RARE LIVE : A CONCERT THROUGH TIME AND SPACE

Many years ago I bought this video in a second hand record shop and I am still very pleased with it. Queen was a typical live band: great visuals like a spectacular lightshow, inspired and often improvising musicians and of course an unsurpassed frontman, the late Freddie Mercury. No doubt, the focus is on him and he's like a chameleon, so many different looks, from the long hair, silk cloths and painted nails in the early Seventies to the macho tight leather trouser, short-cut hair and big 'moustache' in the mid-Eighties. He shows a pleasant kind of narcistic behaviour and reminds me of Uriah Heep singer David Byron (another rock and roll victim!) with his lady-like steps and movements, his enthousiastic interaction with the crowd and his energetic running. You can say a lot about Freddie but he perfectly knew how to manipulate the crowd in a positive way because he wants to have fun and his joy increased by the amount of cheering and clapping fans so he pushed everybody to the limit in order to have fun and we all loved Freddie, what a lost! So in a way you can consider this video as a tribute to him but let's not forget Brian May, John Deacon and Roger Taylor, they all contributed to the excellent live performances you can witness on this video, from Liar in the London Rainbow in 1974 and Killer Queen in Earls Court in 1977 to Tie Your Mother Down in Rio De Janeiro 1985 and We Are The Champions in Knebworth 1986, just enjoy the enthousiastic and inspired band members and the wonderful, often exciting light shows, WHAT A STUNNING VIDEO!

This is a very good document of some Queen concerts. I would have preferred to see a full and early concert (like "At The Rainbow" 1974 or "At The Hammersmith" 1975) but some songs do come from their early repertoire and range as my fave ones of course.

Even some songs that I usually don't like ("Crazy Little Thing Called Love") do take another dimension on stage. The closing and almost hard instrumental work really adds value.

One of my fave is "Liar". One can see a very young band and Freddie looks really like a glam androgyne (I'm just wondering to whom he looks like.but I guess that you might know it.).

There will be some cuts in songs during "Killer Queen", an excerpts of their excellent performance during the magical "Live Aid" super concert ("We Will Rock You" - shortened). But we are used to this with their live albums.

Freddie is a great showman. Being at the Rainbow in their early stages or at Wembley at the peak of their popularity. One has to go over the karaoke stuff during some songs, but it is better to SEE it than just listening to a live CD, IMO. At least one can figure out the communion between him and the crowd. So responsive and enthusiast.

There are some pleasant "dual" songs with pictures from different eras ("Keep Yourself Alive"). But these would probably irritate a non die-hard fan. But I like so much their first five albums than I find these more than acceptable. Nonetheless, while the audience sings as much as Freddie during "Love Of My Life", I'm not so positive.

Most of the time, there is hardly a transition between tracks. I guess that some simple fade effects would have been welcome.

And even if I don't like "Radio Ga Ga", it is always impressive to see these tens of thousands hands raising in the air and double clapping when relevant. The melancholically "You Take My Breath Away » preceding the wild "Sheer Heart Attack" during which Freddie mimes Townsend / Blackmore willing to destroy some amplifier hammering it with his mike. The minus side of this document resides in its length (almost one hour of which nearly eight minutes for ("Crazy Little Thing Called Love") bearing in mind that nineteen songs are featured : "God Save The Queen" being the closing song when the credits appear. And yes, there is no "Bohemian" in here.

Three stars for this good visual moment which is a good reminder since I'm going to attend a "Queen" tribute band concert next week (Gary Mullen and The Works - really good and so close to their model), so I listen and watch some live albums/videos from this great band over this week-end.