The Hot Space Tour was the ninth headlining concert tour by the British rock band Queen in support of their 1982 album Hot Space. The tour started on the 9th of April in Gothenburg, Sweden and ended, after sixty-nine concerts, in Tokorozawa, Japan on the 3rd of November.
Background The tour saw many changes to Queen's show. The tour was the first in which the band used a keyboardist, playing in the background. For the European leg of the tour, they used Morgan Fisher. Fisher is best known for having been a member of Mott the Hoople in the 1970s. Queen were the opening act for Mott the Hoople's US Tour of 1974, so the band already had close connections with Fisher prior to the tour. Another connection which Fisher had with the band was through a short-lived progressive rock band called Morgan, which he formed with Tim Staffell, who was the bass guitarist and lead vocalist for the pre-Queen band Smile.
Unlike most tours, in which the band would normally only need a few nights to become comfortable with a setlist, it would take more than a month during the start of the tour. All of the shows in April are unique as the band are undergoing an experimental period, before finally achieving an optimal setlist outline by May. The band would still continue to experiment throughout the year. Most songs from the Hot Space album would be played on this tour, with "Action This Day" and "Under Pressure" being performed at every single show. Since the album itself was released on 21 May (the first night in Munich), fans at shows from the start of the tour until then would have been unfamiliar with the songs "Staying Power", "Back Chat" and "Action This Day". "Body Language" was introduced to the show briefly in May, before making a permanent return in July, and "Calling All Girls" would be introduced in July as well. "Life Is Real" would be heard at only a few concerts in August, and "Put Out The Fire" would be briefly introduced to the show in August, before permanently returning in September. "The Hero", "Sheer Heart Attack" and most of the fast version of "We Will Rock You" were dropped from July onwards, although the former would appear on the Japanese leg, and the latter would be re-introduced in September. Sheer Heart Attack would appear at least once on the North American leg of the tour, with Liar rumoured to have a performance in August.
Queen toured Europe, North America, and Japan throughout 1982. Several alterations were made to the touring schedule. The first being the cancellation of a planned concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London, due to the venue not being able to cope with the weight of the band's light rig. The second were two rescheduled concerts in England. The concert in Leeds was originally scheduled to take place at Old Trafford in Manchester and the Milton Keynes concert was supposed to take place at Arsenal Stadium in London. The concerts were moved due to potential noise complaints from local residents.
A DVD documenting the band's 5 June 1982 concert at the National Bowl in Milton Keynes was released in 2004 as Queen on Fire – Live at the Bowl. The DVD Extras contained video clips and audio clips recorded in Austria and Japan. The Japanese clips were recorded in Tokorozawa on the 3rd of November, 1982. They were released in Japan in 1983 simply as "Queen: Live in Japan", although the footage was trimmed down to 60 minutes.
The Hot Space Tour marked Queen's last concerts in North America to feature Freddie Mercury and John Deacon. Brian May and Roger Taylor returned to perform in the United States, along with Paul Rodgers, on the Queen + Paul Rodgers Tour.
Queen dropped several popular songs on stage after this tour, including the fast We Will Rock You, Action This Day, Play The Game, Put Out The Fire, Save Me, Get Down Make Love, Calling All Girls, Fat Bottomed Girls, Body Language and Teo Torriatte. After this tour, Queen would take a nearly two-year long break from touring, where they recorded "The Works". During this downtime, Brian May worked on the "Star Fleet Project" with various other artists, Roger Taylor worked on his solo album "Strange Frontier", and Freddie Mercury would work on his debut solo album "Mr. Bad Guy", which would feature the touring keyboardist Fred Mandel. He would be succeeded by Spike Edney on The Works Tour.
