Queen Japan Tour '79 Report

They are a group of sincere musicians, each with their own style

By Fan Club Editor-in-Chief Keiji Inouye

April 11th (Weds)

At 11:00 AM, I boarded a black Buick to head to Narita Airport. The members of Queen would be onboard with us for the return trip. It's notable how I didn't feel tired at all, settled into the plush seats. The sky was beautifully clear, and I felt great. It's such nice weather, almost like it's celebrating Queen's return to Japan.

Queen stayed in Japan for seven days total, and this passage is a diary-style account of my personal observations of Queen during that time. However, each day can be divided into roughly two flavors: the band members and the stage crew. The two groups stayed in separate hotels and traveled almost entirely separately. I spent most of my time drinking with the band members, so I didn't spend much time with the crew, forgive me...

The police checkpoints on the way to Narita were quite strict, almost frightening. It's understandable, considering that two big groups, Queen and the band Boston, were arriving in Japan on the very same day. Shortly after 3 PM, Freddie, who had come in by way of America on a Pan Am, made his grand entrance. There were about a dozen or so fans. Staff members surrounded him, and Freddie looked rather bewildered. He and his bodyguard, Mr. Itami of the Tokyo Patrol, quickly got into the car. Later, when I asked Mr. Itami "Has Freddie changed compared to when he was last here?", he replied, "He's become somewhat closed off," which was absolutely true. He seemed to have developed a certain dignity and an air of awe that kept no one close. You could say that he was the King of Rock.

Freddie's jet ended up arriving earlier than expected, but there was no panic from fans. However, things heated up when Brian and Roger arrived about two hours later. There were about 50-60 fans and members of the press waiting for them. The two came out of the gate with smiles on their faces, but were mobbed by the surging crowd and were left in a state of shock. Thankfully, there were no major incidents like Brian losing a shoe during their previous visit to Japan. Following behind them was the 13-member stage crew who would be working behind the scenes for the show. They boarded a bus to head to the hotel. The crew seemed to be pretty hardy, as they showed no signs of fatigue despite the long flight. They were blasting rock music on a cassette player in the car, just having fun. Freddie, Brian, and Roger went straight to the hotel and rested to prepare for their schedule the next day.

April 12th (Thurs)

John was the last to arrive. According to one source, he was expecting his second baby and wanted to stay in England as long as possible, so he arrived a day after everyone else. With all four members now together, all they had to do was wait to take the stage the following day. As for the crew, they arrived at the Budoukan in the evening and worked through the night to set up the stage. This proved to be surprisingly difficult. The positions of the towers that were to be built on either side of the stage to hang the lights was slightly off due to a mistake, and the trusses to which the lights would be attached wouldn't go up. In the end, they had to tear down part of the basic stage and start over. The trusses were supposed to be up by 10 PM, but they still hadn't gone up after 2 AM, so they were pretty far behind schedule. The Japanese staff and the crew worked tirelessly to throughout the night and the trusses were finally raised by dawn. The foreign crew looked relieved.

April 13th (Fri)

Finally, the day had arrived where we could hear them again on Japanese soil! This was the first performance, at the Nippon Budoukan in Tokyo. The crew had been at the venue since early in the morning. The band also arrived at the Budoukan at 3 PM and did a thorough sound check. They hadn't had time to rehearse in the UK, and since they were recreating the entire European tour here in Japan, they had to do a thorough run-through of a little bit of everything, adjusting anything that sounded off. This sound check dragged on for quite a while and the doors, which were scheduled to open at 5:30 PM, didn't actually open until 6. But thorough rehearsals are essential to a good show, so it couldn't really be helped. Consequently, the show began thirty minutes late, at 7 PM.

