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Post by queenfan23 on Oct 15, 2024 20:39:09 GMT
Would Freddie have been able to to perform live in 1989 ?
I don't mean a full tour but perhaps a one off concept in front of a live audience to promote the release of the Miracle.
If you look at the Breakthru video it looks like Freddie was full of energy in the summer of 89.
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NathanH
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Post by NathanH on Oct 15, 2024 20:51:54 GMT
This has been in my mind before, and I've thought about a one off performance like the band performing I Want It All on the Brit Awards or something equivalent. I really could see that as a possibility but then people will have wondered and demanded a tour so the band probably chose wisely not to do any live appearance. Even after 1988, I think Freddie only did two TV performances? As in appearing on shows that weren't necessarily Queen related. I think Freddie and even the band must've been conscious.
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Post by queenfan23 on Oct 15, 2024 20:58:46 GMT
This has been in my mind before, and I've thought about a one off performance like the band performing I Want It All on the Brit Awards or something equivalent. I really could see that as a possibility but then people will have wondered and demanded a tour so the band probably chose wisely not to do any live appearance. Even after 1988, I think Freddie only did two TV performances? As in appearing on shows that weren't necessarily Queen related. I think Freddie and even the band must've been conscious.
I think if Freddie did perform live in 89 it may have put to bed rumours that he was dying.
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Lord Fickle
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Post by Lord Fickle on Oct 15, 2024 21:12:00 GMT
This has been in my mind before, and I've thought about a one off performance like the band performing I Want It All on the Brit Awards or something equivalent. I really could see that as a possibility but then people will have wondered and demanded a tour so the band probably chose wisely not to do any live appearance. Even after 1988, I think Freddie only did two TV performances? As in appearing on shows that weren't necessarily Queen related. I think Freddie and even the band must've been conscious.
I think if Freddie did perform live in 89 it may have put to bed rumours that he was dying.
Well, it wouldn't, because he was. All it would have done is add more speculations owing to his appearance. |
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Post by queenfan23 on Oct 15, 2024 22:07:14 GMT
I think if Freddie did perform live in 89 it may have put to bed rumours that he was dying.
Well, it wouldn't, because he was. All it would have done is add more speculations owing to his appearance.
But Freddie looked healthy during the Breakthru video it wasn't on until later videos that he started to look a bit off.
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creepy
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Post by creepy on Oct 15, 2024 22:32:24 GMT
It would have been great if Queen had made an appearance on TV to play a song from "The Miracle", live or playback. Any option would have been good. It's a shame that it didn't happen.
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manymilesaway
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Post by manymilesaway on Oct 15, 2024 22:54:20 GMT
I think their best opportunity would've been The Cross's show in Christmas 1988, which featured Brian and John joining for I'm In Love With My Car. Freddie did Dominion that year, so I think he probably could've mustered one or two songs.
After that? I'd say probably not, but if ever, they could've done a "Champions Shoot" style mini-concert for the fan club with an I Want It All video shoot. Roger and Brian both said that they were trying to make that music video look like a concert, anyway.
All that said, they probably just didn't want to take any chances. If Freddie had to run offstage mid-song to puke or something, it'd be a bad look. Especially if it was during a song where he couldn't do it discreetly, like a piano song.
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akirafish
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Post by akirafish on Oct 15, 2024 22:59:17 GMT
According to Peter Freestone:
A false alarm in 1989 when we had been told that he would not see Christmas that year.
Then, following the X-ray treatment he was having in secret, his blood count had dropped to alarmingly low levels and transfusion had been prescribed. The doctors honestly believed that his body did not have the resources to replenish his precious store of white blood cells. The way I saw the resolution to this prospectively terminal diagnosis was that although his body might not have been up to it, his mind was a more than capable ally. He came through.
Therefore he would not have been able to perform in front of an audience in 1989.
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Lord Fickle
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Post by Lord Fickle on Oct 15, 2024 23:33:18 GMT
According to Peter Freestone: A false alarm in 1989 when we had been told that he would not see Christmas that year. Then, following the X-ray treatment he was having in secret, his blood count had dropped to alarmingly low levels and transfusion had been prescribed. The doctors honestly believed that his body did not have the resources to replenish his precious store of white blood cells. The way I saw the resolution to this prospectively terminal diagnosis was that although his body might not have been up to it, his mind was a more than capable ally. He came through. Therefore he would have been able to perform in front of an audience in 1989. have? Or, would not have? I can't see anybody wanting to get up on stage in his condition. |
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Post by pokemaniacjunk on Oct 15, 2024 23:53:47 GMT
on a good day where he's just at the piano I'd say maybe for a few songs.
