Queen "Queen On Fire - Live At The Bowl" DVD and song lyrics

Released 25 October 2004 as a double DVD set, and achieved at least 2 times Platinum status.
Length 103 minutes (disc 1) and 62 minutes (disc 2).

Produced by Simon Lupton and Rhys Thomas
Executive Producers: Brian May and Roger Taylor
Directed by Gavin Taylor
Audio produced for DVD by Justin Shirley-Smith and Kris Fredriksson
1982 interviews conducted and filmed by Rudi Dolezal and Hannes Rossacher
Vienna concert footage courtesy of ORF-E
Bonus features edited by Lucas Freidmann

Recorded at the Milton Keynes Bowl, England, on 5 June 1982.

This concert was also released as double album, and full lyrics are found on the album page. The DVD is virtually identical to the CD release, the only really noticeable differences are that Freddie's dialogue before 'Staying Power' (included at the end of Play The Game) is edited on the CD release, and during Brian's Guitar Solo, the DVD includes a longer delay when Brian has a problem with his guitar.

Both discs feature a short edit of 'We Will Rock You' as the menu loads, but the menus themselves simply include audience noise. The first disc menu allows you to play the entire concert, select a song, use the Queen Jukebox (which allows you to select upto 5 tracks to play), or change audio. The audio is available as either a standard stereo or 5.1 surround sound mix - for the surround sound, the vocals are more prominent through the front speakers than the rear, but there do not seem to be any other changes.

While the 'Flash' backing tape is played, the video features footage of the audience, the crew setting up the stage, and the band backstage. During the operatic section of 'Bohemian Rhapsody', there is footage of the original promo video as well as the lighting show.

Video footage of 'Staying Power' appeared on the 2003 DVD 'Greatest Video Hits II', as a preview of the DVD. However, it was edited slightly differently and contained some different camera shots. 'We Will Rock You (fast)' and 'Sheer Heart Attack' were later included on the Japanese 'Jewels II' CD as bonus video tracks, while 'Teo Torriatte' was included on the 'Greatest Hits In Japan' DVD.

The second DVD contains highlights from two other concerts - Seibu Lions Stadium, Tokyo, on 3 November 1982 (9 tracks, 25 minutes) and the Stadhalle, Vienna, on 12 May 1982 (4 tracks, 11 minutes), plus a photo gallery (with a live version of Calling All Girls, also from the Tokyo show), interviews recorded in Munich 1982 with Freddie (8 minutes) and Brian & Roger (11 minutes) and an interview with Brian & Roger recorded on the day of the concert (5 minutes), which has footage of 'Staying Power', 'Play The Game' and 'Under Pressure'.

The tour highlights from Tokyo were previously available on the 'Live In Japan' video, which was exclusive to the Japanese market. The three interviews include subtitles in seven different languages. The set was later re-released in the USA and Canada on 21 May 2013.

A 57 minute TV edit has also been broadcast, notably on Sky Arts in the UK, titled 'Live At Milton Keynes'. It starts with very basic titles in gold lettering, has new credits at the end, and loses 'Action This Day', Freddie's singalong, 'Dragon Attack', 'Now I'm Here (reprise)', 'Back Chat', 'Get Down, Make Love', Brian's guitar solo, 'Under Pressure', 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love', 'Another One Bites The Dust', 'Sheer Heart Attack' and the slow version of 'We Will Rock You'.

Brian May & Roger Taylor Interview, Milton Keynes 1982

Recorded at the Milton Keynes Bowl, Milton Keynes, England, on 5th June 1982. Length 4:25.
This feature includes excerpts of the live versions of 'Staying Power', 'Under Pressure' and 'Somebody To Love'.
Dialogue:
[Clip of 'Staying Power']

Interview: Roger, you've got a smashing turnout here, how does it feel to play in front of massive audiences like this?
Roger: Ah, it's a big thrill, he said, er, no it's great, I hope it goes well, I hope the rain stays, it is pretty good now, I think it's been close all day, I hope it goes well, yeah
[Clip of 'Staying Power']

Brian: Well I think this particular venue is probably gonna prove a thing which will develop, it's ideally suited, and it's gonna get better and better as it grows up I think, and as it acquires a reputation for happening, you know, it's a very nice place.
[Clip of 'Staying Power']

Brian: When the sun sets, the temperature zooms down and you have tuning problems and stuff like that, 'cos outdoor, outdoor gigs are fraught with all kinds of unexpected things, you know, the rain seems to have all gone
[Clip of 'Staying Power']

