| Review
by Collectors
music
reviews
After the highly successful Game tour in 1980
Queen played five nights at the Budokan in Tokyo from February 12th to the
18th. The band attended the Japan premier of the film Flash
Gordon on February 10th, two nights before the opening show, and
played a unique medley of tunes from the film during the performances.
Need Your Loving Tonight on Tarantura utilizes
a new Mr. Peach recording of the event. Compared to the older tape
pressed on Need
You Loving Rock (Gypsy Eye GE-206/207), this is closer to the
stage and much louder.
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 excitement. ”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 “Need 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
time.
“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 segueing 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 improvisatory version
of “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” and an impressive vocal performance
in “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
Need Your Loving Tonight is packaged in a
gorgeous gatefold sleeve with photographs from the Budokan shows. |
