#groenoordhallen

[freddiemercurylegendabovelegends]

Today, on June 19th, 1986 - Queen Story!

Leiden, Netherlands, Groenoordhallen

'Magic Tour'

Third and final show in Leiden

📸 Source Photo ➡ dumpert.nl

[longawaymay]

𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗲: April 25, 1982

𝗖𝗶𝘁𝘆: Leiden, Netherlands

𝗩𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲: Groenoordhallen

𝗣𝗵𝗼𝘁𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗵𝗲𝗿: Rob Verhorst

[rushingheadlong]

Ask and ye shall receive!

These are far from being all of his performances because tumblr really didn't like the size of the full compilation but I think this is still pretty representative of how the song was performed over the years!

You can hear the "a man of distinction" really clearly in 1973. By early 1974 Freddie seemed to be dropping his volume on "man" and by late 1974 the line is completely adjusted to drop the "man" almost entirely.*

On the other side of things, he sang "everyone I see" consistently throughout the 1970s** and only brought the "for every guy-rl I see" line in for the Magic Tour.

Full list of source performances and more notes are below the read more!

Sources:

September 13, 1973: Live at the Golders Green Hippodrome, London, UK

April 28, 1974: Live at Exposition Hall, Portland, ME, USA

November 19, 1974: Live at the Rainbow Theatre, London, UK

December 24, 1975: Live at Hammersmith Odeon, London, UK

February 6, 1976: Live at Beacon Theatre, New York City, NY, USA

March 13, 1977: Live at the Seattle Center Coliseum, Seattle, WA, USA

April 28, 1978: Live at the Deutschlandhalle, Berlin, Germany

March 1, 1979: Live at the Pavillon de Paris, Paris, France

June 12, 1986: Live at the Groenoordhallen, Leiden, Netherlands

Notes:

The March 1, 1979 performance was the last time Big Spender was performed live until the June 12, 1986 performance.

*I've seen some people suggest that Freddie is singing "woman" instead of "man". There are some performances where it sounds like that, but Freddie's enunciation isn't the best on that line (likely on purpose) and it's hard to tell. Regardless of whether he dropped a word or replaced it with a mumbled "woman", the difference between that and clearly singing "man" like in 1973 is still clear.

**It's possible that Freddie is singing "every guy-rl" in 1979 but my hearing isn't the best and I'm not certain on that.

(Tagging @idontknowhowthisworked and @plainxte since those were your tags!)

You know something I don't think I've ever seen people talk about is how Freddie changed the lyrics for Big Spender.

Because in case you don't know, all original versions of the song are sung by women - and it is made very clear that they are singing to men:

The minute you walked in the joint I could see you were a man of distinction A real big spender [....] So let me get right to the point: I don't pop my cork for every man I see Hey, big spender Spend a little time with me

Probably not too surprising, then, that when Queen performed this song in 1974 Freddie had to do a bit of a gender-switch on it:

Though, it would probably be more accurate to say that Freddie made this song gender-neutral because he didn't change it to be about a woman. He eliminated the first use of "man" entirely and then sang "I don't pop my cork for everyone I see" (instead of "every man").

And honestly there's probably a whole dissertation you could write just about those changes alone, but what I really love is when Queen brought the song back in 1986 and Freddie changed the lyrics again:

Because yes he still dropped the first "man" but the "everyone" is changed and Freddie instead sang "every guy" with just the barest hint of a "-rl" sound at the end to give him plausible deniability if anyone asked about it.

So much of Freddie's music speaks to his experiences as a queer man but, because of the nature of the times in which he lived, he couldn't always be directly open about that fact. Most of his love songs are intentionally vague, and he sang about "somebody" or "you" to avoid having to use gendered terms as much as possible.

Freddie singing "I don't pop my cork for every GUYrl I see" wasn't just an adjustment to the original lyrics, it was a specific change from how Freddie had sang it before in order to make it more gay in a way that he could rarely be with his own music, and that is what I adore about this. It's such a little thing, but it gives such a unique insight into how Freddie balanced his sexuality and his stardom, and how the relationship between those two changed over the nearly 12 years between these performances.

[twixnmix]

Ike & Tina Turner during the Startruckin’ 75 tour at Groenoordhallen in Leiden, Netherlands on August 14, 1975.

[natromanxoff]

Queen live at Groenoordhallen in Leiden, Netherlands - June 19, 1986 (Part-1)

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As evidenced by this early poster, the third night was added due to ticket demand.

The support act, a German band called Craaft, didn't last long because they were booed off the stage. When it was announced that they were going to play their last song, the audience cheered.

Freddie, after Queen's second song: "Hello! We're back again!" Like he did last week, he then asks the audience to sing their football song for him. They happily comply, during which Freddie says, "Nice one."

