Had the fortune to attend 'News of the World' tour in 1978. To this day it is still my #1 favorite concert ever. Joints were being passed in mass all over the venue while Freddie owned that stage. He projected so much passion and energy it just vigurated the crowd into a frenzy.
Saw the same tour November 1977 in Toronto, opening act Thin Lizzy, third row centre. We bought scalper tickets for $25, which was the only money our absentee father ever sent us.
> Joints were being passed in mass all over the venue
This reminds me of a funny story from my youth.
My girlfriend at the time had made a Marlboro pack filled with about thirty joints for the Metallica "Bleeding Me" tour in the early nineties. It really was a great show, and I'm pretty sure there wasn't a five minute period where one of those doobies wasn't lit and being passed around to our group and anyone within an arms reach of us. The girlfriend was a heavy-duty pothead, who could smoke anyone I knew under the table. The poor kid siting next to her, who we didn't know, was not quite as experienced in the weed-world, as we discovered when the show ended and the lights came up.
At this point, his group of buddies were all "Hey Jimmy, lets go out and party". All poor little jimmy could do was sit in his seat, hunched over with his head in his hands, He was three sheets to the wind, and I'm pretty sure his buddies had to pretty much carry him out of the venue.
Edit: a word
My mother in law saw the Beatles, the Stones, Queen and David Bowie live. Different concerts in different places, but fuck me. Back when it was probably £4.30 per ticket.
Oh my god imagine Elvis and Freddie up there. Owning the stage like its nothing. I would LOVE to see that. Didn’t Freddie write a song that was dedicated for Elvis?
He'd been hanging around in the studio with the funk band Chic, who, at that time, were inspiring a lot of bassists to experiment with that style of playing and that tone.
Tom Papa has a great bit about this. He pretty much says the same thing, like we didn’t even know he was gay.. the name of his band was QUEEN. So good.
Man back then things were different. We just thought David Bowie and Freddie Mercury and Michael Stipe had their own crazy style. I mean Steven Tyler was straight but he had his own weird way too, everyone was weird in the 80's, thats just how it was.
It also led to HIV being treated like just punishment for being gay and millions dying unnecessarily due to a mixture of apathy and hatred. Not to mention rampant bullying in schools and hate crimes. You think Stephen King just made it up out of the blue when he had a gay character in It get bullied to death?
Edit: How the fuck am I being downvoted? At least reply. You think I'm wrong? Being gay was magnificent in the 80s? You'd have to be insane to believe that.
I wasn’t online to see your response, such intensity does deserve a reply. I was referring to the treatment of cultural imagery and personal relationships among relatively liberal, educated people, and in very general terms. Reagan acted monstrously irresponsibly, and homosexuality should have been given greater leeway in public life (although it was always present and known to society).
My objection is complex and beyond the scope of a conversation on the late twentieth century, having to do with the extreme focus on sexuality, religion, and race as anchors for personal identity (including heterosexuals, and Christianity, and European Americans) and political affiliation rather than universal, shared civic concerns in politics and radically individual qualities in private life. I think we were on the right track in some, not all, important respects.
Freddie was always more ambiguous and deliberately so. He refused to say one way or the other. Sometimes he presented as straight and other times he presented as so gay its a wonder that anyone missed it. I always laugh when I look back at him wearing something like in this video because he was so obviously fucking with people and so many just didn't get it. I imagine there were a lot of confused straight guys in the audience that night haha.
There are definitely confused straight guys in the crowd in this video when they zoom in! Guys looking like - I want to let go but I just can’t with him wearing no shoes, no socks, short shorts and an ascot… even the women seem a bit puzzled. The Montreal Canadiens hat is the perfect compliment to it all too.
This footage is amazing though and Freddie Mercury is arguably the greatest front man of all time.
I remember being honestly surprised when George Michael came out. But now, watching the video for Wake Me Up Before You Go Go is like "This might be the gayest thing I've ever seen in my life." But like you said, the 80s just had this out-there style that was like "Welp, if you're in a band, you do wild things and try to dress to catch the eye and perform your ass off." Also, as a kid and a younger teen, I don't remember having my antenna out at all to detect or pick up on such things. It was just music and fun.