Roger: If you did the same thing all the time it'd be really boring, so we just er, we try and change and keep ourselves interested really, and hopefully other people. It doesn't always work.
Freddie (from the concert): Now, most of you know that we've got a, some new sounds out in the last week, and, ah, for what it's worth, um, we're gonna do a few songs in the ah funk/black category, whatever you call it. That doesn't mean we've lost our rock 'n' roll feel, OK? I mean, it's only a bloody record, people get so excited about these things, I mean um
Brian: Been sort of gradually building over the last ten years really so I hope we keep on building, that's all, and we just er, we sort of feel that we keep changing, and er, provided we get bored first then there's no problem, you know
[Clip of 'Play The Game']

Brian: There's certain things I look forward to really, because they're ah, they're nice to play, I look forward to 'Play The Game' in a way, because that's the signal in the set where you've done your leaping about and you've done your, you've made your statement on your entry and then you can settle down and start really playing something, 'cos there's plenty of time to think, and that's what I like, I like to er, to actually think as you go along, I think your, your head should be in front of your fingers, you know
[Clip of 'Play The Game']

Roger: You've got the old ones we've sort of lived with for years and years now, I'd say probably my current favourite is probably 'Under Pressure' I should think really
[Clip of 'Under Pressure']

Brian: We're not young lads of fifteen, you know, that's one of the things, you know, we er, we did our schooling and we went into it quite late, so we weren't about to be blown away as soon as we had a hit record, and er, it hasn't been overnight success since then, we've gradually built, so you don't really, to be honest you don't usually feel that much of a star, if you know what I mean, most of the time, it only hits you at, at strange little moments, if somebody, if you bump into somebody, or something, actually, in, in Leeds, where we were before this, I got a feeling of, of what a buzz the band created, which was, which made me quite nervous really, because I have some family up there and um, and you begin to realise what goes on around, and not just from your point of view. See, where we are we're quite insulated, we come in, I mean it's not always in a helicopter, but we come in, in our sort of car or whatever, and go on stage, and you feel it while it's on there, and then you're sort of protected, maybe you're over protected I don't know, but I think if you felt all the emotion that actually goes into it from both sides, you, you would really find it hard to handle
Roger: No, we're quite normal I think, it's just that we've been luckier than a lot of people, and er, we probably worked harder as well, um, I, I don't know, it's very difficult to say. We're bloody murder in real life
[Clip of 'Somebody To Love']

Freddie Mercury Interview, Munich 1982

Recorded in Munich in 1982. Length 8:04.
Dialogue:
Interviewer: Er, can you tell us, how is the tour going so far?
Freddie: It's going well, it's going very, very well, and er, it's getting better every day, you know, because I think it's a, it's a new tour, and we're learning a lot after every show, and I, I personally take a lot of, you know, do a lot of research after every, every show, to find out what's going, er, right, especially like the lights, we were talking about before, and to make sure that they're, 'cos I mean, they're very sophisticated lights, and they can do so much more, and I think every day I, I, I learn something, you know, ask the lighting man to do something new, depending, and also we're interjecting the show with new songs, so every time we do a new song we have to have a new light thing, so, I think I try, I ask him to try and do different things every day, so um, I don't know, I mean you've seen the shows before, but I don't know if you find them different, but I mean the light cues can be different, you know, forever, I mean you can have a new show every day if you wanted to
Interviewer: Actually, how long did you rehearse for this show, I mean it's very
Freddie: We rehearsed, yeah, we rehearsed for a week in Los Angeles, for two weeks, so, but basically it was all on technical things to make sure that the lights would work and even then we didn't really rehearse that much, and we didn't have time to rehearse the new songs, it was basically you know, trying out the lights, and also trying to introduce the new keyboard man, so we had to try and find out if the new songs were going to work with an extra musician, because we've never done that before, and er, so, most of the time was taken up by that, so we didn't have time to do the new songs really
[Break]