His potent delivery of the second chorus of Is This The World We Created is the closest he'd ever come to replicating the magic of the studio version.

Brian May is in a creative mood during Bohemian Rhapsody, as the second half of his solo is completely off the charts.

This Dutch article (submitted by Raf Foubert) references this show, and was clearly written by a big fan of the band.

The Dutch promoter who booked these shows later stated how he regretted not doing a stadium concert in 1986, instead of 3 nights at this (comparably small) venue in Leiden.

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Part-2

[debdarkpetal]

Freddie live on stage on the European 'Magic' tour at Groenoordhallen in Leiden, Holland on 11 June 1986. Photo by Rob Verhorst.

[chaotichedonist]

John Deacon performing on stage at Groenoordhallen, Lieden, Netherlands

20 September 1984

By Rob Verhorst

[one-year-of-love-deacon-mercury]

#UnDiaComoHoy 19 de junio de 1986 #Queen se presentaba con el "Magic Tour " en Groenoordhallen, Leiden, Holanda.

Banda soporte: Inxs, Craaft.

Asistencia : 12800 personas.

[freddiemercurylegendabovelegends]

Today, on April 24th, 1982 - Queen Story!

Leiden, Netherlands, Groenoordhallen

'Hot Space European Tour'

Queen on board the train from Leiden to Amsterdam after gig - Queen received Gold and Silver awards for "Greatest Hits" album on the NS (Nederlandse Spoorwegen) train

📸 Photo by © Rob Verhorst

[longawaymay]

𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗲: November 27, 1980

𝗖𝗶𝘁𝘆: Leiden, Netherlands

𝗩𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲: Groenoordhallen

𝗣𝗵𝗼𝘁𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗵𝗲𝗿: Rob Verhorst

[freddiemercurylegendabovelegends]

Leiden, November 1980 - Queen Award Gold Discs for 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love' (taken from 'The Game' album)

📸 Photo by Rob Verhorst

👉 November 27th, 1980 - Queen Story!

Queen played the Groenoordhallen, Leiden, The Netherlands, during 'The Game' Tour

[freddiemercurylegendabovelegends]

Today - April 25th, 1982 - Queen Story!

Leiden, Netherlands, Groenoordhallen

'Hot Space' European Tour

[freddiemercurylegendabovelegends]

Today, on April 24th, 1982 - Queen Story!

Leiden, Netherlands, Groenoordhallen

'Hot Space European Tour'

📸 Credit Tim de Scally

[natromanxoff]

Queen live at Groenoordhallen in Leiden, Netherlands - June 19, 1986 (Part-2)

The first two pictures were taken by Pim Nauta, and submitted by Ducksoup.

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Part-1

[natromanxoff]

Queen live at Groenoordhallen in Leiden, Netherlands - June 11, 1986 (Part-2)

Pics 4 through 10 were taken by Tim de Scally, and pic 3 was snapped by David van Dijk.

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Fan Stories

“This concert was the only Queenconcert I went to see. I was 16 years old at that time and we (my girlfriend, my best friend and his girl) didn't get to see a big concert like that until that day. We got hold of some tickets and went to Leiden. When the bus arrived in Leiden the doors were just opening, so I fogot all about my spare ticket. We rushed in and got right at the front of the stage. My girlfriend and myself went a little dizzy when after standing staight up and waiting for one and a half hours for the support-act. Like hundred guys were pushing us against the fences in front of the stage. We got out the crowd and found a better place just behind the jumping and pushing people (approx. 10 meters from the front). I have a good memory of details, in contrary to my friend, so when we talk about the concert I can recall a lot. This was almost 17 years ago . After seen so much of Queen material during the later years and having no-one to confirm things, I sometimes doubted the acurracy of my memories. But the bootleg recording is the proof for me! The support-act was INXS. Never heard of... The whole crowd was singing "We want Queen" between their songs. At a moment Michael Hutchins got a banana thrown at his feet. After their last song Michael thanked the audience and went of stage... A very loud cheer from the Queen fans followed. This was the moment we were waiting for! Queen was coming! At least we thought... After standing on the concrete for another whole hour the lights faded. The lightingset was put in a low-height position, the stage was being filled with smoke, and everybody was singing the football-anthem thing: Ole - olehe - ole!!! etc. Suddely the loud synth beginning of One Vision! We went mad at that point. Precizely after the smoke and the lights were high above the stage, Brian hits his first chords. Out of nowhere the band was there! I think I lost my voice in those first minutes. As we can hear on the cd's, Freddie asked us:" What was it you were singing? That football song..." So we did it all over again, but twice as loud as before. "Add a beat to it..." Roger was trying to find the beat to it, Brian and John were looking for the chords. The Groenoordhallen in Leiden is indoors with lousy accoustics and the crowd was getting to enthousiastic so it didn't work. I also recall Freddie having a beer. He asked someone in the front: "Want to have a beer, my dear?" He did give it to that person. "Pass it around, there is enough for everyone!" he joked. Since that day everytime I hear the beginning of One Vision I go back to 1986. At that time Friends Will Be Friends was in the dutch charts. It was never one of my fav.'s but it will remind me of the concert. The videoclip had a bit of the same atmoshere. I did see Brian Solo twice (Rotterdam and Utrecht) later, it was excellent but did not have as much impact on me as the Queen concert did...” - Kees Schurink

