Sheer Heart Attack Tour

The British rock band Queen was well known for its diverse music style in contemporary rock. Their large sound systems, lighting rigs, innovative pyrotechnics and extravagant costumes often gave shows a theatrical nature. Artists such as Bob Geldof, George Michael, David Bowie, Michael Jackson and Robbie Williams have expressed admiration for lead singer Freddie Mercury's stage presence.

Queen wrote certain songs, such as "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions", with the goal of audience participation. "Radio Ga Ga" came to inspire synchronized hand-clapping (this routine, originating from the song's video, was the invention of the video's director, David Mallet). This influenced Queen's appearance at Live Aid, where the 72,000-person crowd at Wembley Stadium would sing loudly and clap their hands in unison. Queen's performance at Live Aid was later voted the greatest live show of all time by a group of over 60 musicians, critics, and executives in a poll conducted by Channel 4.

1970s

Queen played approximately 700 live performances during their career with roughly two-thirds during the 1970s. Their early performances were generally hard rock, but the band developed a noticeably more pop-oriented sound in later years. Many of their future trademarks first appeared in these early shows, although some could be traced back to the members' previous bands and artistic outlets (e.g., Smile, Ibex later renamed as Wreckage, and Sour Milk Sea).

Freddie Mercury often dressed in a flamboyant manner and acted with camp, while dry ice and multi-coloured lights were used. During the concerts, it was typical for both Brian May and Roger Taylor to have impromptu, instrumental interludes and for Mercury to engage in a crowd 'shout-along' whereas it was traditional for Taylor to sing one song. Brian May and John Deacon sang backup vocals. Other distinguishable trademarks were Mercury's microphone, which featured only the upper part of the stand with no base (which allegedly came about while Mercury was with "Wreckage" during which the bottom of his stand accidentally broke off), a grand piano, and May's hand-built electric guitar, the Red Special. The lengthy guitar solo by May showcased his use of a multiple-delay effect, helping create a layered atmosphere. Rarely, Queen would host a non-member on stage with them, the most notable being keyboardist Spike Edney who performed with the band during the 1980s. A semi-informal medley of 1950s rock 'n' roll songs (especially "Big Spender" and " Jailhouse Rock") was also a staple and usually formed the backbone of an encore. The band's logo, designed by Mercury shortly before the release of the first album, is made up of the band's star signs and was usually displayed on the front of Taylor's bass drum during their early tours. Some stage costumes worn by Mercury and May on their earliest tours and a few subsequent tours were created by fashion designer Zandra Rhodes.

The concert duration and set-list for each Queen show progressed significantly during its career, eventually leading to shows exceeding two hours. Queen performed most of the songs released on their studio albums during concerts. So far, two shows have been officially released as concert videos from this era, which are the November 1974 show at the Rainbow and the Christmas Eve 1975 show at the Hammersmith Odeon.

Lisa Marie Presley stated that the first rock concert she attended was by Queen in Los Angeles in the late 70s. After the show, she gave Mercury a scarf that belonged to her late father.

Queen – Queen II Tours

With the release of their first two albums Queen & Queen II, the band began live performing in earnest, essentially following the traditional 'album-tour' cycle throughout the 70s. The embryonic Queen played numerous gigs in and around London in the early seventies, but evidence suggests that its first performance was on 27 June 1970 at Truro in England. The band's first major step toward becoming a recognized live act came when Queen was a support act to Mott the Hoople on its UK tour. Queen's performances consistently received an enthusiastic reception from audiences. This led to Mott the Hoople inviting Queen to be its support act for Hoople's US tour. Here, the band was able to hone its on-stage presentations in front of large crowds, try out different songs and arrangements, and gain experience with state-of-the-art light and sound systems. The Queen song "Now I'm Here" was written by Brian May as a tribute to Mott The Hoople.