Interviewer: We recently spoke to Mack in Munich (Freddie: yeah) at Musicland Studios, um, what do you think of him? I mean you worked for quite a long time
Freddie: Oh he's, Mack is an absolute genius, absolute genius, I think er, I personally wouldn't, wouldn't want to work with anybody else, and if I was doing any solo projects or anything outside the format of Queen aswell, I would use him. What did he say about us?
Interviewer: He did, he said exactly the same of you
Freddie: Did he, oh that's good
Interviewer: Exactly the same, he says you, you want to do it quick, you know, very spontaneous
Freddie: Is that we he said, oh that's good, oh so it's, the rapport's good
Interviewer: So, um, it's now the tenth anniversary of the band officially (Freddie: yeah, yeah) um, is it hard today to, to last for ten years or
Freddie: Oh yes, I mean, I tell you, and touch wood, we've been very lucky and uh, I, must say, I, I didn't really think we were gonna last long, because I mean you never think about it that way, you don't get up every morning and think 'my God, is it gonna be over', you just carry on and um, come up with um, some fresh ideas and think about what to do, so it's like a big business thing, and um, as long as we don't take it too seriously. Earlier on, we used to take it very seriously, and I think it got a bit too serious, and I, I just thought to myself we should try and inject some fun into it, you know, so it's, so that you don't, you know, you don't get too serious and too moody about it, so you know, a lot of it, and I think sometimes that comes in, that goes through, gets into the songs aswell, you know, and get bit of fun in there and um
Interviewer: Does the way have changed how you are together as a band, I mean ten years ago you probably spent all the time together
Freddie: Very true, yes, it's sort of um, now we've learnt to accept each other instinctively, you know what I mean, we know it's a kind of job, it's like, and we come, come together for, which is a good thing, because if we stayed together all the time, we'd get on each other's nerves and get, there was a time when there was a lot of friction, friction, you know, where we felt, oh, but then we sort of ironed that out, and um, we just, you know, we just er, we, we argue a lot, we fight a lot, but in the end you know, what's, what's really, what really is the key feature is that we must come up with some product, some good stuff, so we know, and I think we've used an intelligent thing you know, we don't get too um, but it's easy to get very egotistical and say 'oh you know, I'm, I'm the greatest' and all that and 'I'm, I'm not getting', it's, it's quite a fight, it's, and it's not easy, it's not easy, because egos can run wild, and you know all kinds of things can happen, you have to kind of, you know you have to kind of keep them down a bit, and keep one foot on the ground you know, it's easy to sort of say 'I'm a big star, and I want everything', it's very easy
Interviewer: Do you think that the values in the rock music scene have changed a little bit since the late sixties, early seventies, maybe at that time the cliché of sex and drugs and rock 'n' roll was, was
Freddie: Yeah, I think you get various elements, always through it, there will always be, it's a kind of tradition, there will always be a change, because you need, the whole industry needs something like that, every now and again you get a new phase, and everybody, and then they get a bit too easy going, and then somebody new comes up, and then everybody who's come before says 'oh, we'd better make sure', and that's good, it's like getting a, a new, fresh injection, and I like that, it's, it's good competition, and you need that
[Break]

Interviewer: Rock music, your show is very, a very visual show, you know, is the visual element more important today in the rock music, or has it just developed?
Freddie: I think the kind of visual element is, it's always gonna have to be there, it's a, it's a form of entertainment you know, entertainment can take, and I think there's no way, and people are not, people want to be entertained in various ways, and one way I know they don't want to be entertained is, is for people to just come on and play their songs, because they can hear it on the records and go home, I think that's why people try different things, that's all, and a lot of, a lot of visual theatrics has always been, it's always been there, from any, any kind of theatre entertainment, like, I mean Gypsy Rose Lee, you know from stripper, I meant you've got to do something to strip or whatever, it's a kind of entertainment, so it's visual, you know, it's gotta be yeah, so visual theatrics will always be used. All the greatest acts have used it in one way or other, you, like Jimi Hendrix, or The Stones, or, you know, it has to be there, it's a form of entertainment, it's like plus, you do your music and then there's entertainment plus, and I sort of personally I just like doing that anyway, I'd hate to go on stage and just sit and sing my songs, I mean I just, I have to move, I dunno, it depends on each song, if there's an aggression in some song I have to show it
[Break]

Interviewer: Last question, when you look at The Stones, they have their twentieth anniversary this year
Freddie: Good Lord, is it twenty, twenty years, good luck to them
Interviewer: So, can you imagine to get to the same age with your band?
Freddie: What, twenty years, twenty years, I wouldn't, I wouldn't know, I really wouldn't, at this time I wouldn't know. I think it would be nice if people still buy our records and we still, if we still feel, it's the most important thing is for us to feel, you know, and I would hate to just do it um, despite, I mean just because we want to do it to sell records, or just to make money. If we weren't interested in it, I wouldn't do it, because at the moment I'm interested in doing this, if I lose that interest, I will go and do something else, because I feel I can do it, I like trying out different things, but at the moment there's a lot within Queen that we all can do, so one day I will say to myself, 'listen I have done enough with Queen', I will try and do something else, so I couldn't tell you whether that can happen tomorrow or in two years time, or another ten years, but, who knows, let's, let's wait and see
Interviewer: Thank you very much
Freddie: OK
Interviewer: Thank you
Freddie: Oh
Interviewer: Thank you very much, thank you very much
Freddie: Great, alright
Interviewer: Thank you