“I remember I was 12 years old and playing piano. I had study for Bohemian Rhapsody and my piano teacher told me that we go to the concert in Leiden. I was so young and was still attending the basic school. The only thing I remember was the taste of beer (for the fisrt time in my life) and the great light show and the unbelievable hard noise. Just remember I was 12 years old. What I also will remember was the fact that my piano teacher told me that he had a feeling that it was the last time we ever saw Queen. Goddamn he was right. I know that INXS were playing. We were talking about them and wondered where they come from. It's still a little scary that both singers of Queen and INXS are dead. Now it is 2002 and I live near Het Museumplein in Amsterdam. It is raining and on the radio I hear that Queen is coming to perform. My piano teacher (I stopped lessons when I was 16) called me and told me the news. So I gave it a shot and went to check it out. I heard one song, two songs, three songs and then I was walking away of this shameless show. It wasn't great: it was bad. John wasn't there, Freddie wasn't there. And Roger is a great background singer but not a lead singer. Man, how bad it was. Shameless. never again, please!!!” - Cees Niestuin

Part-1

[natromanxoff]

Queen live at Groenoordhallen in Leiden, Netherlands - June 11, 1986 (Part-1)

(x)

This is the first of ten Magic tour shows to be held indoors (with Brussels, Munich, Zürich, and Vienna being the other cities).

Before the show begins, the audience sing a Dutch football song.

After the second song, Freddie is dripping with energy, shouting, "How are you bunch of cocks?" The audience then begin to sing their football song again upon Freddie's request, and the band join in, much to the delight of everyone on hand. They would sing the football song a few more times tonight, and at the two Leiden concerts in the near future.

Freddie delivers what is undoubtedly his definitive live version of A Kind Of Magic tonight, while Brian adds some very tasty guitar lines in the extended end section. Then, after a lengthy and adventurous vocal exchange with the audience, Freddie simply says, "Beautiful."

After Under Pressure, he tells the jubilant crowd, "Without a doubt, you must be the best singers around, really." He goes on, "I don't say... oh, you want a beer, darlings?" He complies and hands it to someone in the front row. "Don't drop the fucking thing! Pass it around, you bugger. There's enough for everybody."

Roger wants to go into the breakdown of Another One Bites The Dust a bit too soon, but realizes that the jam is continuing onward. At the same time, Freddie insists, "Keep going!"

The impromptu sounds more like the 1985 versions tonight, and it would generally be played like this for the remainder of the tour. Naturally, since it is an improvisation, it will have its differences from night to night.

Brian has a bit of trouble with the chording towards the end of the first verse of Now I'm Here.

The audience sing along to Love Of My Life at an astounding volume, as per the Live Killers version they have all heard. An audience member even adds "Beautiful" after the first verse, just as Freddie did on the live album at that spot.

After he gets to the piano to start Bohemian Rhapsody, Freddie makes the first of many chilling comments on this tour about his health (the benefits of hindsight make it seem so, anyway): "This is what happens when you get too old. Your fucking energy runs out half way through the set!"

Freddie, before Crazy Little Thing Called Love: "You know what this guitar means, right? It can only mean one song because it's all I know on this damn guitar. But... let's try and do it."

Friends Will Be Friends is played for the first time at this show, and it is placed between We Will Rock You and We Are The Champions, something which surely surprises people who have seen Queen on previous tours. For these two nights in Leiden (contrary to the well-known Wembley and Budapest versions) the band perform the complete song. Freddie struggles a bit on the final "Friends Will Be Friends" of each chorus, as he has pushed his voice to its limit all evening. The band have trouble figuring out how to end the song, resulting in plenty of choruses before they finally lead into We Are The Champions.

The b/w shots are from an amateur photographer named "Ruud." The rest of the first set were taken by Arne van der Zande; prints of his fine work are available at roeldijkstra.nl.

Pro pics can be seen at http://www.spaarnestadphoto.nl (thanks to Raf Foubert for the link).

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Part-2