This was Friday the 13th, but Queen blew away any back luck once they appeared on the Budoukan stage. As the lights went down, dry ice billowed, and the truss rose slowly and quietly with four motors. Then the familiar We Will Rock You began to play. Roger appeared behind the drumset, Brian was on the right, John on the left, the same as always. And then Freddie slowly appeared, wearing the all-black vinyl costume he'd been using since their US tour at the end of last year. "We are very happy to be back in Japan!" he greeted us in Japanese. At this point, the audience was overjoyed! From new songs like Bicycle Race, Fat Bottomed Girls, If You Can't Beat Them, and Let Me Entertain You, to nostalgic hits like Keep Yourself Alive and Now I'm Here, with an acoustic section in the middle featuring Dreamers Ball, Love of My Life, and It's Late, the show lasted exactly two hours, including two encores. They gave us a full show with no opening acts. It had been three years, three whole years since they had taken the stage in Tokyo.

April 14th (Sat)

As this was the day before Sunday, this Budoukan concert had the highest attendance, with fans from all over the country coming into Tokyo in droves. With the Budoukan completely packed, it can be said that the performance was the best yet. Before the encore, the audience was on their feet. The band members could not hide their joy after the show, saying it was the best performance they had ever given. Everyone was talking about how during the second encore, Freddie rode out onto the stage on Superman's shoulders. The guy dressed as Superman was known as "Big Paul", one of Freddie's bodyguards. He usually stands in the wings of the stage with his arms crossed, constantly watching over Freddie to make sure there are no accidents onstage. Strangely, this Superman wore glasses. In the movies, Superman wears glasses as Kent Clark, but they're gone when he's in Superman form. I guess it didn't matter, since Super Big Paul is his bodyguard. Singing We Will Rock You with Freddie as he rode on Superman's shoulders was very exciting. By the way, just to give you a little bit of behind-the-scenes information, the members made multiple costume changes this time around. They changed in a black tent set up to the left of the drumset on the stage. Inside this small tent was a full-length mirror and their costumes hanging on hangers. This black tent is designed so that you can't even tell it's there from the front. In Queen's case, the reason they duck away for the encore is not because they're being coy, but because they're changing clothes. It's surprising how quickly they can do this—they disappear from the stage as the taped section of Bohemian Rhapsody begins, and then a mere few seconds later Brian's solo begins and Brian reappears in a completely different costume, ready to play.

April 15th (Sun)

The band had this day off, and everyone went shopping. Freddie had a tough time. His hobby is collecting Japanese art, so he went to the Oriental Bazaar in Harajuku, but since it was a Sunday afternoon, the streets were packed with young people. Sharp-eyed fans spotted him and he was bombarded with autograph requests. Thanks to the efforts of his bodyguard, Itami, he finished signing for around 80 people, but ended up exhausted. With about 300 more fans still wanting autographs, he ended up having to make an escape, as shopping was now out of the question. The next day, Itami's voice was hoarse.

"If it were just ten people, I could easily handle it on my own, but when so many fans swarm you, it's pretty tough."

Thank you for your hard work, Itami. Speaking of shopping, Freddie had already purchased around ¥3,000,000 worth of artwork at this point, mainly prints and ceramics, and reportedly ended up spending nearly ¥10,000,000 before leaving Japan. These valuables couldn't be checked in as carry-on luggage on the plane, so everyone had to divide up the items, carrying vases worth several million yen onto each plane. One security guard quipped, "If we break these, how many years will we have to work for free to pay the damages?"

But the biggest challenge was the tatami mats that Brian bought. There were three in total, weighing 75 kg. It's fine for the buyer, but I wish they'd consider the people who have to actually transport it. I suppose tatami mats aren't sold in England, but I can't imagine what Brian's family would do with three tatami mats laid out in a corner of their Western-style room. Maybe they'll play house on them. (I'm kidding!!)

April 16th (Mon)

Today was a day of interviews. From noon onwards, the hotel room were redecorated for interviews and photoshoots for magazines such as Weekly Seventeen, Music Life, and Ongaku Senka. However, at Queen's request, none of the interviews were conducted with all four at once. They decided to divide and conquer in separate rooms. Each member was assigned a different magazine in order to finish as quickly as possible to give them more free time. That's why most interviews published in magazines on this visit were with only a single member. All of this was done swiftly under the leadership of two men, Pete Brown and Paul Prenter. The roles of these two would normally fall under "management", but they asked not to be called managers. They said that Queen manages themselves, so they can't be managers. They prefer the term "private assistants". I think it's easy to understand the mindset behind this—Queen has been determined to keep things in their own hands ever since they left Trident.