Brian May & Roger Taylor Interview, Munich 1982

Recorded in Munich in 1982, interviewed by Rudi Dolezal. Length 10:21.
Dialogue:
(Dialogue in German)
Rudi: OK, can you tell us how content are you so far with the tour and how it's going so far here in Europe, what are your impressions?
Brian: Oh, um, it's been very good, yes, we can't wait to get to Vienna, we will be hot by the time we get to Vienna, so watch out. It's been very good, we've sold loads of tickets, and er, we've had um, not many complaints, it's been good, very hot
Roger: Yes, we have a new light show, um, that we think will be interesting, it's been a long time since we've been er, to Austria, to Vienna, and er, it will be nice to get back, you've missed a couple of our last light shows, but this one I think is the best one we've had so far, so er, we're still working it in, by the time we get there it should be really working well
Rudi: It was very impressing, can you tell us how long you basically work on the, on, on the preparation for, before you put the stage show together like that?
Roger: About three minutes, no actually we, there's a lot of planning in the, on the technical stages first, and we see sort of drawings and which we sort of think 'that'll be good', and then they make models of, of the lights and things which we like, and we sort of work on it with our tour manager Gerry Stickells, and then they build the things in the end when we get to rehearsals, and then we try them out and see if they work
Brian: They're still being modified at the moment actually, because when this lot was first built, they found there were so many degrees of freedom, no-one could really control it, because you've seen these things, they're like animals almost, and they had, we had to do some modifications to the circuitry to make it so that one guy could actually control them a bit better, but they're very, they're very challenging because they can actually interact with the, with the performers, so we, we're just getting used to them as Roger says, it takes a while for them to get used to us and for us to get used to them, you know
Roger: Yeah, of course they're not, it's not standard equipment, it was equipment that we had specially designed for us and these are the only ones that exist anywhere in the world so, it's quite a, you know, it's quite interesting to work with new kinds of lighting
Rudi: It's now officially the, the tenth year of, of the band, do you think that nowadays it's very difficult to stay together for such a long time as a band?
Roger: Yes
Brian: It is hard, yes, it's a, it's very essential to stay together, I mean you, the first essential of being a successful group is that you have to stay together really, in a way, it sounds stupid, but that is something that a lot of people forget, you know, some people get to a certain point and then think they can do it on their own, and most probably you can't, and the only way we do manage to stay together I think is to keep the balance between us and, and know when to leave each other alone, we're four very different people and, and the differences become more apparent as time goes on. So we just kind of back off each other and, and let each other have their, their head in certain directions
Roger: And, it's, it's a good question in a way because it's, it's a very simple but basic truth, that a lot of bands don't seem to realise, and they do let their egos run away with each other, and after they have some success they tend to think 'I'm too good for the group' or something, and they go off, and they, they want to leave, and they break up and you know, and it's very important not to do that, I think, and very few bands really manage to stick together for a long time, it's a good thing really
Rudi: Do you think that maybe also the way that bands are together changed a little bit like maybe, I don't know, ten years ago you were together all the time and nowadays it's more like meeting each other for recording and preparation and then everybody has time off, is it more that, the image of the band, or the way the band works has changed a little bit to the sixties or something?
Brian: It's difficult to say
Roger: It's difficult, because I mean when we started off we, we were sort of virtually almost living together, but now we're working, and we weren't working that very, you know, very much, because nobody wanted us, and, but now although we don't, obviously we don't live together, um, we all live separately, but we're working so much we see almost as much of each other as we did really in the early days, so it's different, but we still see just as much of each other really, it's quite sickening actually
Brian: It's disgusting
Rudi: Um, what can you tell us about the new album, 'Hot Space', it will be out very soon here in the, in the market, ah, after having heard it once, we can all say that it's again different, do you think it's something characteristic about your band that you're not always continuing the way it was on the last album or the last tour? Can you tell us something about that?
Brian: Yes, we do feel that I think we tend to get bored with what we're doing before everyone else does, which is a good thing, so having done a particular kind of music, we tend to say 'OK, done, let's try something different', and for this particular album we had a lot of time, we gave ourselves intentionally about nine months to do it in, and during that time we recorded many more songs than we needed and we just kind of threw out everything which sounded like we'd done it before, so everything on the album is, is very different really, I think some people will be quite shocked
