December 7th 1978 Chicago Stadium
We hit the way-back machine to 41 years ago this week.
I was a senior in high school the first time I saw Queen in concert. I always liked their music for the fact that they rocked hard on songs like “Sheer Heart Attack” and “Tie Your Mother Down” but could also sing the softer songs like “You’re My Best Friend” and “Love of My Life.” And the creativity of the hit “Bohemian Rhapsody” was mind blowing. Queen was one of those bands best appreciated when you see them live, full of big sound, lights, great musicianship and showmanship by one of the coolest lead singers ever in Freddie Mercury. (May he rest in peace)
My buddy Dave Potter and I went together and the show had all the makings of a great time. It was a Thursday night so being out late wouldn’t be a big deal because Fridays in school were usually a breeze. Add to this, “Potts” as we called him, picked me up in his two seat MG with a pizza from the place where he worked and a six pack of Stroh’s beer. Our seats were in the mezzanine about three quarters the way back of the Stadium which worked to our advantage because Queen puts on a large, expansive show that needs to be taken in from a distance.
Queen’s entrance was novel one. Their overhead lighting rig was mounted on a roof like structure that rested on the stage at a forty-five degree angle. When the houselights went out this ceiling of rows of red, green and white lights began to slowly rise to its full stretched out position above the band. The steps leading to Roger Taylor’s drum set had beaming spotlights in them which were blinding and dimming all night. So Brian May’s searing guitar started up like a chainsaw while Taylor pounded out the beat to a much faster version of “We Will Rock You.” John Deacon’s bass hummed its line and out of the dry ice and water infused smoke and lights arrived Queen’s grand maestro Freddie Mercury.
Mercury eschewed the tight leotards and body stockings he used to wear in concert for a full on storm trooper outfit. He wore white wrestling shoes, shiny black pants, held up with red suspenders, no shirt plus a black leather motorcycle jacket topped with aviator shades and a leather pilot’s cap. Freddie’s get up was similar to what Al Pacino would wear in the leather bar scenes of the movie “Cruising” a year later. At the time I was oblivious to the gay overtones of his stage wear. And what would that matter anyway? To me, it looked beyond rock and roll. It was Elvis’ “Jailhouse Rock” meets Marlon Brando in “The Wild Bunch.”
So the band plows through the “We Will Rock You” part of ”We Are the Champions” then rolled into the rest of their setlist. We would get the whole regular tribal beat version of that two song punch to close out the show. Queen was promoting their “Jazz” album so they brought us songs like “Let Me Entertain You”, “Bicycle Race” and the rowdy romp “Fat Bottomed Girls.” Remember, this was 1978 so these guys were twenty five years ahead of the whole “big butt” admiration society thing that Jennifer Lopez and the Kardashians have pushed in our faces. (So to speak)
Freddie Mercury alternated between playing his piano to being the full out in your face lead singer at the front of the stage. He held his microphone on a four foot metal pole and sometimes used it as a conductor’s baton. The sold out crowd went nuts with every move he made. During “Tie Your Mother Down” I remember being amazed at how four players could make such a huge noise. Again, Brian May’s guitar had so much to do with that.
The band played “Bohemian Rhaposody” live until they got to the “I see a little silhouette of a man” part. That’s when the foursome left the stage and we heard a tape playing the multi-voiced choir’s refrains. Queen returned when it was time to rock out with “So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye” and the close of the song. Sometimes when seeing a live show you forget about a song or two in a band’s past and when it gets played you go, “Oh, yeah, I love that one!” That happened near the end of the night when they covered “It’s Late” from the “News of the World” album.
The final encore was, “We Will Rock You/We are the Champions” and as the rockers took their final bows, we heard a recorded version of “God Save The Queen.” Well done by the band as the stadium crowd roared its approval.
All four members of Queen played so well together but Freddie Mercury was the straw that stirred the band’s live drink. Seeing interviews over the years it became apparent that away from the stage, Freddie was a very shy, low key kind of a guy; definitely a Jekyll and Hyde thing going on there. I found it fitting Potts and I saw Queen on December 7th, Pearl harbor Day, a day that in 1941 FDR said would live in infamy. True enough, but Mercury, May, Deacon and Taylor made that night in 1978 one to remember too!
NEXT WEEK’S BLOG- Recalling Christmases in the Kahler household.