April 17th (Tues)

Brian and Freddie arrived in the Kansai region separately, a day earlier than the others. Brian went to Nara and Freddie to Kyoto, enjoying their respective holidays. John and Roger spent their holidays in Tokyo. Roger's greatest pleasure was alcohol. He could down three bottles of vodka on his own in a single night! He was such a heavy drinker that one might wonder if he's an alcoholic. But I think alcohol might be his energy source. After all, he's so energetic as the show starts, but afterwards he's completely spent, breathing heavily. But then he does some drinking and comes back to life again. Perhaps the sight of a musician after a show isn't something you should see. For me the sight of Roger, who puts on such an energetic show, looking completely worn out after getting off the stage—it stuck with me. People have criticized him for gaining weight recently, but I think he should actually try to gain even more. Then maybe we'd see an even MORE energetic show! His drumming style is already John Bonham-esque and powerful.

Roger's drinking style is quite boisterous, whereas John's is more of a quiet, sipping-style. It really reflects their individual personalities.

April 18th (Weds)

This was a travel day. Finally, after the opening performances in Tokyo, we were moving on. Since Brian and Freddie had already left, it was just Roger and John. My role was to lead the English crew, so I took them with me to the shinkansen at Tokyo Station. Walking with foreign crew members felt a lot like chaperoning a school trip. We marched single file through the station. At the ticket gate, we handed our tickets to the staff and boarded in an orderly fashion. It was quite humorous to see these tall foreigners following behind like schoolchildren.

When we got on the shinkansen, a buffet attendant held out a napkin to a crew member and was asking them to autograph it. I wonder whose autograph she thought she was getting. The crew member didn't help by playing into it. When the shinkansen pulled into Nagoya Station or Kyoto Station, girls who were clearly Queen fans were peering out of the windows. I wonder if they waited like that all day long.

We arrived a Shin-Osaka in the evening and the entire crew went on to Osaka Jo Hall. The equipment loading dock at Osaka Jo is extremely narrow and it was a huge challenge to bring the equivalent of eight large trucks of equipment for the show. In the end, we were only able to get it all in late that night.

April 19th (Thurs)

This was the day of the first Osaka performance. In fact, the only thing we managed to set up the night before was the lighting. The sound system was postponed until later. That's because on the afternoon of the 19th, the venue held an entrance ceremony for a local cooking academy, so the lighting could be set up as it could be suspended from the ceiling, but the sound system was another story. It had to be put on hold until the school ceremony was over. It was supposed to end at 12:30 PM, but it was past 1 PM and still not finished! The entire crew was getting antsy. On the stage, the principal was wielding a knife in front of a giant sea bream. The venue was eerily silent. The floor backstage creaked, so we couldn't even walk around much. At around 1:30, the ceremony finally ended. Because we were now running behind, the crew rushed to work as soon as the curtain fell.

Both days of the Osaka Jo shows were sold out. It was the only theater booked on the tour, which meant the audiences had the best views. All the other shows were in gymnasiums, so those at the Osaka shows probably had the clearest views.

Something special happened that day at rehearsal: they started playing te wo toriatte out of nowhere. Of course, it was the first time they'd performed this song onstage, and Freddie hadn't even memorized the lyrics yet! He never actually managed to memorize them so there was always a piece of paper with the lyrics written on it taped to the piano. When Brian sat down at the piano, Freddie stood beside him and began to sing, seemingly in sync with Brian's playing, but his body position at the time was such that the cheatsheet was clearly visible. He really seemed to have trouble remembering the Japanese lyrics, but it was a pretty great rendition regardless. Of course, the audience knew all the lyrics, and everyone sang along.

They often changed the setlist and altered the show's structure. For example, they might suddenly play Fun It in the middle of Keep Yourself Alive, or Freddie might sing "Ibrahim!" and a line or two from Mustapha before the piano intro to Bohemian Rhapsody.

