Review
by Collectors
music
reviews
Queen were supposed to headline the Knebworth festival in August
1976. But with the Rolling Stones wanting to cement their live
reputation at the vaunted event, Queen were pushed back to September and a free
show was scheduled at Hyde Park in London. 150,000 fans filled the
park for an all day event which culminated in an hour long set by Queen,
fresh from recording A Day At The Races. An audience
recording was used for the old LP Free In The Park (ZAP
7960).
Gypsy Eye utilize the video soundtrack of the
show for Hyde Park ‘76. It is clear enough but unbalanced
with the vocals dominating the mix and the drums pushed back. It is
also missing Bob Harris’ speech at the very end of the show. There
is also a small cut before “Keep Yourself Alive.” In
general Queen deliver a nervous and very uneven performance. Even
though it’s important for their career, it’s really a medicre concert.
The tape opens with the new ”White
Man” riff segueing into the opera and hard rock sections of
“Bohemian Rhapsody.” The former is new but the latter opened
their shows on the last tour and is employed for the final time. On
future tours “Bohemian Rhapsody” would be played as one piece.
“Thank you very much, good evening everybody.
Welcome to our picnic by the serpentine” Freddie says in greeting.
“You all look very beautiful” before they start “Sweet Lady.”
Freddie states that “White Queen” is a ”delicate little
number.” Brian May expresses amazement at the crowd and refers to
“Flick Of The Wrist” as a song written by Freddie in one of his more
passionate moments, “of which he has many.” The Sheer Heart
Attack song is played live for the last time.
Afterwards Freddie says: “I have been
requested by the constabulary for you not to throw little things
around…sit on your asses and listen.” He introduces the medley
which begins with “You’re My Best Friend” which has terrible speed
issues. This segues into the opening verses and guitar solo of
“Bohemian Rhapsody” which in turn runs into “Killer Queen”
and “March Of The Black Queen” played live for the final time.
The medley ends with the final part of “Bohemian Rhapsody” seguing into
the quick instrumental version of ”Bring Back That Leroy Brown.”
The medley is similar to the one used throughout the A Night At The
Opera tours and is used for the final time in this show.
When Queen toured again early the following year the medley would be
constructed around tunes from the new album.
May’s showcase follows the medley, beginning
with “Brighton Rock” and his nine minute long guitar solo.
At the end of the solo, instead of returning to “Brighton Rock” May
leads them into the final verse of “Son And Daughter.” Freddie
gives a big introduction to May who says, “from one piece of
nonsense to another, I’ve said it before. This is
something we wanted to do with the London Philharmonic but they
didn’t show up, so we will do the ethnic version of a song called
”39.’” This song was introduced into the set in the Edinburgh
warm-up gigs two weeks before Hyde Park and is the first glimpse of
their acoustic set.
“You Take My Breath Away,” which hasn’t
even been recorded, is performed and is followed by a version of
“The Prophet’s Song” rendered flat by the failed PA system.
Freddie has to perform his vocal gymnastics without the effects which
sounds silly. He does throw in a reference to “Death On Two
Legs” in the middle. This would be the last time the first
half of the song would be played live. Only the latter half would be
retained in medley with “White Man.”
After “Stone Cold Crazy,” the band play
“Keep Yourself Alive” and “Liar,” dropping “Doing All Right”
and “Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon.” Before the last song, Brian says,
“This is In The Lap Of The Gods, or something like that.”
Afterwards there is no encore of “Big Spender” and “Jailhouse
Rock” because they had gone past curfew.
The police threatened to arrest the band if
they went back on stage. In retrospect, this is a show that May
later reflected, “I think that Hyde Park was one of the most significant
gigs in our career. There was a great affection because we’d kind of
made it in a lot of countries by that time, but England was still, you
know, we weren’t really sure if we were really acceptable here. So it
was a wonderful feeling to come back and see that crowd and get that
response.” Despite the limitations, this is a good release by
Gypsy Eye, but owning it on video is preferable to see the immensity of
the event. |
