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Action This Night
documents the Dortmund show on the European Hot Space tour in
1982. This occurs about a month into the tour and, since the show
previous to this on April 29th was cancelled, gave the band and extra day
of rest.
The recording on this
release is a very good audience recording. It is slightly
distant from the stage, most evident in the vocals, and there is slight
distortion in the upper frequencies. There is also a small cut
4:18 in Brian May’s guitar solo, but is otherwise complete.
On the Hot Space tour,
Queen played around often with the set list and dropped the medley for the
only time. The choice of material from their new album, which was
controversial upon release, also changed as if the band were not sure
which songs to promote live.
The show begins with the Flash
Gordon medley followed by “Tie Your Mother Down” which was
introduced as the opening song the previous week in Leiden. The
first new song, the catchy “Action This Day” follows.
During “Play The Game”
the audience grow slightly restless as servicemen began a scuffle in front
of the stage. While Freddie is playing is vocal call-and-response
game with the crowd he stops and shouts: “Hey, stop it! Stop
this. Cool down. No fighting here! You’ve come here to
listen to some music right? So listen to the music, no fighting!
Ok, now where were we? We were singing, ok?!”
“Staying Power” is the second new song played and sounds simply
fantastic in this recording. This is one of the best of the new
songs and the one most easily translated for the stage. The audience
respond with loud whistles.
After the instrumental inferno they play “Under
Pressure,” the third and final new song which is enthusiastically
received (even though it’s strictly speaking not a Hot
Space song). Afterwards Freddie continues scatting and Roger
joins in on the drums.
“Fat Bottomed Girls” is played “to change the
atmosphere” a bit. The piano introduction of “Death On Two
Legs” serves as an introduction to “Bohemian Rhapsody.” The
final song of the set is “Now I’m Here.” The first encore set
is “Another One Bites The Dust,” with loud singing by the audience,
and “Sheer Heart Attack” with the second set having “We Will
Rock You” and “We Are The Champions.”
Action This Night is the only silver pressing
of the May Day Dortmund show from this tour. It’s a very good
recording of a show that is strange since there isn’t much material from
the LP they were promoting on the tour. The performance is
outstanding and is a good title worth having.
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