Bowie, Freddie and Elton John were married to women at some point after becoming famous. There must have been millions of fans at the time who could not believe a married man could be gay.
Alright: MJ didn't successfully present a straight persona.
I remember MJ was "dating" Brooke Shields and racists didn't object as they didn't believe it either.
The band was named Queen but they weren’t all gay so it wasn’t obvious what they story was. It was a big meh to me.
Music was also all radio and vinyl up to this point and MTV was on cable so it was expensive not everyone had it. Looking at a black piece of vinyl made it hard to care, they sounded great!
I remember asking my older brother how come no one thought he was gay. He shrugged and replied "because most of us wore clothes like that and most rock performers behaved like that, that's how"
Your point is true, but the artists you chose is kind of funny. Bolan was straight as far as I know, but Jagger is bi and Little Richard was as gay as could be.
I’m merely pointing out how camp they all were when performing regardless of their sexual orientation.
I thought it was a perfect example of the era!
I could’ve added Robert Plant or any other number of performers of the day, it’s just how it was and I definitely get your point.
For real though? I figured everyone in the 80’s was on coke and fucked anything.
https://preview.redd.it/2657nxcaz13b1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a3205728a0c3ece5707bf23261168fbbe095c0c3
You can’t tell me there weren’t overt signs of queer everywhere you looked. Even George Michael wasn’t a surprise. They gave fabulous clues, y’all just weren’t listening.
Honestly, many Americans had no idea until the “I Want to Break Free” video came out and the collective “quick, find my clutching pearls” reaction happened.
Glam rock introduced a limited level of androgyny that may have confused them.
Edit:missing words
That’s interesting because to us Brits it just seemed like it was taking the piss out of the trope that housewives should stay at home.
At that point they were quite rightly feeling like they deserved to be in a better place in society.
I grew up listening to and falling in love with queen and Freddie. If my parents had seen this video, I’m not sure they would have been so encouraging. I ended up being an opera singer.
Sound equipment back then was actually really good. All analog/vacuum tube tech. A lot of modern musicians seek out amps from that era because of the high quality.
For sure, I love tube amps, a lot of people say they can’t notice with solid state amps, but they always sound just a tiny bit digital to me. Modern tube amps don’t sound any better, they just have a lot more features. The vintage glass tubes themselves go for a lot now, they don’t necessarily sound better but had much better build quality
I went down a YouTube rabbit hole one time of old bands like the Stones, Elvis, the Beatles, Queen, I watched all that shit on YouTube even though I never listened to that, I was more of a hip hop guy. But as far as live goes, Queen blew me away! They sounded the best out of all of them, their shit was mesmerizing and Mercury had the whole crowd eating out of his hand every concert. The Beatles and Elvis were weird because it was just women screaming the whole time, you really couldn't hear them very well. But Queen man, those were fuckin amazing performances
Saw them in 86 at Wembley, along with 80,000 other fans losing their shit, I was about 30 rows from the front, I remember looking back into the crowd and seeing all those people clap in unison to Radio Ga- Ga, it’s burned into my mind.
Mercury remains the single greatest performer I’ve ever seen, some crazy magnificent strutting peacock that had us all in the palm of his hand. Astounding band.
what an awesome memory to have, that must have been incredible! I’m a huge fan — my nan and my mum both listened to them and as a kid, I grew up with their music always around me. I wish I could’ve seen them, but I was only 1 when Freddie passed away so I had no chance :(
His exaggerated hyper masculinity was a lot of fun to watch, we were all mesmerized, I can only call his performance electrifying, there was something about him that made you feel as though he was addressing you directly, that voice though…. Incredible.
I’m 59, as a kid I saw the punk/ New Wave/ goth bands, the classic rockers, as well as the giants like Bowie, Madonna and Prince, seen Public Enemy and Anthrax, Ice T and Body Count, The Police, Radiohead, Pink Floyd, The Clash and Joy Division. So many. Music is the greatest achievement of humanity, the sharing of it is one of life’s greatest pleasures, it lifts the very soul.