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Post by The Real Wizard on Oct 16, 2024 1:15:12 GMT
There's no way he would've passed a medical to get insurance, full stop.
But it sure is fun to imagine something otherwise.
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akirafish
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Post by akirafish on Oct 16, 2024 1:44:50 GMT
According to Peter Freestone: A false alarm in 1989 when we had been told that he would not see Christmas that year. Then, following the X-ray treatment he was having in secret, his blood count had dropped to alarmingly low levels and transfusion had been prescribed. The doctors honestly believed that his body did not have the resources to replenish his precious store of white blood cells. The way I saw the resolution to this prospectively terminal diagnosis was that although his body might not have been up to it, his mind was a more than capable ally. He came through. Therefore he would have been able to perform in front of an audience in 1989. have? Or, would not have? I can't see anybody wanting to get up on stage in his condition. Corrected. |
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Post by queenfan23 on Oct 16, 2024 2:25:55 GMT
There's no way he would've passed a medical to get insurance, full stop. But it sure is fun to imagine something otherwise.
But he managed to get insurance to do the Breakthru video was which did have an element of danger given how fast the train was going.
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Post by 85guild on Oct 16, 2024 2:48:44 GMT
^^^
The insurance needed for a tour would be to ensure he had the physical ability to complete a tour where hundreds of millions of dollars were on the line. Promoters, venues, transport companies would all want to know he could finish the tour. He likely wouldn't need insurance for a 2 day video shoot at that stage due to the small budget, at that stage if he fell ill they'd go to plan B at minimal loss. Not the same thing.
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Post by The Real Wizard on Oct 16, 2024 3:11:53 GMT
There's no way he would've passed a medical to get insurance, full stop. But it sure is fun to imagine something otherwise.
But he managed to get insurance to do the Breakthru video was which did have an element of danger given how fast the train was going.
Leaving the country is a whole other thing. |
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Post by alexlizzy on Oct 16, 2024 7:33:43 GMT
If you look at the Breakthru video it looks like Freddie was full of energy in the summer of 89.
LOOKS LIKE. Should be obvious that its much easier to fake being "energetic" and "full of beans" (c David Richards, RIP) in a video, which is a montage of carefully selected footage from as many takes as was needed. Another thing is actually doing it live. Im not saying he wasnt full of energy then and how much. Im just saying you cant really deduce things like that from a professionally made promotional videoclip. Especially also taking into consideration how, as we all know, Freddie was able to "pull it through" the pain, when needed. |
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Post by alexlizzy on Oct 16, 2024 7:36:57 GMT
There's no way he would've passed a medical to get insurance, full stop. But it sure is fun to imagine something otherwise.
But he managed to get insurance to do the Breakthru video was which did have an element of danger given how fast the train was going.
Just having HIV does not really affect the probability of your dying or injuring yourself in such a promo shoot. Chances of that were practically equal for all band members. But it DOES clearly affect your ability to carry on a concert tour. Completely different situations and different insurance policies and logic behing it, i am sure. |
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manymilesaway
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Post by manymilesaway on Oct 16, 2024 8:00:18 GMT
^^^ The insurance needed for a tour would be to ensure he had the physical ability to complete a tour where hundreds of millions of dollars were on the line. Promoters, venues, transport companies would all want to know he could finish the tour. He likely wouldn't need insurance for a 2 day video shoot at that stage due to the small budget, at that stage if he fell ill they'd go to plan B at minimal loss. Not the same thing. There's no way Freddie would ever be able to do a tour, but I definitely think it would've been possible for Freddie to do a small scale one-off show, at like a Queen Fan Club convention or something like that. |
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vh
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Post by vh on Oct 16, 2024 9:39:38 GMT
But he managed to get insurance to do the Breakthru video was which did have an element of danger given how fast the train was going.
