Queen - on Fire: Live at the Bowl [DVD]

...people get so excited about these things!!'

So said Freddie Mercury from the stage at Milton Keynes Bowl, whilst reassuring his audience that just because they had taken a more 'funk' direction with their then most recent album 'Hot Space', it did not mean that they had suddenly turned their back on rock 'n' roll, which the audience present that night were pleased to hear!

The DVD release of this concert features the complete set for the first time, previously the Channel 4 special was all that was ever seen. With several then new songs making the set, you actually see Roger Taylor use his new Simmons drums on these numbers (personally I hated those things!) - in the edited version you could have been forgiven for thinking they were for show! Freddie's reassurance to his audience is backed up by a performance high in volume, and the playing of the fast version of 'We Will Rock You' at the start signalled their intent to do just that.

The set played in this show is sufficiently different from the Wembley '86 DVD to make this release worthwhile, of course songs which have since become regarded as favourites, such as 'Radio Ga Ga' and 'A Kind of Magic' were yet to be written, and so here we get a gloriously OTT performance from Freddie during 'Somebody To Love' and some high camp during the wonderfully politically incorrect 'Fat Bottomed Girls' (they would never get away with that nowadays!)

Freddie on this performance both looks and sounds in fantastic shape; his voice in superb condition and you never feel he is singing 'within himself' - a night when he was indeed 'on fire'. The 'Hot Space' material does come over well live, and trivia fans will notice that John Deacon swaps his bass for a Telecaster guitar during 'Staying Power' (bass synth was played by keyboard player Morgan Fisher, this tour marked the first time they had used an extra musician live). The sharp-eyed will also notice Brian May use the John Birch replica of his famous guitar on some numbers; he smashed it in frustration shortly after and has only recently had the guitar - still in bits - returned to him!

The concert filming does not use the multitude of cameras that was used for the Wembley show, and so you do not get that many 'cuts' between band members; consequently you do still feel you're watching a video rather than feeling part of the audience at the show. For the time however, it was well put together and the band were sufficiently impressed with director Gavin Taylor to work with him again at Wembley. The footage has been considerably enhanced for the release and although 'dark' in places (remember they were not using their normal battery of lights) stands up well. Once again, they have included a DTS soundtrack for those suitably equipped to access it.

Fans will be pleased to note that Brian May's solo includes the moment where his guitar cut out on him - you can hear clearly the roar from the crowd when he got it back on!

The second disc contains all the 'extras'; some footage from Austria and Japan is included. The Japan footage features a superb rendition of 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love' with an extended piano solo, even Freddie joins in at one point! Also featured is a rare interview with Freddie, discussing their ten years together at that point, and he is musing over whether they would last another ten years. As we all know, that did not quite happen.

To conclude then: the devoted fans will snap this up but the casual fan will also find plenty to enjoy here; the playing and singing performances are excellent and although the Wembley DVD features arguably more favourably regarded songs, more thorough coverage of the show and the spectacular setting of Wembley itself, this concert on live performance edges it.

Another well put together, good value live DVD. My thanks to Brian and Roger for releasing it.

For Queen obsessives, the advent of remastered CD and DVD has served to keep the - ahem - 'magic' alive long after the demise of the band itself as a creative unit. The latest release is this long-awaited Milton Keynes Bowl concert, recorded June 1982, on the European leg of the Hot Space tour. A heavily-edited film of the show was first used, improbably enough, on Channel 4's alternative music show The Tube in 1983; that edit has since featured regularly on VH1. Individual songs have also appeared in video montages and compilations. Now, after the success of the Live at Wembley Stadium DVD, this is the MK show in its entirety - warts 'n' all - and very welcome it is too.

Previous 'live' offerings from Queen too often suffered from heavy handed editing, remixing and general interference, sometimes due to the limitations of technology at the time but more often in a mistaken attempt at quality assurance. The nadir is 1986's Live Magic which employs a ghastly mixture of omission and (unbelievably) song editing to fit a two-hour show onto LP. A close second is the video of 1985's Rock In Rio triumph: Brian May's guitar is hopelessly buried in the mix and the overall band sound is dull and blunted. Now, as this DVD demonstrates, even on basic home equipment, digital remastering brings a raw freshness to the sound as well as sharpness and colour to the picture.

