City: | London, UK |
Venue: | Wembley Stadium |
Date: | July 12, 1986 |
Setlist: | One Vision, Tie Your Mother Down, In The Lap Of The Gods...Revisited, Seven Seas Of Rhye, Tear It Up, A Kind Of Magic, Under Pressure, Another One Bites The Dust, Who Wants To Live Forever, I Want To Break Free, impromptu, guitar solo, Now I'm Here, Love Of My Life, Is This The World We Created?, (You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care, Hello Mary Lou, Tutti Frutti, Gimme Some Lovin', Bohemian Rhapsody, Hammer To Fall, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Big Spender, Radio Ga Ga, We Will Rock You, Friends Will Be Friends, We Are The Champions, God Save The Queen |
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The second night at Wembley Stadium is probably the most famous and well-documented concert of Queen's career. It was filmed by 15 cameras with the initial intention to air it on TV in October. David Bowie was rumoured to join the band on stage for Under Pressure, but it never materialized. Mick Jagger was in the audience, and hung out with the band before the show. The band, particularly Freddie, seem to be a bit nervous at various points tonight, knowing well that this was the big show that was being filmed to be seen by millions of people throughout the ages. His voice is in not quite as good shape as it was last night, which led to many vocal overdubs being done for the TV/radio simulcast and official releases. Brian's nerves also reveal themselves early on, as he messes up the tapping solo in the middle of One Vision (the only time he ever missed it), and later he completely omits the first half of the Hammer To Fall solo (which he also did in Brussels). All of these slight flaws aside, the video demonstrates how Queen had simply mastered their craft, having arguably orchestrated the perfect stadium show. It reveals a band who, through the unparalleled showmanship and charisma of Freddie Mercury, were able to connect with every one of the 72,000 people on hand. Brian May would later refer to Queen's touring work ethic as becoming "a well-oiled machine" when in the swing of things. Pics 7 and 8 are great shots of the blow-ups of the band members released into the sky during A Kind Of Magic. One of them was found by an old lady in her back yard the next morning. Before Who Wants To Live Forever, Freddie insists, "we're gonna stay together until we fucking well die, I'm sure." There is a mighty truth to the statement which he certainly may have been aware of at this point. After the impromptu, Brian May puts on a clinic of how to construct a guitar solo. A polar opposite of last night's mediocre solo spot, tonight's rendition is simply magnificent, and perhaps the definitive example of his musicality in the spotlight. This is another one of those shows where Freddie shouts "Go Johnny!" during the instrumental part of Now I'm Here, referencing Johnny B. Goode by Chuck Berry. The bobby hat Mercury is seen with in the acoustic set he stole from a side stage officer during the Newcastle show, in clear view of the audience! The band attempt a couple more covers tonight, both for the last time - Gimme Some Lovin' and Big Spender. The songs had been tried out earlier in the tour, and the latter had been performed often throughout the 70s. A fan recalls: "Freddie was perfect, he managed to bring the audience into the show in a way that felt really encompassing and natural. He was on our side and we were on his. Outside of Prince I can't think of any performer I've seen that has managed to bring an audience together as well as he did. It felt communal. His posteuring was always accompanied by a sly tongue-in-cheek understanding that this was a show and he was performing, but he always had a little wink or tongue poke that broke any sense of pomposity. The love for Freddie from the audience was palpable in a way I haven't felt since." After the show, billed as "Dicky Hart And The Pacemakers" for fun, Queen and some other stars including Cliff Richard and Samantha Fox had a jam session at the Kensington Roof Gardens Night Club. Tutti Frutti and Sweet Little Rock And Roller were among the songs played. Short video clips have turned up in documentaries, like The Magic Years. Spandau Ballet were present as well. Samantha Fox recalls: "I sang with Freddie Mercury at a party once and that was fantastic. I couldn’t believe it when he pulled me up. It was their private party in Kensington. As soon as you got into the lift there were naked women painted green, like a forest. They had midgets with little trays of drinks. You just knew it was going to be a brilliant party. Queen took the stage and they jammed for about an hour [the party itself went until about 9am]. It was amazing. And Gary Glitter got up, too! He pulled me up and asked me what songs I knew. And you know when you can’t think? I asked if he knew Touch Me and he laughed and said, 'What about Go Johnny Go?’ We ended up singing that together. It was amazing to do a duet with Freddie." The party itself was a tame affair for a mere 500 guests, including designers Yves St Laurent, Giorgio Armani, Calvin Klein, David and Elizabeth Emanuel, and Queen's old colleague Zandra Rhodes, who'd designed outfits for them in 1974. One publication recalls, "Queen held a famous party after their Wembley concert in July 1986 at the Roof Garden above Kensington High Street where 500 guests included Cliff Richard, Spandau Ballet and Gary Glitter. 'The uniform of every waiter, boy or girl, was body paint,' remembers Gary. 