Queen prepare for their legendary 1986 Magic Tour on the latest episode of their 50th anniversary video series The Greatest.
Rejuvenated by their history-making Live Aid performance a year earlier, and the success of their “A Kind Of Magic” album, June 1986 saw Queen return to touring for what would be the biggest series of concerts of their career, and although the band had played vast venues before, there was a sense that this tour would take it to another level…
“It’s a strange thing with our band, the bigger the audience the better it seems to work,” explained Roger Taylor before the tour. "The audience contact seems to be better with the larger audiences.”
Queen would play 26 performances at twenty separate locations in the UK and nine European countries over an eight-week period including their first and only show in Budapest, Hungary.
In the first of a two-part episode on the Magic Tour, the band share their thoughts on returning to the road.
“Once you’re on tour, I like to get on and do it. I don’t like to be hanging around on tour,” shared Brian May. “I like to get in as much as you can because you can build up this great rhythm, and you get into the mood and the feel of playing, you play better each night, I think. If you see us at the end of the tour, we are a lot different from what we are at the beginning of the tour, because we’re in that rhythm.
“I suppose it’s almost like being an athlete, you just work on yourself and you have nothing else to think about, except doing your bit for that two hours as well as you can.”
“There was a trend a few years ago, with the punk movement and whatever, where they said, ‘Oh, we want to play to the small audiences because we’re being intimate, and all that,’” added Freddie Mercury. “Load of rubbish. I mean everybody who wants to be a star wants to play to the biggest audiences.”
See also:
Queen revisit the Highlander soundtrack on The Greatest
Queen to re-release vinyl box set The Studio Collection
Queen team up for 1985 hit One Vision on The Greatest
Queen revisit iconic Live Aid performance on The Greatest
Search Queen at hennemusic
