Review
by Collectors
music
reviews
Live
At Leeds in the unimaginatively titled release on Breakdown of
Queen's May 29th show
at the Elland Road Football Stadium in Leeds on the Hot Space
tour. The tape is very good to almost excellent being very close to
the stage. During the beginning melee the audience are very
loud drowning out the music somewhat but by "Action This Day" it
is very clear and enjoyable, one of the very best from the UK.
Small cuts at the very end of "Somebody To Love" and "Tie Your
Mother Down" (where another source is used to for the gap) are
the only imperfections on the otherwise complete recording. They
began their world tour for the new album in early April and spent two
months on the continent. This show was originally scheduled for Old
Trafford in Manchester but was changed to Leeds. This was the
first of only four shows in the United Kingdom (this, two in Edinburgh and
Milton Keynes) making this their shortest ever tour in this region.
Three bands, Heart, Teardrop Explodes and Joan Jett And The BlackHearts opened
for Queen on this night. Brian May said this is not only one of the
best shows from 1982 but one of his all time favourite concerts during
Queen's career.
It
is indeed a hot performance in front of a hip, sold out crowd of more
than forty thousand. Only four news songs are performed but
thankfully "Staying Power" is included. After the
introduction and a crowd lead version of "We Will Rock You",
Freddie says, "You are a wonderful crowd. A fucking wonderful
crowd and you have no idea what that means to the performer."
Queen received such negative reviews for the new LP and was extremely
sensitive. Some claim that Freddie actually apologizes for Hot
Space at Milton Keynes. He really doesn't, but does come
across as very defensive of the new material and happy to hear the
applause although it is obvious the new songs don't go down that well.
He plays his vocal games with the audience before the band launch into
"Staying Power". He says at the song's conclusion
"that
thing was a fucking motherfucker to sing I tell ya..." An
a cappella version of "Keep Yourself Alive", with
Freddie singing along with the audience, is an introduction to "Save
Me" and ends when Brian plays the opening notes on the piano.
"Fat Bottomed Girls" is about
"all
the dirty things I've done in my life. I won't go into details but you
know what I mean. The bigger the tit, the better it is.." This
is a fantastic tape that really deserves to be released on silver
someday. This version on Breakdown is worth seeking out.
(GS) |