April 20th (Fri)

Today was the second Osaka performance. The Osakan fans are the most passionate in Japan, so the Osaka performances were two days of electric excitement—but perhaps because the audience skewed slightly older compared to the audience at, say, a Bay City Rollers concert, their behavior was relatively gentle and the shows went on without incident.

Now began the hard work for the crew: dismantling and transporting the equipment. Everything was loaded onto the trucks by 1 AM. From there, it was a caravan towards Kanazawa, the venue for tomorrow's (or should we say, today's) performance. This caravan consisted of eight large trucks loaded with lighting and sound equipment, two power supply vehicles, and two large busses carrying the crew. Such a large contingent of trucks is practically unprecedented. It was so big because they brought almost all of hauling this massive amount of equipment all over Japan. But it was worth it! There were around 300 spotlights that densely covered the ceiling. The clarity of these lights is something that can't be achieved with lights that were available in Japan. However, this ceiling of lights was actually missing one row—this is because because the English crew forgot to load it onto the ship! So there originally should've been 50 more. Additionally, there were a total of 8 spotlights at the front and sides. If you carefully count the lights behind Roger and on the drum platform, the total number of lights is indeed 500. Given that there were so many, the loss of 50 or so wasn't very noticeable.

Anyways, back to the convoy. This group of vehicles, with posters of nude women on bicycles attached to their backs, made a journey down the Hokuriku Expressway in the middle of the night. Traveling by bus in the middle of the night is quite an experience! Unless you have incredibly thick skin, you're not going to be sleeping at all. Rubbing our sleep-deprived eyes, we arrived in Kanazawa early the next morning.

April 21st (Sat)

The band members arrived in Kanazawa by train at a leisurely pace. The smaller crew arrived by bus early the next morning, dropped off their luggage at the hotel, and headed to the venue by bus. We could only think about showers and comfortable beds at that point... I've never been more envious in all my life!

The venue, the Jissen Rinri Memorial Hall, is located on a hill just outside the city center. It's an incredible location, with a cemetery right in front of the venue. Kanazawa felt a little chilly, as always. It started to drizzle in the afternoon, making it feel even colder. There was a frantic search for a space heater for the dressing room, as turning on the heating in the venue would cost in the vicinity of ¥80,000 per hour. We only had it switched on about two hours before the doors opened. But once the show started, the heat from the fans made the building's heating system unnecessary. Not to mention, the lights on the rig were all insanely hot. If you were onstage for a while, you'd be drenched in sweat. The band members must've been roasting up there. The first item bought in Tokyo was a fan to blow away dry ice and cool down the dressing room, but Brian was the only one who also bought a space heater for himself. He always brought it into every dressing room with him. I wonder if Brian is a penguin that gets cold easily?

Perhaps due to the bad weather, Freddie ended up catching a cold. For a while after this Kanazawa concert, his voice was not in good condition, and he seemed to be struggling a bit, singing an octave lower.

April 22nd (Sun)

Since I was in Kanazawa, I decided to at least se Kenroukuen Garden, so I woke up early and took a stroll over there. Perhaps because so many people had come to Kanazawa to see Queen over the weekend, I saw a few faces that I had seen at the venue the night before. Freddie, who has an interest in all kinds of Japanese art, also arrived at the garden around 10 AM. He wasn't recognized by many people, and we relaxed under the beautifully clear Kanazawa sky, strolling through the park.

We took an afternoon flight from Komatsu Airport to Tokyo. About 30 fans had gathered at Komatsu Airport. As usual, the members were mobbed by the fans as they entered, escorted by their security. After the band disappeared into the building, a fan approached security guard Itami and asked for his autograph, which embarrassed him. The fan wanted a paperweight autographed and they ended up taking a commemorative photo together. Itami certainly has become quite famous!

Upon arriving in Tokyo, the crew was working through the night once again at the Budoukan, preparing for the second leg of their Tokyo performances starting the next day. Tokyo definitely felt hot.

April 23rd (Mon)

This performance was arguably one of the best of the five Tokyo shows, on par with the one on the 14th. This might be because Freddie had a day off beforehand and was able to recharge. It was also their second show in Tokyo, so they were more experienced and polished. The show went off without a hitch.