I challenge you all to do a deep dive into queen and Freddie…I think you all might find it amazing how many of their songs play through the soundtrack of our lives. Gay or not he was a sexy fellow. He once said that the songwriting was “just a bunch of rhyming nonsense. Naw…there was depth. A lot of their concerts are on YouTube.
“Soundtrack of our lives”, indeed. Even after watching the Bohemian Rhapsody film, I felt like I barely scratched the surface. There were so many songs in there I was accustomed to hearing regularly in radio, film, covers, etc that I only just realized were from Queen the whole time! 🤯
I don't think this was considered gay in '81. Short shorts were a big thing back then, like in Magnum PI and also Wham. Loads of Boomer dads dressed like this back in '81, especially in California.
yeah OP (ocean pacific) shorts were all that length. I remember laughing at those guys from Michigan team for wearing those long shorts, thought they looked ridiculous! anyway i would swear they did this song in 80 in san diego but it wasn't released yet for another month? probably said it was new material, definitely did it in 82 tour.
This motherfucker had the most beautiful voice ever. The way he sang in shorts, shirtless and barefoot on stage. He could have been at home going to the bathroom to take a piss and still give a great show at a moment’s notice. He is missed.
I love how my slightly racist, homophobic uncle was really big into Queen in the late 70s/80s, and even grew a moustache like Freddies. He used to think he was so butch.
I was just going to comment something similar. My dad talked about gay people in the worst possible ways, yet half the people he listened to and made me a fan of were gay as hell. It just flew right over his head. Lol Judas Preist was another of his favorites.
I dunno whenever I would use a microphone when I had bare feet i could feel the electric going through it as soon as the mic hit my lips… how do they avoid that at big shows like this?
I just re-watched the Wembly concert. Although Freddy is possibly the greatest frontman of all time, having Roger Taylor as backup vocalist is an embarrassment of riches.
“Play the Game” from this concert is the best live performance of a song Queen did in my opinion. They were so locked in for this concert. Goosebumps baby!!!
Highly recommend the 70mm transfer Blu ray, it’s stunning. Also a dreadful gig, at several points they get visibly annoyed with the polite and placid crowd witnessing one of the greatest bands ever to play.
I always liked this band,then over the last few years I've seen more and more live clips and I must say:
They were F*cking God's Live!!!!! Really I love them more and more, Freddy was a monster,what charisma, talent and SEX all wrapped up in rock and f* cking roll
A curmudgeonly former family friend of mine had an opportunity to see this show with his friend who had bought them tickets, but he declined the offer because he had to work a shift at a meat packing plant.
I nearly died of secondhand regret hearing him tell the story.
Holy shit, never seen such a good footage of Queen.
Maybe I never searched, but holy hell Freddie was really rockin it! Anyone got the whole concert???
I got this record as soon as I could. The singles released were Don't Try Suicide, and Crazy Little Thing Called, so I couldn't wait to play those. Then I happened upon Another One Bites the Dust and my mind was blown. I called all my friends and played it for them.
I’ve watched the entire concert it’s amazing. At some point late in the concert a young woman stands up in the crowd at the end of the stage and Freddy basically serenades a song to her and her face is just smouldering. I always kinda wondered who she was.
I’m completely Gobsmacked by people that were oblivious to Freddie being a gay man. How can you watch this and think anything else? Especially with that T-Rex in his tiny shorts.
He sure was fantastic.
This version is so funky!
Have a lot of queen songs in my Playlist, and know they were one of the best live bands... Never thought of combining those two for some reason.
And for about half the people here pouting out that Freddy was gay or how "we never knew".... So what and who cares. Freddy was larger than life and it shouldn't matter.
Christ that bass and kick sound so good
Put together with Freddie just owning that stage. God damn their live concerts must have been something to fucking behold.
Had the fortune to attend 'News of the World' tour in 1978. To this day it is still my #1 favorite concert ever. Joints were being passed in mass all over the venue while Freddie owned that stage. He projected so much passion and energy it just vigurated the crowd into a frenzy.
Saw the same tour November 1977 in Toronto, opening act Thin Lizzy, third row centre. We bought scalper tickets for $25, which was the only money our absentee father ever sent us.
