Review
by Collectors
music reviews
Such
was Queen's popularity in 1986 that, after selling out Wembley
Stadium for two nights, an additional date in Knebworth had to be
added to the end of their A Kind Of Magic tour to
accommodate the demand for tickets. Between 120,000 - 150,000,
depending upon the estimate, showed up for what would turn out to be
Queen's final concert with Freddie Mercury. In the intervening
twenty years this show has attained legendary status and is
essential for any fan of Queen. Since it is assumed that
Freddie did not know he was infected with AIDS until afterwards,
nobody could have guessed this would be the last. Thank
You All follows other Wardour releases as One Sweet
Moment and Spectacular by presenting the show on
both audio cds and a dvd of the event. The audience recording
is one of the very best from this tour. It was issued before
on Electric Magic (AMS-728) on the Amsterdam label
released many years ago. Wardour obtained the master from "Crazy S"
and this version is a clear upgrade over the older title.
Some claim this tape would be excellent except for a lack
of a lower end, but this sounds fine. It may very well be top
heavy and there are hints of distortion, but the range and dynamics
of the tape are a real joy to listen to and it is a miracle that
such a good tape exists for this show. It captures the
show from the beginning of the pre-taped intro to "One
Vision" and is complete all the way through to the final
announcement by promoter Harvey Goldsmith.
Some
comments by the audience are audible and someone by the tape sings
along to the opera section in "Bohemian Rhapsody", but on
they whole they occur between songs and
are not intrusive. For the event Belouis Some, Big Country,
and Status Quo supported Queen before taking the stage just as the
sun was setting. "This is what you wanted and this is
what you're gonna get...now you've got to put up with us"
Freddie says after "Tie Your Mother Down". On
previous tours the medley section included more songs and usually
lasted close to twenty minutes, but on the Magic tour it is only
three songs with "In The Lap Of The Gods...Revisited", one
verse of "Seven Seas Of Rhye" and a bit of "Tear It
Up" before leading into "A Kind Of Magic". The
immense crowd keeps up well with Freddie during the vocal games and
he promises, "I'll get you after a couple songs, you
wait". "Another One Bites The Dust" is
introduced as a boogie and the audience do not keep up with the
vocals prompting Freddie to say, "I told you I was gonna get
you." On all the stops before they play "Who Wants
To Live Forever?" Freddie speaks about the break up rumors and
he addresses the audience by saying, "how can you split up when
you have an audience like this? We're not that
stupid." Queen play the longest acoustic set on this tour
with the rockabilly numbers beginning added to "Love Of My
Life" and "Is This The World We Created?" The
set ends with "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" with people
by the taper commenting on the "superb sound".
The
standard encores beginning with "Radio Ga Ga" are played
before Goldsmith comes onstage to announce the end of the show and
to point people to the exits. The DVD in the set is the
complete concert shot from a member of the audience on his
camcorder. It looks as if he is at the very back of the
field and doesn't try to record the actual action on
stage. Luckily Queen used a huge video screen at the top of
the stage to give the audience great close ups of the action
and the taper keeps his camcorder on that. Only occasionally,
like to tape the giant balloons during "A Kind Of Magic",
does he move the lens. There is also minimal audience
interference like during "Radio Ga Ga" which captures
people's raised hands. Luckily he has a steady hand and
the images are very stable giving us an amateur-professional source.
Wardour did a flawless sync job of the excellent audience recording
with the video. The pictures are pretty clear although the
clarity is hampered by the limitations of the tall screen on which
the images are show. Queen collectors have been asking about
the professional shot footage from this important show but
management has denied its existence. This job by Wardour is
probably the best we'll ever have for the final Queen show.
The artwork contains several pictures showing just how big
the event was. Wardour released several Queen titles
the past couple of weeks and this one is pretty close to
definitive status for this must have show unless professional
sources somehow are located and released. (GS)
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