Just having HIV does not really affect the probability of your dying or injuring yourself in such a promo shoot. Chances of that were practically equal for all band members. But it DOES clearly affect your ability to carry on a concert tour. Completely different situations and different insurance policies and logic behing it, i am sure. This ^^^* Turning up to a one or two day video shoot is completely different to a tour. Even before the first date there are weeks of band rehearsals, weeks of designing and building the stage production, transportation of equipment (sometimes from different countries) to a central point for production rehearsals to begin. The amount of time and money that a big tour involves is something most of the audience never give a thought too. In the middle of all this if a band members becomes ill or unable to perform for some reason the costs become huge. Add to that refunds for 400/500 thousand tickets. Obviously a very different thing to a video shoot. |
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baronlutenvank
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Post by baronlutenvank on Oct 16, 2024 13:04:51 GMT
In a perfect world, if "breaking the album-tour cycle" wasn't in their minds, a short UK mini-tour reminiscent of the summer '76 tour wouldn't be a bad idea. One at the Hammersmith, another at the Lyceum etc. Just enough shows to count in one hand
A less-than-ideal world would be them appearing in something like the Brit Award and pretty much pulling a Montreux Golden Rose.
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emrabt
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Post by emrabt on Oct 16, 2024 15:56:31 GMT
I think if he was well enough we would have had some kind of appearance, The fact that we don't suggests that he wasn't.
I can't believe the May 1989 interview with the band (Queen for an hour) was the only kind of promotion Freddie was originally going to participate in.
It was pretty much business as usual up to the end of 1988 (Interviews, Time musical and a couple of Barcelona appearances), then Freddie must have taken a drastic downward turn in 1989, which made them cancel any planned appearances and interviews.
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Raf
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Post by Raf on Oct 16, 2024 17:42:11 GMT
All that said, they probably just didn't want to take any chances. If Freddie had to run offstage mid-song to puke or something, it'd be a bad look. Especially if it was during a song where he couldn't do it discreetly, like a piano song. Unfortunately this insight here is key to bury all the "but maybe a one-off performance" comments. When you're ill, and especially considering how bad Freddie's situation was, you can't really predict how you'll wake up the next morning. Maybe you'll wake up better than last night, maybe you'll wake up miserable. You can postpone recording a video, or maybe take your time to try to put on a decent face while the others record other takes and no-one will ever know, but you can't just delay a concert for a few hours or risk going on stage looking terrible and being completely out of energy to do shit. They definitely wanted to bury all the rumours, and if there was a decent chance to present Freddie looking healthy and full of energy, maybe they would've done that. If they didn't, it's probably because he was not looking overall healthy and energetic... I'll risk sounding ignorant now, but I don't know how doctors used to handle AIDS back in the day - maybe he had recommendations to limit his exposure to crowds depending on the results of each new exam? His disease affected his immune system, so on the worst days, he was probably very vulnerable and catching even a common cold could've killed him. |
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BrƎИsꓘi
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Post by BrƎИsꓘi on Oct 16, 2024 17:57:19 GMT
In a perfect world, if "breaking the album-tour cycle" wasn't in their minds, a short UK mini-tour reminiscent of the summer '76 tour wouldn't be a bad idea. One at the Hammersmith, another at the Lyceum etc. Just enough shows to count in one hand A less-than-ideal world would be them appearing in something like the Brit Award and pretty much pulling a Montreux Golden Rose. the occasional video shoot (like Breakthru) can be fitted in at short notice when Freddie was feeling well enough. If you look at where it was filmed (an out-of-service railway line) it served two purposes: the line's status (not in use) made it available at short notice, and remote enough to respect Freddie's privacy. The other venues used for the videos were closed sets, so also very private. Any gigs/tours would have a major impact on his health and privacy. i think the reason given : being "tired of the album-tour-album-tour cycle" was a valid one in that, the alternatives were not practical. Options were: ♦ do a full tour - and possibly kill himself ♦ do a mini-tour - and risk the obvious questions: "why is a band at the peak of their powers, with a new LP out only doing a handful of gigs? what gives fellas?" - any answer to that appears to lead to more questions ♦ do nothing - and keep schtum. the last one worked best for all involved. added to that Roger's 1988 Cross tour and Brian's BTTL sessions fed into the "other projects" answer too. they clearly took individual and group decisions to protect their friend, both health-wise, and privacy-wise, and that was an immensely admirable and selfless approach from all of them. |
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Lord Fickle
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Post by Lord Fickle on Oct 16, 2024 19:29:48 GMT
All that said, they probably just didn't want to take any chances. If Freddie had to run offstage mid-song to puke or something, it'd be a bad look. Especially if it was during a song where he couldn't do it discreetly, like a piano song. Unfortunately this insight here is key to bury all the "but maybe a one-off performance" comments. When you're ill, and especially considering how bad Freddie's situation was, you can't really predict how you'll wake up the next morning. Maybe you'll wake up better than last night, maybe you'll wake up miserable. You can postpone recording a video, or maybe take your time to try to put on a decent face while the others record other takes and no-one will ever know, but you can't just delay a concert for a few hours or risk going on stage looking terrible and being completely out of energy to do shit. They definitely wanted to bury all the rumours, and if there was a decent chance to present Freddie looking healthy and full of energy, maybe they would've done that. If they didn't, it's probably because he was not looking overall healthy and energetic... I'll risk sounding ignorant now, but I don't know how doctors used to handle AIDS back in the day - maybe he had recommendations to limit his exposure to crowds depending on the results of each new exam? His disease affected his immune system, so on the worst days, he was probably very vulnerable and catching even a common cold could've killed him.I think that's a very relevant comment. Even the Breakthru video was filmed in a remote location, probably with as few people around as practically possible. I guess it was akin to 'shielding' during Covid. |
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daul
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Post by daul on Oct 16, 2024 20:21:29 GMT
While we're at it, he even looked full of energy during the Headlong video, surely they could have played a live gig around that time in late 1990...