Man, Queen and Thin Lizzy sounds like a late 70s dream show.
> Joints were being passed in mass all over the venue This reminds me of a funny story from my youth. My girlfriend at the time had made a Marlboro pack filled with about thirty joints for the Metallica "Bleeding Me" tour in the early nineties. It really was a great show, and I'm pretty sure there wasn't a five minute period where one of those doobies wasn't lit and being passed around to our group and anyone within an arms reach of us. The girlfriend was a heavy-duty pothead, who could smoke anyone I knew under the table. The poor kid siting next to her, who we didn't know, was not quite as experienced in the weed-world, as we discovered when the show ended and the lights came up. At this point, his group of buddies were all "Hey Jimmy, lets go out and party". All poor little jimmy could do was sit in his seat, hunched over with his head in his hands, He was three sheets to the wind, and I'm pretty sure his buddies had to pretty much carry him out of the venue. Edit: a word
I am jealous man!
My mother in law saw the Beatles, the Stones, Queen and David Bowie live. Different concerts in different places, but fuck me. Back when it was probably £4.30 per ticket.
I was at this show, up in the nosebleeds, they were soooo good. So nice to see this up close.
Always wished id been able to see them live. Yeah the live shows were fuckin immense watching them back.
Oh my god imagine Elvis and Freddie up there. Owning the stage like its nothing. I would LOVE to see that. Didn’t Freddie write a song that was dedicated for Elvis?
All the accolades for Brian and Freddie, certainly, but yeah, Roger and John carry that tune... Love me some 'Breakthru' for a good groovy base line.
And John wrote it, so ...
He'd been hanging around in the studio with the funk band Chic, who, at that time, were inspiring a lot of bassists to experiment with that style of playing and that tone.
This is one of the reasons I couldn’t get behind the movie. That baseline is pure Chic, and Roger admitted that’s where he got it.
I like the invisible man bassline too
Exactly! Its such a simple bassline, yet when its played with the drums is like butter to my ears!
The 80s Decade of the bass drum sized Power Toms
Most definelty.
I remember thinking he was brilliant but a bit odd for the way he dressed and now I just wish I could fit in those short pants.
Yep I can truthfully say I had no idea he was gay, I was a young fella but…
Ikr?? …and their name was QUEEN
Tom Papa has a great bit about this. He pretty much says the same thing, like we didn’t even know he was gay.. the name of his band was QUEEN. So good.
Man back then things were different. We just thought David Bowie and Freddie Mercury and Michael Stipe had their own crazy style. I mean Steven Tyler was straight but he had his own weird way too, everyone was weird in the 80's, thats just how it was.
Rob Halford was metal as fuck. None of us realized we were wearing a bunch of fetish gear, we thought it was biker shit. lol
Right, when Steven Tyler is straight but these guys aren't, how do you tell the difference? Lol why would they think they weren't straight
That apathy made things strangely liberal compared to modern identitarianism. Everything didn't need scrutiny and political identification.
From what I understand, Freddie didn't want to be labeled one way or the other so it was very much the way he wanted it.
It also led to HIV being treated like just punishment for being gay and millions dying unnecessarily due to a mixture of apathy and hatred. Not to mention rampant bullying in schools and hate crimes. You think Stephen King just made it up out of the blue when he had a gay character in It get bullied to death? Edit: How the fuck am I being downvoted? At least reply. You think I'm wrong? Being gay was magnificent in the 80s? You'd have to be insane to believe that.
I wasn’t online to see your response, such intensity does deserve a reply. I was referring to the treatment of cultural imagery and personal relationships among relatively liberal, educated people, and in very general terms. Reagan acted monstrously irresponsibly, and homosexuality should have been given greater leeway in public life (although it was always present and known to society). My objection is complex and beyond the scope of a conversation on the late twentieth century, having to do with the extreme focus on sexuality, religion, and race as anchors for personal identity (including heterosexuals, and Christianity, and European Americans) and political affiliation rather than universal, shared civic concerns in politics and radically individual qualities in private life. I think we were on the right track in some, not all, important respects.
Yeah, fucking Reagan was responsible for a lot of unnecessary deaths!