'At first you didn't notice they had nothing on, then you did a double take and thought, Wow! Only Queen would have thought to do this.' Among the other delights laid on for the guests were a scantily-clad woman on duty in the men's toilet and an equally under-dressed gent in the ladies ready to render whatever assistance was asked. That night Freddie made a point of being seen with Mary Austin on his arm. His boyfriend Jim Hutton was nowhere in sight." Part of Baby I Don't Care (from a different angle than would later be released on DVD) was shown Spanish TV not long after the concert: The show was broadcast live on Capital Radio, the only time the show would be heard on the airwaves without the overdubs that would soon be added in the studio after the tour. In October 1986, Brian revealed on a breakfast TV appearance that this Wembley Stadium show would be rebroadcast, and that he had just returned from Munich where he had been working on the concert sound with Mack. An edited version of the show, a program called 'Real Magic', was then simulcast in the UK on October 25 on the radio (Independent Radio) and TV (Channel 4). The radio was given a quarter second delay to ensure it synced up with the TV. Most of the concert was aired (minus Tear It Up, the impromptu, guitar solo, Now I'm Here, Love Of My Life, Baby I Don't Care, Hello Mary Lou, Gimme Some Lovin' and Big Spender), and this ended up being the track listing of the VHS release a few years later. The show was broadcast again in January 1987 on Channel 4 in light of public demand. Portions of an interview with Brian (likely taped on the afternoon of the second show) are heard before the broadcast of the concert begins. This particular bit is revealing: "I think we're functioning now better than we've done for years and years. We actually like each other and enjoy being together. It's a great moment for us. We're full of energy. The only choices are to go back in the studio after this tour, or else take the tour to some place else, 'cos we feel like we're hot; we're going on all four." Neither would turn out to be true. Mercury would spend 1987 away from the band, and the fruits of his labour would be an opera album with the Spanish soprano Montserrat Caballe called "Barcelona." Without a doubt his health would greatly impact his life choices during this time. Hammer To Fall from this show was officially released on the Live Magic album in December 1986 and the Rare Live VHS in 1989. We Will Rock You and We Are The Champions were released on 7" and cassette singles in many countries. Thanks to Julien Cohen for clarifying these details. The first lengthy official release of this show was a 1990 VHS, missing eight songs. The studio version of Brighton Rock is heard at the beginning while showing the stage and rig being set up by the crew. Vocal overdubs were present on this release and all future releases: One Vision, A Kind Of Magic, Who Wants To Live Forever, and We Are The Champions (at least) were patched up, and backing vocals for the bridge of Hammer To Fall were added as well. The usual level adjustments were done on vocals and all instruments, but many of Spike Edney's synth parts are notably much lower than they were at the show. A 2CD version was released in 1992, with only the Tutti Frutti reprise cut. The complete show was released on CD and DVD in 2003. The US version includes three songs from the first night, and one from the Budapest show as bonus tracks. The DVD included plenty of extras, including rehearsal footage and 5 songs from the first night at Wembley. It was released once again on CD and DVD in 2011, with the DVD including the entire first night. Alternate angles of Bohemian Rhapsody were seen in a 2015 BBC documentary called "From Rags To Rhapsody." The radio and TV broadcasts, as well as the official releases, have led to dozens of bootlegs released over the years - many of which were disguised as other shows. The backstage photo was taken by Denis O'Regan. The second live picture was taken by Richard Heaffey and submitted by Mrducksoup, and pics 3 through 12 were taken by Mark Alexander. The third set was taken by Phil Reynolds. Some of the aftershow pics were submitted by Fabio Minero and Leonardo Pelz. |
Recording length: | 70 minutes (1 CD, incomplete) |
Quality: | A+ |
Source: | pre-FM |
Lineage: | Westwood One CD |
Track listing: | One Vision, Tie Your Mother Down, A Kind Of Magic, Under Pressure, Another One Bites The Dust, I Want To Break Free, Now I'm Here, Love Of My Life, Is This The World We Created?, (You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care, Hello Mary Lou, Tutti Frutti, Bohemian Rhapsody, Hammer To Fall, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, We Are The Champions, God Save The Queen |
This CD used for a Westwood One broadcast yields a couple tracks that weren't on the previous bootleg copies. |
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Here are various bootlegs (mostly from the 90s) using tracks from the official VHS and CD releases of this show. Some of them are labelled as other shows. |
Recording length: | 113 minutes (2 CD, incomplete) |
Quality: | B |
Source: | Audience |
Lineage: | AUD > 2x 90 MIN TDK Chrome Cassettes > CDR > FLAC Level 8 |
Track listing: | One Vision, Tie Your Mother Down, In The Lap Of The Gods...Revisited, Seven Seas Of Rhye, Tear It Up, A Kind Of Magic, Under Pressure, Another One Bites The Dust, Who Wants To Live Forever, I Want To Break Free, impromptu [cut], guitar solo, Now I'm Here, Love Of My Life, Is This The World We Created?, (You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care, Hello Mary Lou, Tutti Frutti, Gimme Some Lovin' [cut], Bohemian Rhapsody, Hammer To Fall, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Big Spender, Radio Ga Ga, We Will Rock You, Friends Will Be Friends, We Are The Champions, God Save The Queen |
This distant audience recording has two brief cuts for tape flips. When Freddie's vocal mic cuts out during I Want To Break Free the crowd can be heard singing along. |