April 24th (Tues)

This morning at the Budoukan, a young fan came in. He was a huge fan of Brian and had made a guitar that was almost identical to Brian's Red Special. It was painstakingly crafted, using as many of the same parts and materials as possible. When he showed it to Brian that evening, Brian's face lit up, and he happily accepted the gift. Perhaps one day Brian will play this guitar onstage.

April 25th (Weds)

On the final day of the Tokyo shows, a strike of both the national and private railway systems broke out, and the trains were completely stopped. Only the Tokyo Metro buses and subway were running. I was worried whether people would even show up under these circumstances, but when I went to the Budoukan around noon, I was surprised to find a line of about 50 people already in front of the same-day ticket counter. By 3 PM, that number had grown to around 150! Not to mention, the area around the Budoukan was crowded with people waiting for the doors to open. Apparently, a considerable number of people had anticipated the strike and had stayed at nearby hotels or taken early trains and buses to get there. I was once again grateful to Queen fans. In the end, the national railway ended its strike by 3 PM, and the private railways lifted theirs a little after 5 PM.

Once the doors opened, people poured in. Ticket sales for the day were the highest of the five Tokyo dates. The turnout was excellent, and seeing the Budoukan packed to capacity despite the strike was wonderful—I was once again struck by Queen's enduring popularity and grateful to the fans. Now the band would be able to play to a packed house!

But as luck would have it, Freddie's cold seemed to have worsened considerably tonight, and he appeared somewhat irritable from the opening. Perhaps because of this, it was a rough performance, which made for an interesting show that revealed another side to Freddie. During the encore, while singing Sheer Heart Attack, he tripped over something and fell onto the stage. This seemed to provoke him, and he became visibly frustrated that his voice wasn't working the way it usually did. He overturned an amplifier on the right side of the stage and bent the stand of his microphone, moving on to Roger's drum set mic to sing into. It was probably rare to see such a raw and exciting show. Nippon TV recorded the performance, so that should be broadcast soon.

After this, Freddie took some over-the-counter cold medicine that a Japanese staff member had bought him and went to bed early.

April 26th (Thurs)

We set off for the second leg of the tour. We arrived in Kobe in the late afternoon, where it was raining. I was thinking that unloading all of the equipment tonight would be tough, but by nightfall the rain had completely stopped. Perhaps this was because we had good karma (?), or perhaps because God is a Queen fan.

April 27th (Fri)

Today's performance at Kobe Central Gymnasium was sold out beforehand. Dozens of tickets were released the day-of and those also sold out in no time.

The local shows were almost always held in gymnasiums, but there's some issues that come along with that, the biggest of which is the dressing room. Since this wasn't a venue built for concerts, it didn't really have dressing rooms, so we had no choice but to use what is termed a "waiting room", which in old gyms is usually visibly dirty. And a lot of times you can smell the stench of the toilets next door! So we had to have the toilets thoroughly cleaned, lay down carpets, and cover all the tables with tablecloths. We also somehow had to procure a sofa to make it look more presentable. This is all out of consideration of the performers—to ensure that they can wait to go onstage in a suitable environment and be in the best possible condition when they do. All sorts of small details have to be paid attention to.

After the show, everything had to be dismantled again, and then we took buses to Nagoya.

April 28th (Sat)

Today's venue, Nagoya International Exhibition Center, was quite far from downtown. It's a 30-40 taxi ride from Nagoya Station, on reclaimed land beyond Nagoya Port. It's in the middle of nowhere—there isn't a single shop as far as the eye a see. You truly feel like you're on a deserted island.

The International Exhibition Center is a strangely-shaped dome that juts out of this desolate landscape. It can hold up to 20,000 people, making it a monstrously large building. This was the largest Queen concert in Japan to date. The band arrived in Nagoya by shinkansen at noon and since it was a Saturday, hundreds of fans had gathered at the venue to mob them. As a precaution, the number of bodyguards had been increased, so the band was tightly surrounded and somehow managed to get through unscathed.