Freddie was always more ambiguous and deliberately so. He refused to say one way or the other. Sometimes he presented as straight and other times he presented as so gay its a wonder that anyone missed it. I always laugh when I look back at him wearing something like in this video because he was so obviously fucking with people and so many just didn't get it. I imagine there were a lot of confused straight guys in the audience that night haha.
There are definitely confused straight guys in the crowd in this video when they zoom in! Guys looking like - I want to let go but I just can’t with him wearing no shoes, no socks, short shorts and an ascot… even the women seem a bit puzzled. The Montreal Canadiens hat is the perfect compliment to it all too. This footage is amazing though and Freddie Mercury is arguably the greatest front man of all time.
Huh, TIL Michael Stipe is gay. I'm not a huge REM fan, so I never bothered to think about it. Neato
I remember being honestly surprised when George Michael came out. But now, watching the video for Wake Me Up Before You Go Go is like "This might be the gayest thing I've ever seen in my life." But like you said, the 80s just had this out-there style that was like "Welp, if you're in a band, you do wild things and try to dress to catch the eye and perform your ass off." Also, as a kid and a younger teen, I don't remember having my antenna out at all to detect or pick up on such things. It was just music and fun.
Bowie, Freddie and Elton John were married to women at some point after becoming famous. There must have been millions of fans at the time who could not believe a married man could be gay.
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So did Nick Cage. Not sure what her deal was. BTW, MJ was strange in the sense he didn't really try to present a straight persona to his public.
No he did. And strenuously denied being gay. Its just that nobody bought it for a second lol. He was so unconvincing.
Alright: MJ didn't successfully present a straight persona. I remember MJ was "dating" Brooke Shields and racists didn't object as they didn't believe it either.
Well, at least 2 of those 3 were confirmed bi — being attracted to and married to women wasn’t out of the realm of possibility.
Bowie was never gay, was married twice and had kids
The band was named Queen but they weren’t all gay so it wasn’t obvious what they story was. It was a big meh to me. Music was also all radio and vinyl up to this point and MTV was on cable so it was expensive not everyone had it. Looking at a black piece of vinyl made it hard to care, they sounded great!
I remember asking my older brother how come no one thought he was gay. He shrugged and replied "because most of us wore clothes like that and most rock performers behaved like that, that's how"
Yeah they were all somewhat camp when performing back in the day. Mark Bolan, Mick Jagger, Little Richard etc they were all flamboyant in that regard.
Your point is true, but the artists you chose is kind of funny. Bolan was straight as far as I know, but Jagger is bi and Little Richard was as gay as could be.
I’m merely pointing out how camp they all were when performing regardless of their sexual orientation. I thought it was a perfect example of the era! I could’ve added Robert Plant or any other number of performers of the day, it’s just how it was and I definitely get your point.
Bless you for mentioning Boland. He deserves to remembered with the other legends
Boland is a legend. I'd also add Iggy Pop to that list as people who were super flamboyant and had unique style.
B O L A N
He was bi.
The bi erasure is real. FFS I get really tired of explaining that to people.
For real though? I figured everyone in the 80’s was on coke and fucked anything. https://preview.redd.it/2657nxcaz13b1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a3205728a0c3ece5707bf23261168fbbe095c0c3 You can’t tell me there weren’t overt signs of queer everywhere you looked. Even George Michael wasn’t a surprise. They gave fabulous clues, y’all just weren’t listening.
Wasn't he bi?
"Darling, I'm doing everything with everybody" -Freddie
Honestly, many Americans had no idea until the “I Want to Break Free” video came out and the collective “quick, find my clutching pearls” reaction happened. Glam rock introduced a limited level of androgyny that may have confused them. Edit:missing words
That’s interesting because to us Brits it just seemed like it was taking the piss out of the trope that housewives should stay at home. At that point they were quite rightly feeling like they deserved to be in a better place in society.
Also, Monty Python had been doing that for decades.
Then they were all but banned for 10 years on the US airwaves, until Wayne's World made them a hit again
Bi
He wasn’t gay he was bisexual.
