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Review
by Collectors
music reviews
After the highly successful Game tour in 1980 Queen played five nights at
the Budokan in Tokyo between February 12 and February 18th. The
attended the Japan premier of Flash Gordon on February 10th and played a
unique medley of tunes from the film during the performances. Need
You Loving Rockis a complete document of the second Tokyo show
utilizing the older audience recording. Three other incomplete tapes
circulate for this date which surfaced subsequent to the Gypsy Eye
release. The sound quality is extremely good bordering on excellent
and, except for the audience members close to the mic during “Love
Of My Life,” there is minimal crowd interference. There are tape
flips between numbers but nothing is missing. It is one of the
finest sounding audience recordings from this era.
The break benefited Queen greatly. When the
band are uptight they normally deliver an exciting show but when they are
loose they can create such tremendous excitement and charisma and the
second Tokyo show must rank among the very best. The opening moments
onstage are occupied with the same songs from the Game tour
with ”Jailhouse Rock,” “We Will Rock You” and “Let Me
Entertain You,” all excellent songs in building the excitment. ”Play
The Game” provides some respite although Freddie truly
blows his lungs out during the piece.
The medley begins with “Mustapha” and as
Freddie is trying to get the crowd to sing along he interrupts the second
“Ibrahim,” saying “stay in fucking tune!!!” “Death On Two
Legs” had been an important part of the medley but five years after
being introduced to the stage after Queen had become international
superstars wore out its welcome and it would be dropped after this year.
“Killer Queen” is very aggressive tonight with Freddie growling
out the words.
“Fat Bottomed Girls” is dropped this night in favor
of “Night Your Loving Tonight.” There is some commotion at the
front of the stage when Freddie is introducing “Save Me.” He can
be heard shouting ”Get him off!” a couple times and Brian is a
bit distracted at the piano. In the middle of the next song “Now
I’m Here” Freddie tries very hard to get the audience to clap in
tune. “Dragon Attack” makes an appearance before “Now
I’m Here” comes back again, beginning very slow and deliberate before
“down in the city just Hoople and me.” The following “Love Of
My Life” is the only acoustic number played in the set. May
introduces the song in Japanese and the crowd sing along.
“Keep Yourself Alive” begins another exciting
interlude in the show. May plays unique, mind bending riffs in
the breaks which seems to confuse the rest of the band. Taylor
plays a short drum solo as May goes into his solo spot with tympani
underlining the opening notes. The six minute guitar solo, which
would normally segue into the final verse of “Brighton Rock” goes into
the “Vultan” theme from Flash Gordon instead.
Begun by Taylor on the drums, Freddie plays the catchy
melody on synthesizer. They sustain it for almost two minutes
before seguing into the bombastic “Battle” theme, running
into “Flash” and finally ending with “The Hero.” It is the
first time this arrangement was played on stage and would remain for
the three remaining Tokyo shows (Feb 16, 17, and 18).
There is a small mistake when Taylor leads them into “The Hero” but
May plays the “Battle” theme again. Freddie can be heard saying,
“when am I singing?” The other nights would be much more
polished but it’s a shame they never attempted this medley after
Japan. The energy continues with an improvisory version of
“Crazy Little Thing Called Love” and an impressive vocal performance
in “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Need You Loving Rock is one of
the better Queen Gypsy Eye releases with a great sounding tape and a
fascinating concert.
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