Welcome back to “Queen – The Greatest”
– a celebration of 50 of the greatest moments
from the Queen story so far.
In this film we head back to 1974 to
revisit some landmark gigs
in which Queen were able to
follow in the footsteps of some of their heroes.
Promoter Mel Bush had seen what Queen
were capable of on stage in 1973
when he had included them as the support act
for the Mott The Hoople tour.
Not only was he convinced Queen were ready to
headline their own tour,
but they could also fill a venue
as prestigious as The Rainbow.
Having played host to acts such as
Jimi Hendrix, The Beach Boys, David Bowie and Eric Clapton,
for a young band like Queen,
headlining at The Rainbow really was the stuff of dreams.
A dream that came true on their Queen II tour
on the 31st of March, 1974.
How long did that album take then, altogether?
[ROGER] Well it took about three and a half months,
which in those days was an epic.
That album was the first sort of
aesthetic nervous break down
Producer that we’d had,
because we worked all hours for months,
it was the first sort of mammoth job we did.
You know, we went about triple the budget
that we were originally allowed,
but because I think the record company and the production company
were pretty sympathetic, artistically, at that time
and they kept hearing bits and saying
‘it’s great’, you know, ‘Okay go on’.
Anyway, once you’re halfway through
they can’t really get you to stop,
if they want an album.
[BRIAN] We’d done our support tour
and then Mel Bush came to us –
he was a pretty top promoter at the time –
and he said ‘I think you guys can headline the next tour’,
and we were surprised.
I remember thinking ‘Wow, that’s very quick’,
because normally you would support a few acts and build a following,
and then you would go on your headline tour
But he said ‘No, I feel you can do it,
you can sell out all these places’ and he gave us a big list –
Newcastle City Hall, Manchester’s Free Trade or whatever,
you know all the sort of classic gigs that Rock Bands do,
and he said ‘you can fill all these,
and at the end we’re going to do the Rainbow’.
In October 1974,
when the band embarked on their next UK tour to
promote the “Sheer Heart Attack” album,
it was no surprise that the Rainbow would again feature
on their tour schedule.
However, this time, due to overwhelming demand,
a second night had to be added.
A ticket to this sought after gig
would have set you back £1.75.
These spectacular nights at The Rainbow in 1974
were a clear statement that,
as a live act in the UK,
Queen had well and truly arrived.