The Works Tour
Tour by Queen
Associated albumThe Works
Start date24 August 1984
End date15 May 1985
Legs5
No. of shows48
Queen concert chronology

The Works Tour was the tenth headlining concert tour by the British rock band Queen to promote their successful 1984 album The Works. During the tour, Queen participated in the Rock in Rio festival in 1985; the concert was released on VHS. The band released a DVD from a concert in Tokyo titled We Are the Champions: Final Live in Japan, but the name of the concert was incorrect as the band performed 2 further concerts after Tokyo in Nagoya and Osaka.

Stage design

The stage design was based on a scene from Fritz Lang's Metropolis with huge rotating cog-wheels at the rear of the stage and a brightly lit cityscape.[1] Due to a prior ligament damage in his knee, it was somewhat of a challenge for Mercury to navigate the complex set of multiple levels and stairs. Eventually, in Hanover, Mercury fell down the stairs during the performance of "Hammer to Fall".[2] He was only able to play "Bohemian Rhapsody", "We Will Rock You", and "We Are the Champions" afterwards, shortening the concert somewhat. Due to Mercury's injury, May played the first bars of "We Will Rock You" out of anxiety to get Mercury to the hospital.

Breaking apartheid embargo

Queen scheduled 12 performances in Bophuthatswana, South Africa, at the Sun City Super Bowl in October 1984.[3] Due to the apartheid policy of South Africa, the United Nations requested entertainers to boycott the country and Britain's Musicians’ Union banned any of its members from performing in Sun City.[3] Queen played anyway, despite the controversy, though several shows were cancelled after Mercury's voice gave out after three days live performances. The show was extended to a third weekend.[3]

Personnel

Additional musicians:

Setlist

This setlist is representative of the performance on 8 September 1984 in London. It does not represent all the setlists for the duration of the tour.

  1. "Machines (Or 'Back to Humans)" [Intro]
  2. "Tear It Up"
  3. "Tie Your Mother Down"
  4. "Under Pressure"
  5. "Somebody to Love"
  6. "Killer Queen"
  7. "Seven Seas of Rhye"
  8. "Keep Yourself Alive"
  9. "Liar"
  10. "It's a Hard Life"
  11. "Staying Power"
  12. "Dragon Attack"
  13. "Now I'm Here"
  14. "Is This the World We Created...?"
  15. "Love of My Life"
  16. "Stone Cold Crazy"
  17. "Great King Rat"
  18. "Keyboard Solo"/"Guitar Solo"/"Brighton Rock"
  19. "Another One Bites the Dust"
  20. "Hammer to Fall"
  21. "Crazy Little Thing Called Love"
  22. "Bohemian Rhapsody"
  23. "Radio Ga Ga"
Encore
  2. "I Want to Break Free"
  3. "Jailhouse Rock"
  4. "We Will Rock You"
  5. "We Are the Champions"
  6. "God Save the Queen" [Outro]
Songs performed

Tour dates

Date City Country Venue Opening Act Attandance
Europe
24 August 1984 Brussels Belgium Forest National - 9.000/9.000
28 August 1984 Dublin Ireland RDS Arena General Public 25.000/25.000
29 August 1984
31 August 1984 Birmingham England NEC Arena 43.500/43.500
1 September 1984
2 September 1984
4 September 1984 London Wembley Arena 44.000/44.000
5 September 1984
7 September 1984
8 September 1984
11 September 1984[a] Dortmund West Germany Westfalenhallen Lancelot 16.424/16.424
14 September 1984[b] Milan Italy Palasport di San Siro - 18.000/20.000
15 September 1984
16 September 1984 Munich West Germany Olympiahalle 12.000/12.000
18 September 1984 Paris France Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy Airrace 17.000/17.000
20 September 1984 Leiden Netherlands Groenoordhallen 11.000/11.000
21 September 1984 Brussels Belgium Forest National 9.000/9.000
22 September 1984 Hanover West Germany Europahalle 9.000/9.000
24 September 1984 West Berlin Deutschlandhalle 11.000/11.000
26 September 1984 Frankfurt Festhalle Frankfurt 14.000/14.000
27 September 1984 Stuttgart Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle 13.000/13.000
29 September 1984 Vienna Austria Wiener Stadthalle 28.200/28.200
30 September 1984
Africa
5 October 1984 Bophuthatswana South Africa Sun City Superbowl - 54.000/54.000
6 October 1984
7 October 1984[c]
10 October 1984
13 October 1984
14 October 1984
18 October 1984
19 October 1984
20 October 1984
South America
11 January 1985[d] Rio de Janeiro Brazil City of Rock - 150.000
18 January 1985[d] 250.000
Oceania
13 April 1985[e] Auckland New Zealand Mount Smart Stadium The Narcs 35.000/35.000
16 April 1985 Melbourne Australia Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Centre Sport of Kings 52.000/52.000
17 April 1985
19 April 1985
20 April 1985
25 April 1985 Sydney Sydney Entertainment Centre - 62.000/62.000
26 April 1985
28 April 1985
29 April 1985
Asia
8 May 1985 Tokyo Japan Nippon Budokan - -
9 May 1985
11 May 1985 Yoyogi National Gymnasium
13 May 1985 Nagoya Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium
15 May 1985 Osaka Osaka-jō Hall

Cancelled shows

Date City Country Venue
12 September 1984 Verona Italy Verona Arena
19 September 1984 Leiden Netherlands Groenoordhallen
9 October 1984 Bophuthatswana South Africa Sun City Super Bowl
24 January 1985 Santiago Chile Estadio Nacional
25 January 1985
11 April 1985 Napier New Zealand McLean Park
14 April 1985 Christchurch Queen Elizabeth II Park

Notes

  1. ^ The 11 September 1984 concert in Dortmund was originally scheduled for 10 September 1984.
  2. ^ The 14 September 1984 concert in Milan was originally scheduled to take place at Palazzo dello Sport in Rome.
  3. ^ The 7 October 1984 concert in Bophuthatswana was cancelled after three songs.
  4. ^ a b The 11 and 18 January 1985 were part of Rock in Rio.
  5. ^ The 13 April 1985 concert in Auckland was originally scheduled to take place at Western Springs Stadium.

References

  1. ^ Bell, Mike (8 September 1984). "Body but no soul". The Times.
  2. ^ Freestone, Peter; David Evans (2001). Freddie Mercury: An intimate memoir by the man who knew him best. Omnibus Press. pp. 65–66. ISBN 0-7119-8674-6.
  3. ^ a b c "Queen’s Tragic Rhapsody". Gilmore, Mikal. Rolling Stone. 7 July 2014.

External links

Queen
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