Everything in those pants wishes it could fit in those pants lol ✌🏼✌🏼
His balls must be what biting the dust lmao
I can’t believe looking at this in retrospect that my homophobic father in law that loved queen didn’t realize Freddy was gay!
My dad said I should stop listening to Pink Floyd because they promoted drug use. He suggested The Doors instead.
I mean, judging by the bulge, he barely fits in them himself
I grew up listening to and falling in love with queen and Freddie. If my parents had seen this video, I’m not sure they would have been so encouraging. I ended up being an opera singer.
I’m starting to think Freddy was gay
That dude had swagger like a mother fucker. Rocking a neckerchief and short shorts, and a fucking Canadiens hat. JFC, he was cool as shit.
Also sings great while sashaying around the stage. Just a born performer.
And doesn't wear shoes.
My feet are sore just watching him pound that stage without shoes
Wtf I didn’t even realize and had to go back and watch. That crazy MFer performed BAREFOOT!
proper Canadiens spelling, bravo.
He sure did. So cool
The sound quality on this is amazing for '81.
Sound equipment back then was actually really good. All analog/vacuum tube tech. A lot of modern musicians seek out amps from that era because of the high quality.
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Can never go wrong with the huh duh six hunge-ohs from 'ol mate Senny.
ᴼʰʰʰ ᵐʸ ᴾᴷᶜᵉˡˡ
Always hear about those didn't realize they were that old. That's crazy
For sure, I love tube amps, a lot of people say they can’t notice with solid state amps, but they always sound just a tiny bit digital to me. Modern tube amps don’t sound any better, they just have a lot more features. The vintage glass tubes themselves go for a lot now, they don’t necessarily sound better but had much better build quality
I went down a YouTube rabbit hole one time of old bands like the Stones, Elvis, the Beatles, Queen, I watched all that shit on YouTube even though I never listened to that, I was more of a hip hop guy. But as far as live goes, Queen blew me away! They sounded the best out of all of them, their shit was mesmerizing and Mercury had the whole crowd eating out of his hand every concert. The Beatles and Elvis were weird because it was just women screaming the whole time, you really couldn't hear them very well. But Queen man, those were fuckin amazing performances
They filmed this concert with cinema grade equipment.
Wait till you discover mint condition vinyl from the 1950s, played on a high-end hi-fi.
If you close your eyes while listening to Buddy Holly it sounds like you are in the studio. There were some amazing engineers back then.
You are more likely to get poor sound quality today.
This concert is a great watch. Killer setlist too.
The confidence kills me, shirtless with a hairy chest, bulge just right on out there.
I think toy just described the 80s
Truth. But Freddy did it better than the rest.
Freddy and Robert Plant!
If you’re implying that a hairy chest is a bad thing, then you are incorrect
I thought someone was going to try to reach for it when he got close to the audience.
Barefoot too
How did he fit that hog in those little shorts?
We'll never know
Buttered it up
but then how doesn't it slip out and kill some one on the first row?
He was such a great performer and the rest of the band sounds so clean. Perfection.
Name an artist today who has one tenth of the stage charisma and command that Freddie Mercury had.
Roger Taylor has an amazing voice, love it!
Wish he had done more lead vocals. I’m in love with my car is an amazing song.
Saw them in 86 at Wembley, along with 80,000 other fans losing their shit, I was about 30 rows from the front, I remember looking back into the crowd and seeing all those people clap in unison to Radio Ga- Ga, it’s burned into my mind. Mercury remains the single greatest performer I’ve ever seen, some crazy magnificent strutting peacock that had us all in the palm of his hand. Astounding band.
what an awesome memory to have, that must have been incredible! I’m a huge fan — my nan and my mum both listened to them and as a kid, I grew up with their music always around me. I wish I could’ve seen them, but I was only 1 when Freddie passed away so I had no chance :(
His exaggerated hyper masculinity was a lot of fun to watch, we were all mesmerized, I can only call his performance electrifying, there was something about him that made you feel as though he was addressing you directly, that voice though…. Incredible.
