QUEEN QUEEN QUEEN
Tour: The Works | Leg 4: Oceania
Date: April 20th, 1985
Venue: Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Centre
City: Melbourne, Australia
Attendance: 13,000
Audio Quality: B
Lineage: AUD - ? - CDR (x) - WAV - FLAC Level 8
Source Merge of various versions of this recording by The Real Wizard
The picture was taken by Geoff Wensbrough.
While the band had unfortunately abandoned proper setlist rotation at this stage of their career, they at least added back some snippets and gestures for their audience on this final show in Melbourne. As it happens to coincide with the city’s 150th birthday on the day of the concert, Brian wishes it a very happy birthday during his speech before ’Love of My Life’. While the show gets off to a less than ideal start (the only highlight of the first 30 minutes is ’Keep Yourself Alive’, the rest really adds to that myth that this leg is always boring), once we start ’Dragon Attack’ the show actually starts off with honestly superb performances, mainly by the band with additional wildcard moments by an otherwise weaker Freddie (like him nailing four A4 sustains during one of the best instrumental versions of ’Hammer to Fall’ or nailing a Bb4 during ’We Are the Champions’). The ’Dragon Attack’ medley is superb and surely ranks among the top performances of the tour, Brian’s guitar solo is short, precise and very entertaining. ’Hammer to Fall’ is one of his best performances of the entire decade and the band collectively sound awesome during an extended ’Jailhouse Rock’ which certainly is the best rendition of the 80s, revoking memories of the crazy performances of this song during the previous decade. Is it a must-hear? No but does it again show how underrated and even overhated this leg is? Yes!
Snippets at this show: ’House Burning Down’ by Jimi Hendrix (before ’Dragon Attack’), ’Johnny B. Goode’ by Chuck Berry (during ’Now I’m Here’), ’Waltzing Matilda’ (during Brian’s guitar solo) and ’Mustapha’ before ’Hammer to Fall’.
00:00:00 - 01. Machines (Or ’Back to Humans’) [tape; cut]
00:01:44 - 02. Tear It Up
00:03:31 - 03. Tie Your Mother Down
00:07:34 - 04. Under Pressure
00:11:15 - 05. Somebody to Love
00:15:24 - 06. Killer Queen
00:17:24 - 07. Seven Seas of Rhye
00:18:42 - 08. Keep Yourself Alive
00:21:28 - 09. Liar
00:24:08 - 10. Impromptu
00:26:30 - 11. It’s a Hard Life
00:31:00 - 12. Ay-Oh
00:32:25 - 13. House Burning Down / Dragon Attack
00:36:30 - 14. Now I’m Here
00:41:44 - 15. Is This the World We Created...? [cut]
00:45:21 - 16. Love of My Life
00:49:52 - 17. Guitar Solo
00:56:26 - 18. Brighton Rock (ending)
00:58:14 - 19. Another One Bites the Dust
01:02:08 - 20. Mustapha / Hammer to Fall
01:08:01 - 21. Crazy Little Thing Called Love
01:13:30 - 22. Bohemian Rhapsody
01:18:53 - 23. Radio Ga Ga [cut]
E N C O R E
01:24:44 - 24. I Want to Break Free
01:28:01 - 25. Jailhouse Rock
E N C O R E
01:34:15 - 26. We Will Rock You
01:36:43 - 27. We Are the Champions
01:40:30 - 28. God Save the Queen [tape]
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