After the pomp and grandeur of two world tours between 1977 and 1979, their stage show by 1982 had adopted a pared-down, 'hot and spacey' feel to match their changing musical direction. The grandiose 'Crown' lighting rig in 1977-78 and the 'Pizza Oven' roof of lights that spectacularly adorns the Live Killers sleeve were replaced by relatively modest, moving banks of lights and powerful spots. Musically, while the new songs from the sharply criticised Hot Space album undoubtedly benefit from a live work-out, this viewer well remembers their muted greeting by the crowd at the previous week's Elland Road concert.

However, Queen always delivered onstage and this DVD magnificently captures the power of Queen live. Freddie is in particularly mischievous form, teasing and energising the crowd ("are you ready...are you ready brothers and sisters?"). The consummate showman bounds across the stage and athletically utilises gangways incorporated into the stage set to project the band in larger venues. Though Freddie did not personally write a Queen blockbuster after 1979's Crazy Little Thing Called Love, he was still fit and lithe, aged 35 in 1982, the singing voice strong and assured. Only later did a combination of wear and tear, age and smoking lead to difficulties at the end of long shows and tours. Before AIDS (first identified in 1983), it is also interesting to note the overtly sexual nature of much of his onstage banter, strutting and posing.

The performance - and the filming - is not quite as polished as 1986 and casual buyers might begin their collection with the aforementioned Live At Wembley Stadium DVD. It was 1985's Live Aid that truly elevated Queen to superstar status. In 1982, the set list still contained obligatory new-album material and hard-rocking (but relatively uncommercial) stage favourites like We Will Rock You (fast) and Sheer Heart Attack. For the Queen connoisseur, however, there is much to enjoy. Particular highlights include Somebody To Love: a singalong favourite and live staple from 1976, it was inexplicably left off the Live Killers LP and finally dropped in 1986. If Queen's finest hour (or, rather, 17 minutes) at Live Aid can be criticised, it is surely the inclusion of Hammer To Fall at the expense of Somebody To Love.

Another fine Milton Keynes moment is the gloriously un-PC Fat Bottomed Girls. Unfortunately, a raucously out-of-tune scream by Freddie has been polished out - but at least problems with Brian May's lead during his earlier solo spot have been left in; anoraks truly treasure such moments! This tour is also noteworthy for fans as the first to feature additional (off-stage) keyboards to supplement the band's sound. Brian's 'chat' before Love Of My Life is also somewhat unusual. Dedicating the song to people "who have given up their lives for what they believe", it is a reference to the Falklands War that dominated the headlines that spring and summer: Queen were in an acutely difficult position as they had played in Argentina the previous year, were selling phenomenally well over there and had just released a single in English and Spanish - Las Palabras De Amor.

Overall, Live At Milton Keynes Bowl is another top quality Queen DVD. What delights await next Christmas? Paris 1979? Houston or Earl's Court 1977? Hyde Park 1976, please.

I only got into Queen in a big way with their Greatest Hits release a couple of years before this concert was shown on The Tube on Channel 4. By the time Hot Space was released I was convinced Queen were the best rock act on the planet, and I would have given anything to see them live. Having missed out on their Leeds concert I was absolutely beside myself when I discovered their Milton Keynes show was going to be on telly! But I wasn't prepared for how good the show was actually going to be. I've had my VHS recording of this (edited) concert for 21 years now, and only recently got it backed up onto DVD. I must have seen it several hundred times. Of all the concerts I have on DVD (and I have some good ones) this is by far the most energetic, the most fun, the tightest show I have seen. Maybe I'm biased because of the memories, but Queen On Fire showcases Queen at their absolute best (Live At Wembley is better known but nowhere near as good as this).