Tour dates DateCityCountryVenueEurope9 April 1982GothenburgSwedenScandinavium10 April 1982StockholmJohanneshovs Isstadion12 April 1982DrammenNorwayDrammenshallen16 April 1982ZürichSwitzerlandHallenstadion17 April 198219 April 1982ParisFrancePalais des Sports20 April 1982LyonPalais des Sports de Gerland22 April 1982BrusselsBelgiumForest National23 April 198224 April 1982LeidenNetherlandsGroenoordhallen25 April 198228 April 1982FrankfurtWest GermanyFesthalle Frankfurt1 May 1982DortmundWestfalenhallen3 May 1982ParisFrancePalais des Sports5 May 1982HanoverWest GermanyEilenriedehalle6 May 1982CologneCologne Sporthalle7 May 19829 May 1982WürzburgCarl-Diem-Halle10 May 1982BöblingenBöblingen Sporthalle12 May 1982ViennaAustriaWiener Stadthalle13 May 198215 May 1982West BerlinWest GermanyWaldbühne16 May 1982HamburgErnst-Merck-Halle18 May 1982KasselEissporthalle Kassel21 May 1982MunichOlympiahalle22 May 198229 May 1982LeedsEnglandElland Road1 June 1982EdinburghScotlandRoyal Highland Showground2 June 19825 June 1982Milton KeynesEnglandMilton Keynes BowlNorth America21 July 1982MontrealCanadaMontreal Forum23 July 1982BostonUnited StatesBoston Garden24 July 1982PhiladelphiaSpectrum25 July 1982LandoverCapital Centre27 July 1982New York CityMadison Square Garden28 July 198231 July 1982RichfieldRichfield Coliseum2 August 1982TorontoCanadaMaple Leaf Gardens3 August 19825 August 1982IndianapolisUnited StatesMarket Square Arena6 August 1982DetroitJoe Louis Arena7 August 1982CincinnatiRiverfront Coliseum9 August 1982East RutherfordBrendan Byrne Arena10 August 1982New HavenNew Haven Coliseum13 August 1982Hoffman EstatesPoplar Creek Music Theater14 August 198215 August 1982Saint PaulSt. Paul Civic Center19 August 1982BiloxiMississippi Coast Coliseum20 August 1982HoustonThe Summit21 August 1982DallasReunion Arena24 August 1982AtlantaOmni Coliseum27 August 1982Oklahoma CityMyriad Convention Center28 August 1982Kansas CityKemper Arena30 August 1982DenverMcNichols Sports Arena2 September 1982PortlandMemorial Coliseum3 September 1982SeattleSeattle Center Coliseum4 September 1982VancouverCanadaPacific Coliseum7 September 1982OaklandUnited StatesOakland Coliseum Arena10 September 1982PhoenixArizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum11 September 1982IrvineIrvine Meadows Amphitheatre12 September 198214 September 1982InglewoodThe Forum15 September 1982Asia19 October 1982FukuokaJapanFukuoka Kyuden Kinen Gymnasium20 October 198224 October 1982NishinomiyaHankyu Nishinomiya Stadium26 October 1982NagoyaPortmesse Nagoya29 October 1982SapporoTsukisamu Green Dome3 November 1982TokorozawaSeibu Lions Stadium
Box office score data +List of box office score data with date, city, venue, attendance, gross, referencesDate(1982)CityVenueAttendanceGross23 JulyBoston, United StatesBoston Garden15,500 / 15,500$188,8982 AugustToronto, CanadaMaple Leaf Gardens24,824 / 30,000$324,6633 August6 AugustDetroit, United StatesJoe Louis Arena18,024 / 19,950$211,50510 AugustNew Haven, United StatesNew Haven Coliseum10,275 / 10,275$117,28215 AugustSaint Paul, United StatesSt. Paul Civic Center14,800 / 18,000$183,17420 AugustHouston, United StatesThe Summit13,453 / 17,048$157,07521 AugustDallas, United StatesReunion Arena11,760 / 19,012$149,10027 AugustOklahoma City, United StatesMyriad Convention Center10,772 / 11,000$128,92928 AugustKansas City, United StatesKemper Arena10,285 / 12,556$112,25230 AugustDenver, United StatesMcNichols Sports Arena10,264 / 18,000$131,8432 SeptemberPortland, United StatesMemorial Coliseum6,832 / 12,110$81,4383 SeptemberSeattle, United StatesSeattle Center Coliseum9,930 / 12,000$113,9284 SeptemberVancouver, CanadaPacific Coliseum10,264 / 16,696$140,0647 SeptemberOakland, United StatesOakland Coliseum Arena10,969 / 14,500$133,06610 SeptemberPhoenix, United StatesArizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum13,328 / 15,000$157,40414 SeptemberInglewood, United StatesThe Forum20,502 / 27,262$274,70315 SeptemberTOTAL211,782 / 268,909 (79%)$2,605,324
Personnel Queen Freddie Mercury – lead vocals, piano, acoustic guitar (on "Crazy Little Thing Called Love") Brian May – electric guitar, acoustic guitar, backing vocals, piano Roger Taylor – drums, backing vocals John Deacon – bass guitar, additional vocals, electric guitar (on "Staying Power") Additional musicians Morgan Fisher – keyboards, piano (Europe) Fred Mandel – keyboards, piano (North America and Japan)
References
External links Queen Concerts