The year 1974 had started with their first trip outside of Europe and an appearance at the Sunbury Music Festival in Australia. Although the band headlined the event on 2 February, their appearance the next day was canceled. In March, the band commenced on their first headlining tour of the United Kingdom to promote their new album ''Queen II'', and then embark on their first trip to the USA. Once again, they supported Mott The Hoople on a four-week tour beginning in April. The band paid more attention to their look on stage and employed the services of Zandra Rhodes to design some of their costumes, such as Freddie Mercury and Brian May's white and black wingsuits. Queen's supporting stint came to an abrupt halt, however, when May collapsed from hepatitis after the New York show on 11 May, and they all had to fly home so that he could recover.

Sheer Heart Attack Tour

The Sheer Heart Attack Tour was the second headlining concert tour, and first world tour by the band in support of their 1974 album ''Sheer Heart Attack''.

Background

The band were soon back on the road and commenced their second tour as the headlining act, with nineteen concerts at eighteen different venues around the UK. The band rotated supporting acts, and the setlist contained much of the material from the new album ''Sheer Heart Attack''. With more money to invest in a new stage show, the band wore new costumes for this tour and added an additional lighting rig, complete with state of the art stage effects. To conclude Queen's touring for the year, they extended the leg with mainland European shows, consisting of ten shows in six countries, performing over a two-and-a-half-week period. The year 1975 started with the American leg of the tour, before transferring to Japan. The tour would have been longer, but an accident involving the truck that transported their equipment meant it was not able to reach the remaining scheduled venues, which would have been a second American leg for the tour. In late February, on the North American tour, a handful of shows were cancelled due to Freddie Mercury's voice failing on him. After several doctor's visits, he was diagnosed with vocal fold nodules, which would impact him for the rest of his life. With this, several more shows were cancelled to allow for a more lenient touring schedule for his voice.

There were slight differences between the European, North American and Japanese sets. The Japanese shows were a bit longer; the band added ''Doing All Right'' to the set, extended ''Killer Queen'' to include the second verse, and added ''See What A Fool I've Been'' to the end of some shows as well as reviving ''Hangman'' on the final night of the tour, almost certainly due to the warm welcome they received from the Japanese fans. Additionally, for the North American leg, ''Seven Seas of Rhye'' was dropped from the setlist due to it picking up little attention from listeners.

The band planned to return to the United States in late 1975 to play arena shows, however these were all cancelled, most likely due to Queen wanting to distance themselves from Trident and switching managers to John Reid. The shows most likely wouldn't have been profitable, seeing as Queen didn't tour arenas in the United States until 1977.

A Night at the Opera Tour

The A Night at the Opera Tour was the third headlining concert tour by Queen to promote A Night at the Opera. It spanned 1975 and 1976, and covered the UK, the US, Japan, and Australia. It marked the debut of "Bohemian Rhapsody", which would be played at virtually every Queen gig thereafter.

The DVD '' A Night at the Odeon'' is taken from the Christmas Eve concert at the Hammersmith Odeon. "It's quite something to watch", said Brian May. "We were just a four-piece, but we made a lot of noise. I'm quite shocked at how good it was. We were incredibly tight and, at the same time – because we knew each other so well – very loose in terms of improvisation."

Summer Gigs 1976

Queen played four shows during a short UK tour in September 1976. They began with two nights at Edinburgh Playhouse on 1st and 2nd September. On 10th September, they played in Cardiff, which was their second and final show in the city, having played there on their previous tour in 1975.

The final Queen show of the year was in Hyde Park, London, on 18th September, after the hot summer of 1976. The Hyde Park gig was in fact a free concert which drew in a crowd of about 180,000. The free concert was organised by entrepreneur Richard Branson.

Several audio recordings exist of the Hyde Park concert, including a soundboard source. The only other concert on the tour with available audio is the second Edinburgh gig, which has an audience recording in circulation.

This tour featured the debut performances of "You Take My Breath Away", "'39" and "Tie Your Mother Down" (Tie Your Mother Down was not played at Hyde Park due to limited time), about 3 months before A Day At The Races was released.

A Day at the Races Tour

News of the World

Jazz

Saarbrücken Open Air Festival 1979

After the Jazz tour had ended, Queen played a show at the Saarbrücken Open Air festival in West Germany, at Ludwigsparkstadion on 18 August 1979.

Crazy Tour

1980s

The Game Tour

Montreal 1981

In 1980, director Saul Swimmer