The Works Tour
World tour by Queen | |
Associated album | The Works |
---|---|
Start date | 24 August 1984 |
End date | 15 May 1985 |
Legs | 5 |
No. of shows |
26 in Europe 7 in Africa 2 in South America 9 in Oceania 5 in Asia 46 in Total |
Queen concert chronology |
The Works Tour was a concert tour by the British rock band Queen. During the tour, Queen participated in the Rock in Rio festival in 1985; the concert was released on VHS. The band released a DVD from a concert in Tokyo titled We Are the Champions: Final Live in Japan, but the name of the concert was incorrect as the band performed 2 further concerts after Tokyo in Nagoya and Osaka.
Stage design
The stage design was based on a scene from Fritz Lang's Metropolis with huge rotating cog-wheels at the rear of the stage and a brightly lit cityscape.[1] Due to a prior ligament damage in his knee, it was somewhat of a challenge for Mercury to navigate the complex set of multiple levels and stairs. Eventually, in Hanover, Mercury fell down the stairs during the performance of "Hammer to Fall".[2] He was only able to play "Bohemian Rhapsody", "We Will Rock You", and "We Are the Champions" afterwards, shortening the concert somewhat. Due to Mercury's injury, May played the first bars of "We Will Rock You" out of anxiety in order to get Mercury to hospital.
Setlists
- Machines (intro)
- Tear It Up
- Tie Your Mother Down
- Under Pressure
- Somebody to Love
- Killer Queen
- Seven Seas of Rhye
- Keep Yourself Alive
- Liar
- Improvisation
- It's a Hard Life
- Dragon Attack
- Now I'm Here
- Is This the World We Created?
- Love of My Life
- Stone Cold Crazy
- Great King Rat
- Keyboard Solo
- Guitar Solo
- Brighton Rock (finale)
- Radio Ga Ga
- Another One Bites The Dust
- Crazy Little Thing Called Love
- Bohemian Rhapsody
- Hammer To Fall
Encore - I Want To Break Free
- "Jailhouse Rock"
Encore - We Will Rock You
- We Are the Champions
- God Save the Queen
Other songs
- Staying Power (approx. half of the gigs)
- Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting
- Sheer Heart Attack instead of Jailhouse Rock
- Mustapha (intro)
- Not Fade Away (part, London, 4 September 1984)
- '39 (part, Leiden)
- A Day At The Races (outro) (Dublin only)
- Dead on Time (snippet during Keep Yourself Alive intro) (Birmingham only)
- Back Chat (Berlin only)
Hannover, Germany Setlist
- Machines (intro)
- Tear It Up
- Tie Your Mother Down
- Under Pressure
- Somebody to Love
- Killer Queen
- Seven Seas of Rhye
- Keep Yourself Alive
- Liar
- It's a Hard Life
- Mustapha (intro)
- Dragon Attack
- Now I'm Here
- Is This the World We Created?
- Love of My Life
- Stone Cold Carzy
- Great King Rat
- Keyboard solo
- Guitar solo
- Brighton Rock (outro)
- Another One Bites the Dust
- Hammer to Fall (Freddie falls down and injures his leg and shortens the concert)
- Bohemian Rhapsody
Encore - We Will Rock You
- We Are The Champions
- God Save the Queen
- Machines (intro)
- Tear It Up
- Tie Your Mother Down
- Under Pressure
- Somebody to Love
- Killer Queen
- Seven Seas of Rhye
- Keep Yourself Alive
- Liar
- It's a Hard Life
- Dragon Attack
- Now I'm Here
- Is This the World We Created?