Seeing how large the venue was, the band was very excited. Freddie's voice was also improving, and it was a wonderful performance. Not to mention, this venue has a very convenient setup for loading and unloading of equipment, because there's room for large trucks to enter it. So while lighting and sound trucks are loading in from the sides, folding chairs are being loaded in front.

As I watched the big trucks packing up, it felt like a dream that Queen had been performing here just an hour ago. The show was over, and I felt strangely lonely. Eventually the equipment was torn down, the lights are turned off, and the next morning comes as though nothing had happened.

April 29th (Sun)

When I went down to the hotel lobby in the morning, there was a huge crowd gathered. I thought that maybe it was because it was Sunday and Queen fans had flocked there, but it turned out to be a lucky day according to the Japanese calendar, and there were guests who had gathered in the hotel's wedding hall. I was surprised to see so many young girls, and then I realized that Shinji Harada was staying at the same hotel.

We took an afternoon flight to Fukuoka, and as soon as we arrived, it started raining. The tour thus far had been relatively rain-free, but by the time we were unloading the equipment in the evening, it was pouring.

April 30th (Mon)

The weather was beautiful and sunny this morning, as if yesterday's rain had never happened. We swept the puddles away with brooms in front of the Kyushu Electric Power Memorial Gymnasium to prepare for the arrival of the guests. Tickets for Fukuoka also sold out within a few days of going onsite. We were worried that the number of police officers providing security might be insufficient with the Hakata Dontaku festival just around the corner, but Queen had excellent security, and everything went smoothly.

Brian would improvise his Brighton Rock solo every day, changing the feel and length depending on his mood, and around this time he started playing Sakura again, which had been well-received during their prior visit to Japan. However, even Sakura would vary from day-to-day. Sometimes he would play it violently with distorted sound, such like Jimi Hendrix's performance of The Star-Spangled Banner at Woodstock, while other times he would use the echoplex to make a beautiful rendition, as if it were dueting kotos. It truly felt like I was witnessing an incredible talent, watching the great guitarist Brian May play.

May 1st (Tues)

This was day two of the Fukuoka shows. After the performance, we took three buses to Yamaguchi. Along the way, the hungry crew got off at a drive-in restaurant at Shimonoseki. But it turned out the restaurant was closed already as it was late at night. We all scrambled to eat cup noodles from a vending machine. Under the pitch-black sky, we glanced down and could faintly see the Kanmon Strait.

May 2nd (Weds)

This is probably the first time a foreign rock group has performed in Yamaguchi. The city of Yamaguchi is relatively laid-back, and doesn't have the hectic atmosphere of the cities I've visited thus far. The back entrance of the gymnasium is a passageway, and people can pass through freely. I thought it'd be incredibly crowded, but it wasn't. In the end, I brought out a sofa and was sunbathing when John, who had finished his sound check, appeared and we leisurely soaked up the sunset together.

This concert was held in a relatively small gymnasium, and the people at the Iwakuni US military base were also present. Their arrival made it a fairly exciting show, even thought it was small. There are advantages to performing in large venues, and there are advantages to performing in smaller venues such as this one, too.

May 3rd (Thurs)

The hotel we stayed at in Yamaguchi surprisingly didn't offer room service. When we inquired, they said they could somehow make coffee, but there was no bread. Somehow the hotel managed to procure an entire loaf of toasted bread for us. We divided the eight slices up into two for each band member, and went knocking on each door to hand out coffee and toast. I can laugh at it in hindsight...

We took a partybus back to Fukuoka, and from there another plane back to Tokyo. The seats on this plane were so tall that only Brian's head could be seen over the backs of them. You could tell it was him just at a glance by his bushy hair. None of the four of them accepted juice or snacks served on the plane. Freddie especially turned his nose up at them... I guess they all have refined palates.

There was a notable bit on this flight: they were playing Queen songs over the intercom, Bicycle Race and Don't Stop Me Now, etc. Brian was the first to notice this, and laughed happily. "Yes, yes!" he said, goading the other three to listen.

