Queen Live at Chicago 3/8
Light Music Magazine, May 1975
Queen storms America!
I left Tokyo one evening in March to go see Queen, a band that had been praised by Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin and was experiencing a huge surge of popularity in Japan, perform live in America. Having heard of their great success at Avery Fisher Hall in New York, I arrived in still-chilly Chicago at 6 PM, eagerly awaiting the arrival of Queen and their entourage the following afternoon.This was Queen's third US tour. Their previous tours had all been thwarted by unforeseen circumstances, such as band members' illnesses. Therefore, despite the great success of their records, their true potential remained largely unknown. Queen, recognized as a top-tier band in both talent and popularity in the UK, and having garnered a passionate fanbase in Japan, had staked everything on a long, challenging, important two-and-a-half month long US tour that began in February. Luckily, their comeback concert in New York garnered them more critical acclaim than their previous performances, thanks to the confident stage presence of their leader [sic] and lead vocalist, Freddie Mercury, and the guitar work of Brian May, who had recovered from illness.
Unlike in Japan, American rock concerts don't have flashy advertisements or billboards—they're only announced very simply through radio and underground newspapers. Currently, America is in the depths of a recession, and there are few people walking the streets. On top of that, it was incredibly cold. Because of this, I started to worry whether the Queen concert was really going to have energy in this town. The venue was the Aragon Ballroom, located near an overpass about a 20 minute drive Northeast from the Lakeside Hotel.
Four Men that Even Other Men Fell in Love With
On the day of the performance, as if to blow away all the anxieties I had had up until then, thousands of young people had gathered to line up outside of this historic hall by 5 PM even though the doors didn't open until 7. The hall itself was built in 1927, during the heyday of the Chicago gang wars, led by the infamous Al Capone. The fact that the young quartet Queen were performing there after coming all the way from England felt significant. I couldn't help but think it was a perfect fit.The soundcheck, which began at 5 PM, was conducted with meticulous care. Freddie and Brian, in particular, were so thorough that they seemed almost overly meticulous in their repeated checks. This was the first time I'd seen Queen perform onstage and the four of them were even more charming than I'd seen in pictures or heard about. Freddie has buck teeth, which is unusual for a European, but he has sharp eyes and perfectly-executed movements—not small or jerky, but sharp, angular, broad sweeps—and even though he may look severe in photos, in reality he has a perfectly sculpted and deeply attractive face.
Brian is even taller than I expected, probably around 190 cm [6'2"], but he looks even taller because of how slender he is. His gentle and intelligent face, always smiling, makes even me, a man, feel a flutter in my heart. When he comes to Japan, he's sure to cause quite a stir, I thought to myself.
Drummer Roger Taylor is of average build and height, with a truly charming smile and an idol-like face. He might just be the most popular member in Japan, I don't know.
And John Deacon gently kept the leader Freddie and the other two, Brian and Roger, in check. It was the first time I had ever encountered such a charming and well-balanced quartet.
A Truly Magnificent Performance
But let's stop talking about looks here and move on to the important part: the concert. Queen's last US tour was with Mott the Hoople, but just one year later Queen was headlining their own tour here, with two hard rock groups (one was the recording group Kansas) as their opening acts.Queen appeared onstage around 10:30 PM to a tape of their song Procession, the four members dancing out onto the brightly lit stage as it ended. The crowd of over 7,000 people rose to their feet. As they began their hit song Now I'm Here, the excited audience rose to their feet and pushed further and further to the front of the stage. This kind of scene is common in Japan as well, but Queen's performance was so exciting, especially considering their somewhat lower record rankings compared to the UK and Japan, that I almost forgot to turn on the cassette recorder!
Songs from Queen I and Queen II were played one after the other, and the lighting system was similar to that used at Yes's Japanese concerts, with the timing being absolutely perfect. Freddie, elegantly dressed in a white satin jumpsuit, moved around the stage with a microphone stand that he had slightly shortened, sometimes wielding it like a saber, sometimes wielding it like a rifle. It gave the image of a fresh and innocent vocalist, different from Robert Plant or Rod Stewart.
Brian was wearing a frilly blouse with black trousers, bending his tall frame to play with intense energy. His guitar work, which he says is inspired by Jimi Hendrix, uses nine Vox amplifiers to produce a truly beautiful sound. The dynamic rhythm section supporting these two, contrary to their cute looks, gave off a genuine British hard rock tradition.
The grand drama concluded with In the Lap of the Gods, where a smoke machine is used to release white smoke and the four musicians perform a magnificent piece amidst it. When they reappeared for the encore, they performed Modern Times Rock'n'Roll and Jailhouse Rock with Queen flair, thrilling the packed audience, and their entire set ended a little after midnight.
After this performance, I interviewed Freddie, and he confidently told me that the Japanese shows would feature a fantastic two-hour performance, including songs such as Killer Queen and The Seven Seas of Rhye.
