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 two further concerts after Tokyo in Nagoya and Osaka.
Background 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. 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 near the end of the European tour in Hanover, Mercury fell down the stairs during the performance of "Hammer to Fall". 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.
The band revived older songs for the setlist, some of which had not been performed for close to a decade such as Seven Seas of Rhye and Great King Rat. Keep Yourself Alive returned to the set after being absent for the Hot Space Tour as part of the band's medley. Somebody to Love also joined this medley after being performed standalone most nights from 1977. Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting, a song by Elton John, would also be improvised on several nights of the tour.
Queen scheduled 12 performances in Bophuthatswana, South Africa, at the Sun City Super Bowl in October 1984."Queen’s Tragic Rhapsody". Gilmore, Mikal. Rolling Stone. 7 July 2014. 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. Queen played anyway, despite the controversy, though several shows were cancelled after Mercury's voice gave out after three days of live performances. He was given steroids to help his ailing voice, and the tour leg was extended to include a third weekend.
The band performed two sold-out shows in at the Rock in Rio Festival, on the 11th and 18th of January 1985, but given that they went on after midnight, they technically performed on the 12th and 19th of January, respectively. After this, Queen would perform their only show in Auckland, with Tony Hadley of Spandau Ballet joining the band for Jailhouse Rock. After performing their final Australian leg, the band would play five shows in Japan. Their final show in Tokyo was released on VHS and Laserdisc as We Are The Champions: Final Live in Japan. The band would play two more shows in Nagoya and Osaka before ending the tour.
Tour dates + List of 1984 concertsDateCityCountryVenueOpening acts24 August 1984BrusselsBelgiumForest National28 August 1984DublinIrelandRDS ArenaGeneral Public29 August 198431 August 1984BirminghamEnglandNEC Arena1 September 19842 September 19844 September 1984LondonWembley Arena5 September 19847 September 19848 September 198410 September 1984DortmundWest GermanyWestfalenhallenLancelot14 September 1984MilanItalyPalasport di San Sirorowspan="3" 15 September 198416 September 1984MunichWest GermanyOlympiahalle18 September 1984ParisFrancePalais Omnisports de Paris-BercyAirrace20 September 1984LeidenNetherlandsGroenoordhallen21 September 1984BrusselsBelgiumForest National22 September 1984HanoverWest GermanyEuropahalle24 September 1984West BerlinDeutschlandhalle26 September 1984FrankfurtFesthalle Frankfurt27 September 1984StuttgartHanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle29 September 1984ViennaAustriaWiener Stadthalle30 September 19845 October 1984BophuthatswanaSouth AfricaSun City Superbowlrowspan="9" 6 October 19847 October 198410 October 198413 October 198414 October 198418 October 198419 October 198420 October 1984
+ List of 1985 concertsDateCityCountryVenueOpening acts11 January 1985Rio de JaneiroBrazilCity of Rockrowspan="2" 18 January 198513 April 1985AucklandNew ZealandMount Smart StadiumThe Narcs16 April 1985MelbourneAustraliaMelbourne Sports and Entertainment CentreSport of Kings17 April 198519 April 198520 April 198525 April 1985SydneySydney Entertainment Centrerowspan="9" 26 April 198528 April 198529 April 19858 May 1985TokyoJapanNippon Budokan9 May 198511 May 1985Yoyogi National Gymnasium13 May 1985NagoyaAichi Prefectural Gymnasium15 May 1985OsakaOsaka-jō Hall
Cancelled shows DateCityCountryVenue12 September 1984VeronaItalyVerona Arena19 September 1984LeidenNetherlandsGroenoordhallen9 October 1984BophuthatswanaSouth AfricaSun City Super Bowl24 January 1985 SantiagoChileEstadio Nacional 25 January 198511 April 1985NapierNew ZealandMcLean Park14 April 1985ChristchurchQueen Elizabeth II Park
Personnel Queen Freddie Mercury – lead vocals, piano, rhythm guitar (on "Crazy Little Thing Called Love") Brian May – electric and acoustic guitars, backing vocals Roger Taylor – drums, percussions, backing vocals John Deacon – bass guitar, rhythm guitar (on "Staying Power"), backing vocals
Additional musicians Spike Edney – keyboards, synthesizer, piano, backing vocals, rhythm guitar (on "Hammer to Fall")
Notes
References
External links Queen Concerts Queenlive.ca