May 4th (Fri)

We stayed in Tokyo one more day for a shopping trip. From there, we headed to Sapporo for the final performance, and the band was in high spirits. Hokkaido [the island where Sapporo is located] is a cold place—apparently, it even snowed there in late April. There was still a patch of snow remaining at the Makomanai Ice Arena, the venue for the next show.

This evening, the band members paid a visit to a famous beer garden. During the shows they usually drank Budweiser, but on this day they enjoyed the beer garden's famous and delicious draft beer. Japanese beer is just as delicious as any other in the world!

May 5th (Sat)

This was day one at Sapporo Park. Sapporo (the city) was quite nervous about the venue because of a trampling incident at a 1978 Rainbow concert that killed one person. It's believed that this situation was caused by fans who were worked into a frenzy due to the show starting an hour late. For that reason, Queen's show was required to start precisely on-time. As a result, we had to work faster than usual.

After the show, all of the staff members (Japanese or otherwise) who participated in this tour went up onstage to take a commemorative photo with the band. I also jumped into the corner and snapped a picture.

The show that day was riveting, and Freddie even jumped into the audience during the encore. The Japanese leg of the tour was drawing to a close, and everyone seemed to be in a state of jubilation.

After the show ended, even though there was still one date left, we held a wrap-party where the popular Hokkaido dish Genghis Khan (grilled lamb) was served. Unfortunately, John was absent because he had been up late the night before playing BlackJack. Everyone else let loose and had a blast. Band and crew members alike took turns coming up to the mic to give speeches or sing songs.

By the time Freddie and Roger got up from their seats, everyone was drunk. But Brian was the only one who seemed worked up about something, and didn't want to go back to the hotel. He grabbed a beer in one hand, chugged it straight from the bottle, and jumped on the packed crew bus. Even after arriving at the hotel, he didn't go inside—instead disappearing into the Sapporo night, beer bottle in hand. Serious, thoughtful Brian, who always went to bed early. He must've been really excited about something.

May 6th (Sun)

This was the final Sapporo performance, and the last day of the Japanese tour. The show that day was, arguably, the most enjoyable. I had heard the day before that they had been planning something special for the final day's performance, but I had no idea what. I watched intently, and then they did it: just as Don't Stop Me Now started, more than a dozen non-Japanese crew jumped onto the stage dressed in various elaborate costumes and danced wildly! They filled the entire stage. It was so much fun! You really had to see Queen's final performance. They even gave us an extra song for the encore. They started with the usual Jailhouse Rock. A Queen concert wouldn't be a Queen concert without this! At the end, paper streamers by set up by the Japanese crew hung down from the lighting truss, and balloons brought in by fans floated through the air. It was beautiful. A magnificent show, truly befitting the final day of the Japanese tour.

After finishing the equipment removal and returning to the hotel, I was suddenly hit with a wave of exhaustion. On TV, Hideki Saijo was performing Don't Stop Me Now with the exact same choreography as Young Man. Watching this seemingly contrived choreography, I realized just how subtly and skillfully Freddie calculated his own movements, and turned off the TV.

May 7th (Sun)

We took a flight from Sapporo to Tokyo's Narita Airport. They all boarded overnight flights: Freddie to Hong Kong, Roger and Brian to Hawaii, and John to London. As they parted ways, Pete Brown (who was going to manage his own band after this Japanese tour) was in tears, sad to see them go. "I understand the emptiness of parting, just like the Japanese", he said. I asked John about what was next for the band as we parted ways (he always seemed to be the guy to ask about these things out of the four of them), he said, "We'll be off for a while. We want to go to Germany in the autumn to record a new album, and we'd like to tour America next year. Then maybe return to Japan in the spring."

As I saw everyone off, exhausted, the faces of the band members came back to me. Freddie sang with a voice that sounded like he was struggling, as if he were forcing it out. Brian played his guitar sometimes roughly, sometimes tenderly. John silently played the bass, holding the whole band together. Roger muttered to himself while pounding away, as if cursing. They are all musicians the world can be proud to have. That's Queen.

If John keeps his promise, they'll be back on the Japanese stage soon. Until then, it's goodbye for now.

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