City: | London, UK |
Venue: | College of Estate Management |
Date: | October 16, 1970 |
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The venue for this show was near Kensington Market, where Freddie Mercury and Roger Taylor had worked at a stall selling clothing and shoes since 1969. They would remain there until March 1974, when their music career would start to take off. Alan Mair, one of their co-workers at the market, says the gig wasn't very good overall. He said Brian and Roger were very accomplished, but that Freddie looked awkward on stage and sang pitchy at times. He and some friends went to a local pub immediately afterward, as they were afraid of what to tell Freddie because he was so excited about the band. On September 19, instead of rehearsing for this show as planned, they mourned the death of Jimi Hendrix only as musicians could. Original bassist Barry Mitchell explained in a 2018 interview: "We all loved and adored Jimi Hendrix. We were shattered. We were supposed to be working on our own material because we had a gig coming up in a couple weeks. Our heart wasn't in it, so we spent the entire rehearsal jamming Jimi Hendrix songs." The contract for the gig was preserved, with £20 payable to B.H. May. Queen's eventual bassist John Deacon was allegedly in attendance at this show. |