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Post by pokemaniacjunk on Oct 16, 2024 20:36:11 GMT
While we're at it, he even looked full of energy during the Headlong video, surely they could have played a live gig around that time in late 1990... absolutely not, if we're going by that logic then he'd surely be down for a song or two with all the moving around he did in the "I'm Going Slightly Mad" video.
the headlong video was made from likely dozens of mimed clips stitched together with pauses in between filming each one.
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daul
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Post by daul on Oct 16, 2024 20:47:26 GMT
While we're at it, he even looked full of energy during the Headlong video, surely they could have played a live gig around that time in late 1990... absolutely not, if we're going by that logic then he'd surely be down for a song or two with all the moving around he did in the "I'm Going Slightly Mad" video.
the headlong video was made from likely dozens of mimed clips stitched together with pauses in between filming each one.
I was being sarcastic |
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Post by pokemaniacjunk on Oct 16, 2024 20:52:30 GMT
absolutely not, if we're going by that logic then he'd surely be down for a song or two with all the moving around he did in the "I'm Going Slightly Mad" video.
the headlong video was made from likely dozens of mimed clips stitched together with pauses in between filming each one.
I was being sarcastic That's my bad then, I didn't realise. |
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vh
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Post by vh on Oct 16, 2024 21:27:38 GMT
In a perfect world, if "breaking the album-tour cycle" wasn't in their minds, a short UK mini-tour reminiscent of the summer '76 tour wouldn't be a bad idea. One at the Hammersmith, another at the Lyceum etc. Just enough shows to count in one hand A less-than-ideal world would be them appearing in something like the Brit Award and pretty much pulling a Montreux Golden Rose. They looked at doing a week at Wembley arena and a week of shows in Munich. But for what ever reason this was never officially announced, although Roger Taylor in an interview in a UK daily paper before the album’s release in 89 said they were looking into the possibility of playing live in a fixed location “a kind of Miracle Pavilion”. Another UK daily mentioned the up coming album release and said UK tour dates as part of a £1 million tour would be announced soon! Samuelson Lighting (the company that lit the Magic Tour) had some lighting design plans for the gigs. But nothing got any further than very early planning as far as I know. |
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BrƎИsꓘi
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Post by BrƎИsꓘi on Oct 17, 2024 9:19:12 GMT
I think if he was well enough we would have had some kind of appearance, The fact that we don't suggests that he wasn't. I can't believe the May 1989 interview with the band (Queen for an hour) was the only kind of promotion Freddie was originally going to participate in. It was pretty much business as usual up to the end of 1988 (Interviews, Time musical and a couple of Barcelona appearances), then Freddie must have taken a drastic downward turn in 1989, which made them cancel any planned appearances and interviews. exactly this ^ they [Queen] kept all band appearances to an absolutely necessary only basis, because they [the band] were compassionate and concerned about Freddie. There is a chasm of difference between metaphorically and actually dying on stage. While the former is a pretty awful experience for most performers, it's merely a scratch when compared to the latter. No decent human being would knowingly subject their friend to that risk. Just ask anyone who was ever close to Tommy Cooper |
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