- Love of My Life
- Guitar solo
- Brighton Rock finale
- Another One Bites the Dust
- Hammer to Fall
- Crazy Little Thing Called Love
- Bohemian Rhapsody
- Radio Ga Ga
Encore - I Want to Break Free
- Jailhouse Rock
Encore - We Will Rock You
- We Are the Champions
- God Save the Queen
Other Songs
- Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On
- Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting
- Mustapha (intro)
- Let Me Out (part in guitar solo)
- My Fairy King (part in guitar solo)
- March of the Black Queen (part in piano improvisation)
Tour dates
Date | City | Country | Venue |
---|---|---|---|
Europe | |||
24 August 1984 | Brussels | Belgium | Forest National |
28 August 1984 | Dublin | Ireland | RDS Simmonscourt |
29 August 1984 | |||
31 August 1984 | Birmingham | England | National Exhibition Centre |
1 September 1984 | |||
2 September 1984 | |||
4 September 1984 | London | Wembley Arena | |
5 September 1984 | |||
7 September 1984 | |||
8 September 1984 | |||
10 September 1984 | Dortmund | West Germany | Westfalenhalle |
14 September 1984 | Milan | Italy | Palasport di San Siro |
15 September 1984 | |||
16 September 1984 | Munich | West Germany | Olympiahalle |
18 September 1984 | Paris | France | Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy |
20 September 1984 | Leiden | Netherlands | Groenoordhallen |
21 September 1984 | Brussels | Belgium | Forest National |
22 September 1984 | Hannover | West Germany | Europahalle |
24 September 1984 | Berlin | Deutschlandhalle | |
26 September 1984 | Frankfurt | Festhalle Frankfurt | |
27 September 1984 | Stuttgart | Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle | |
29 September 1984 | Vienna | Austria | Wiener Stadthalle |
30 September 1984 | |||
Africa | |||
5 October 1984 | Bophuthatswana | South Africa | Sun City Super Bowl |
6 October 1984 | |||
13 October 1984 | |||
14 October 1984 | |||
18 October 1984 | |||
19 October 1984 | |||
20 October 1984 | |||
South America | |||
11 January 1985[A] | Rio de Janeiro | Brazil | Cidade do Rock |
18 January 1985[A] | |||
Oceania | |||
13 April 1985 | Auckland | New Zealand | Mount Smart Stadium |
16 April 1985 | Melbourne | Australia | Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Centre |
17 April 1985 | |||
19 April 1985 | |||
20 April 1985 | |||
25 April 1985 | Sydney | Sydney Entertainment Centre | |
26 April 1985 | |||
28 April 1985 | |||
29 April 1985 | |||
Asia | |||
8 May 1985 | Tokyo | Japan | Nippon Budokan |
9 May 1985 | |||
11 May 1985 | Yoyogi National Gymnasium | ||
13 May 1985 | Nagoya | Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium | |
15 May 1985 | Osaka | Osaka Castle Hall |
- Festivals and other miscellaneous performances
- A This concert was part of "Rock in Rio"
- Cancellations and rescheduled shows
11 September 1984 | Westfallenhalle | Dortmund | Rescheduled to 10 September 1984. |
12 September 1984 | Verona Arena | Verona | Cancelled. |
19 September 1984 | Groenoordhallen | Leiden | Cancelled. |
7 October 1984 | Sun City Super Bowl | Bophuthatswana | Cancelled after four songs due to Mercury losing his voice. |
9 October 1984 | Sun City Super Bowl | Bophuthatswana | Cancelled. |
12 October 1984 | Sun City Super Bowl | Bophuthatswana | Cancelled. |
11 April 1985 | Hawkes Bay Winery | Hawkes Bay | Cancelled. |
14 April 1985 | Queen Elizabeth II Park | Christchurch | Cancelled. |
Tour band
- Freddie Mercury - Lead vocals, Piano, Rhythm Guitar (Crazy Little Thing Called Love)
- Brian May - Lead guitar, Backing Vocals
- Roger Taylor - Drums, Backing Vocals
- John Deacon - Bass guitar, Backing Vocals
Additional musicians:
- Spike Edney – Keyboards, piano, Backing Vocals, Rhythm guitar (Hammer to Fall)
Trivia
- On 7 October in Sun City, the concert came to an end early after Mercury lost his voice and left in tears after the third song in the set "Under Pressure".[3]
- Queen performed for a total of 600,000 people in the two Rio de Janeiro's Rock in Rio Music Festival concerts (300,000 per show)[4]
- In Hannover, after the end of Hammer to Fall, Mercury fell and injured his leg. This can be seen on the bootleg cover "Hannover is Dangerous". Mercury was helped to the piano to continue the concert by his assistant, however the set was shortened because he suffered from the pain to his leg.
References
- ↑ Bell, Mike (8 September 1984). "Body but no soul". The Times.
- ↑ Freestone, Peter; David Evans (2001). Freddie Mercury: An intimate memoir by the man who knew him best. Omnibus Press. pp. 65–66. ISBN 0-7119-8674-6.
- ↑ "Queen concertography: The Works 1984". QueenConcerts.com. Retrieved 9 April 2009.
- ↑ Morse, Steve (25 May 1989). "Abundant Offerings". Boston Globe.