In the middle of the song Mercury leave the scene for an inspired May.
A long improvisation then begins. First, a really funky rock that is slowly transforming into total experimentation. May uses the Echoplex and we find that she admires Hendrix without itching. His guitar multiplies, first there are three then ten, the notes are scattered throughout the auditorium, filling it with music. Listening to May pluck unimaginable sounds from her guitar, one understands why the elimination of synthesizers in Queen's music.
The guitar replaces the strings, the horns, and the keyboards, of course. Everything is done based on a simple but creative polyphony. May obtains a diabolical combination of sounds between the attack of the strings up high with the finger prepared for the intervention of the harmonic and the dose of saturation and maintenance (sustain). This orchestral concept of the guitar has references in two other great English guitarists: Steve Hackett and Robert Fripp.
GRAND FINALE
The end of the song is the beginning of another brilliant rock: "Keep Yourself Active", the song that opens the album. "Queen I". The ending is of Taylor doing some passages on the tom-toms and timpani, with glissando sound effects. Mercury leaves the center of the scene, next to the piano an assistant awaits him who has helped him all the way. night holding him and reaching for the microphone Freddie sits down and the opening bars announce 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. The hellish scream. Mercury's piano performance is perfect.
May does a solo identical to the recorded version, I wonder how they will do the operatic part. There is the answer. The stage explodes with smoke and color and the musicians disappear. The stars are now the lights. The immense luminous ceiling that covers the stage performs all series of tour combinations, always synchronized with the music. What my mind associates the fastest to describe what happens are the images from the film "Close Encounter".
But before coming out of this hallucination, they magically appear for the rock finish of "Rhapsody ...". The end explodes with light on the drum stage, with a blinding effect, and Taylor hitting the giant gong, which he uses only in this matter.
The group disappears and the entire stadium on their feet asks for more. The classic lighters and matches begin to be lit in approval. Red light bars also appear; similar to that of "Star Wars" one cannot help but smile at such sophistication. Several minutes pass in which the audience kicks until the cement shakes. Then they return to the scene to play "Tie Your Mother Down". We are all on our feet living the rock ceremony.
The four of them changed their clothes. May looks like a fairy with her long hair, her very long body that has movement in the wide sleeves of her kimono.
Mercury is perched on the ledge of the stage, dancing and gesturing, until May joins him for her solo. Again the battery lights explode and the whole disappears again. Nobody wants to leave, we believe that they will not return. It has been exactly two hours since the concert started. However they return, and again a different wardrobe. They switched for the last two reps, a masterstroke. Kick off Taylor's drums with a super heavy beat. It is "We will Rock You" in its original version. Mercury only sings the first verses, leaves the chorus for the crowd. Everyone responds, and this choir of thousands of throats singing rhythmically moves us to the chill. May and Deacon have already embarked on the final phrasing located to the left of the stage.
Suddenly, they see the opposite side, a searchlight finds Mercury and begins "We are the Champions." Again the crowd supports the melodious chorus. A great ending. The four come forward and wave. With the empty stage, covered in smoke, he lowers the grid of lights again, while the recording of the song that closes "A night at the Opera" is playing.
Nobody leaves, everyone howls frantically. But Queen won't be back.
Some console themselves by running to buy their group t-shirts and insignia, which are only sold at concerts.
Texts and photos:
Juan M. Cibeira