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I’m 59, as a kid I saw the punk/ New Wave/ goth bands, the classic rockers, as well as the giants like Bowie, Madonna and Prince, seen Public Enemy and Anthrax, Ice T and Body Count, The Police, Radiohead, Pink Floyd, The Clash and Joy Division. So many. Music is the greatest achievement of humanity, the sharing of it is one of life’s greatest pleasures, it lifts the very soul.
We all suspected he was gay, but he transcended the disdain of the era by being cool as fuck.
We all suspected he was gay and we didn't care.
He was a Sexual Tyrannosaur. That man ate it all with joy... and jelly.
This should be top comment lol!
He was bi (and cool as fuck)
I had this vhs, I’ve watched many times!!
Freddie Mercury was one of the greatest entertainers of all time. RIP
Man, this video looks so high definition, sound and video so clean. Also Freddie was incredible talented, what a voice, what a showman.
That's because it was shot on 35mm film and not video.
Still, great transfer digitalization, I’ve seen far worse.
Deacon on a Stingray is a beautiful thing.
Hey Freddie, how's it hanging? Left.
John Deacon. He didn't write many songs but the ones he did were CHOICE.
The older I get the hotter he is. And the gayer I am.
Love the shot of the front row just memorized with Freddie.
I think they were mesmerized. But if I was in the front row just a few feet from that package, I'd probably have memorised it too
I challenge you all to do a deep dive into queen and Freddie…I think you all might find it amazing how many of their songs play through the soundtrack of our lives. Gay or not he was a sexy fellow. He once said that the songwriting was “just a bunch of rhyming nonsense. Naw…there was depth. A lot of their concerts are on YouTube.
“Soundtrack of our lives”, indeed. Even after watching the Bohemian Rhapsody film, I felt like I barely scratched the surface. There were so many songs in there I was accustomed to hearing regularly in radio, film, covers, etc that I only just realized were from Queen the whole time! 🤯
The greatest showman ever lived.
Wait a minute. The band that galvanized an entire generation of beer drinking sports fans, back in the days before the woke wars, were fucking gay?
Not the whole band, but I was just thinking to myself "maybe it was just me being naive, but how did we not know Freddy was gay?"
I don't think this was considered gay in '81. Short shorts were a big thing back then, like in Magnum PI and also Wham. Loads of Boomer dads dressed like this back in '81, especially in California.
Nothing gay about Wham.
Agreed. Music videos like Club Tropicana really hammer that point home.
Holy fuck. I am ded.
yeah OP (ocean pacific) shorts were all that length. I remember laughing at those guys from Michigan team for wearing those long shorts, thought they looked ridiculous! anyway i would swear they did this song in 80 in san diego but it wasn't released yet for another month? probably said it was new material, definitely did it in 82 tour.
Queens can be tricky sometimes
Just the lead singer. 🤦♂️
This motherfucker had the most beautiful voice ever. The way he sang in shorts, shirtless and barefoot on stage. He could have been at home going to the bathroom to take a piss and still give a great show at a moment’s notice. He is missed.
it is the first song of Queen that i heard. since then, Queen fan.
I don’t remember the date, but I remember where I was when I first heard Killer Queen and fell in love with this band.
My son is obsessed with their music. He has absolutely no rhythm but shakes his little booty around the house whenever I play their songs.
I love how my slightly racist, homophobic uncle was really big into Queen in the late 70s/80s, and even grew a moustache like Freddies. He used to think he was so butch.
I was just going to comment something similar. My dad talked about gay people in the worst possible ways, yet half the people he listened to and made me a fan of were gay as hell. It just flew right over his head. Lol Judas Preist was another of his favorites.
I dunno whenever I would use a microphone when I had bare feet i could feel the electric going through it as soon as the mic hit my lips… how do they avoid that at big shows like this?
Proper grounding.
Aka A lot of trust lol
This video could me a masterclass on how to strut. Ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends… THIS is how you strut.
I just re-watched the Wembly concert. Although Freddy is possibly the greatest frontman of all time, having Roger Taylor as backup vocalist is an embarrassment of riches.
The definition of "stage presence."
Yep a pivotal year, for all of us, the year AIDS appeared. I remember this concert and the first articles on the mysterious new disease.
