List of Queen concert tours
Their large sound systems, lighting rigs, innovative pyrotechnics and extravagant costumes often gave shows a theatrical nature.This influenced Queen's appearance at Live Aid, where the 72,000-person crowd at Wembley Stadium would sing loudly and clap their hands in unison.Many of their future trademarks first appeared in these early shows, although some could be traced back to the members' previous bands and artistic outlets (e.g., Smile, Ibex later renamed as Wreckage, and Sour Milk Sea).The embryonic Queen played numerous gigs in and around London in the early seventies, but evidence suggests that its first performance was on 27 June 1970 at Truro in England.Here, the band was able to hone its on-stage presentations in front of large crowds, try out different songs and arrangements, and gain experience with state-of-the-art light and sound systems.In March, the band commenced on their first headlining tour of the United Kingdom to promote their new album Queen II, and then embark on their first trip to the USA.The band paid more attention to their look on stage and employed the services of Zandra Rhodes to design some of their costumes, such as Freddie Mercury and Brian May's white and black wingsuits.The band were soon back on the road and commenced their second tour as the headlining act, with nineteen concerts at eighteen different venues around the UK.The band planned to return to the United States in late 1975 to play arena shows, however these were all cancelled, most likely due to Queen wanting to distance themselves from Trident and switching managers to John Reid.After the Jazz tour had ended, Queen played a show at the Saarbrücken Open Air festival in West Germany, at Ludwigsparkstadion on 18 August 1979.Initially proposed to be shot at the Madison Square Garden, the band moved shooting to the Montreal Forum in Canada due to the audience being louder than the monitors there.[7] When filming was occurring, Saul Swimmer wanted the band to choreograph their act and wear the same costumes on both nights, so he could switch between the footage at will.The final occasion where all remaining members of Queen performed on stage was in January 1997 at Paris in France for the world premiere of Bejart Ballet For Life.Following Freddie Mercury's death and John Deacon's retirement, May and Taylor continued to make sporadic live appearances in addition to their long-term collaboration with Paul Rodgers.