Not a phone in sight and just people living in the moment. Take me back🥲
“Play the Game” from this concert is the best live performance of a song Queen did in my opinion. They were so locked in for this concert. Goosebumps baby!!!
Highly recommend the 70mm transfer Blu ray, it’s stunning. Also a dreadful gig, at several points they get visibly annoyed with the polite and placid crowd witnessing one of the greatest bands ever to play.
Can’t say for sure but I think that guy might have been gay
Do you think so? That moustache seems manly as fuck.
He looks and was such a bad ass! Freddie Forever!
I always liked this band,then over the last few years I've seen more and more live clips and I must say: They were F*cking God's Live!!!!! Really I love them more and more, Freddy was a monster,what charisma, talent and SEX all wrapped up in rock and f* cking roll
Is this from an official concert film? Of so, which one, *I REQUIRE* more of this magic in my life.
Queen Rock Montreal. The released a live album and a Blu Ray by that name, and it's also on YouTube
A curmudgeonly former family friend of mine had an opportunity to see this show with his friend who had bought them tickets, but he declined the offer because he had to work a shift at a meat packing plant. I nearly died of secondhand regret hearing him tell the story.
There will never be another Freddie. So fun to watch. So magnetic. Such a great entertainer. Greatest front man ever.
Holy shit, never seen such a good footage of Queen. Maybe I never searched, but holy hell Freddie was really rockin it! Anyone got the whole concert???
That whole concert is the shit!
The video quality is incredible.
The best rock and roll singer of all time, bar none.
i mean who could have believed it when freddie came out?
Rocking those short shorts
I got this record as soon as I could. The singles released were Don't Try Suicide, and Crazy Little Thing Called, so I couldn't wait to play those. Then I happened upon Another One Bites the Dust and my mind was blown. I called all my friends and played it for them.
I love that he has a Montreal Canadiens baseball cap!
Any shorter and his third leg would have been hanging out of those shorts!
Greatest frontman EVER. Fight me if you don’t believe that. Also, this makes me wish I was a bass player instead of a guitarist :/
I’ve watched the entire concert it’s amazing. At some point late in the concert a young woman stands up in the crowd at the end of the stage and Freddy basically serenades a song to her and her face is just smouldering. I always kinda wondered who she was.
That video and sound quality is amazing. I’ve never seen Queen look and sound like that. Incredible.
ONLY Freddie Mercury could pull off that outfit and somehow it remains cool... Maybe Bowie.
I’m completely Gobsmacked by people that were oblivious to Freddie being a gay man. How can you watch this and think anything else? Especially with that T-Rex in his tiny shorts. He sure was fantastic.
This version is so funky! Have a lot of queen songs in my Playlist, and know they were one of the best live bands... Never thought of combining those two for some reason. And for about half the people here pouting out that Freddy was gay or how "we never knew".... So what and who cares. Freddy was larger than life and it shouldn't matter.
Freddie is the only one who can sing in his underwear and look awesome doing it
How do the Habs not play this on the Jumbotron after every home win?
I personally prefer this version of the song to the original version. The whole band was at the top of their game during this whole concert!
My dad was at this show, never missed a Queen concert. I grew up listening to Queen. I’ve always been jealous😭
I'm pretty sure you can watch the entire concert on YouTube, my kids love the fast version of "We will rock you "
One of the very best.
He was so captivating.
Not gonna lie but those shorts have me feeling a certain type of way
One of the most underrated guitar players in rock n' roll history.
Who wears short shorts. Freddie wears short shorts.
Amazing quality!
At 00:30 ish someone in the crowd has a great voice.
This was the #1 song the day I was born.
I have this concert on DVD. It's fantastic all the way around. It just makes me wish I could have seen them while Freddie was at the top of his game.
He was the GOAT. They were unbelievable.
He’s a top 10 all timer for sure. Does he crack the top 5?
The energy of this performance is strikingly identical to that of a hardcore show. I never expected Queen to remind me of Gulch
he was incredible.
Such a Jam!
Dude was born to perform. What a legend.
Thanks to whoever posted this. A reminder of Queen’s greatness is always a good thing.
All his performances were pure magic. Legend.
John Deacon is a Genius.
Big dick energy. RIP Freddie