Roger: Well, not all of it
Brian: Well most
Roger: I mean there are some things (Brian: it is) shut up, no, there are, there are, there are odd things which sort of go back a bit (Brian: yes) you know, which, it's not all brand new, but a lot of it is very different for us, I think, wouldn't you agree?
Brian: Yeah, yeah. Sorry, what was the question? The tour yeah the, the tours stay exactly the same only better (laughter)
Rudi: Er, we just interviewed Mack er, (Roger: who?) who was working with you (Brian: Mack, Mack?), working with you for a long time of, for some time now, what's your impression on him, what do you think of him?
Brian: He's German. Oh, it is very excellent, and he's, he was a big shot in the arm for us in the studio, because we'd just got to a stage in the studio where we thought we knew it all, in a way, after what, eight years (Roger: yeah) and we had our own methods of doing things, we always miked things up the same, and although the music was changing, the sounds were a little bit sort of static, and Mack really came along and changed everything, and he said 'look you don't do it like this, we can try it a different way', and we had little, bit of sort of friction, it was hard to work at first, but having got over the initial stages, we now have a much bigger scope, and I think we're getting much better sounds than we ever did.
Roger: Yeah, it's fantastic actually, he's taught us a, a good, a way of being simple again, if you know what I mean, and er, using the studio more efficiently, we really get on very well, we have a very good working relationship, he's a very patient man
Brian: He's very good, yes, and probably, the best guy, I mean he has the best drum sound in the whole world I'd say, he has a, really a new technique with drums (Roger: yeah, very good, very good) which is hard to pin down, it just sort of happens, at least it appears to just happen, although
Roger: Whereas everybody else uses twelve microphones, Mack will, will use four microphones and get a better sound, you know, which, which must be good
Mack: So do you think it's, there's something like, also the sound engineer has a creative, creative, er
Brian: Oh yes, oh yeah
Roger: Oh def-, yes, yes, definitely, yeah, yeah. Yes he, he thinks the same as us aswell, now, we think very much alike
Brian: Yes, we've become a good unit really. In fact listening to, we think listening to our old records, that the sound really sounds old fashioned, in a way, compared to what we're doing now, and you know, a lot of the sort of standard American way to record groups sounds kind of old fashioned to us now (Roger: yeah) there, there is a better way of doing it, everything doesn't have to be EQ'd and made sort of over sharp, things can cut through with their natural sound, sounds like a load of bullshit doesn't it, but it actually works, it's very simple and it's, it sounds good, what more can you say
Roger: (Unknown dialogue) Mack
Rudi: What do you actually prefer, working in the studio or being on the road, what appeals to you better or more?
Brian: Being on the road
Roger: Yeah, I think me also, being on the road, if it's going good, you know. It gets very boring and it gets very tiring, you can see we're very flushed and tired at the moment, um, it is tiring on the road, but it's, it's more fun in a way, because it's more stimulating, you get more feedback reaction. The studio is only, it's, lots, long periods of boredom, and then just short periods of excitement when you feel you've done something that's good and new, and there's so much work goes into each small thing, it's difficult
Rudi: Do you sometimes, it's difficult to sing, bringing the studio sound on stage?
Roger: Yeah, always
Rudi: And how do you, do you work with that?
Roger: We don't really do that do we?
Brian: No, that goes back right to the beginning, we always said that we don't really want to re-create the records on stage, we want the stage to be an experience in itself, and the songs are the same, but if they seem to demand a different treatment on stage then they just get a different treatment. We've made one concession on this tour and that's that we have a keyboard player, um, helping out the back line, just filling in some parts which we couldn't do, and that's helped a little bit, in a way, but generally speaking, if you'd re-create a record on stage and nothing else, um, we think that's, really hardly worth doing, because it's just like, you might as well play the tapes through the P.A, you know, so we like to make the, the stage performance something special, which is never seen again
Roger: It's a different medium, you know, it has to be treated differently, 'cos the stage thing is like an experience, and it should be an exciting experience, well for us it, we feel it should be an exciting visual and an audial experience, and just to go on and try and sound exactly like the records is a mistake I think, so we don't try and do that, we try and get some good feeling, and atmosphere, and excitement, and ambience I suppose
Brian: Good let out, isn't it?
Roger: So it's a different, it's a different approach, you know
Rudi: Do you think that the visual part gets more and more important nowadays?
Brian: Not more and more important really
Roger: No more than it ever has been, I think it's always been important, but people have spent a long time getting it right, really, you know
Brian: We always thought it was, really, when we started off it was kind of unfashionable to, to think that way, and then it become fashionable, and then with the sort of punk and new wave it became unfashionable, I guess now it's kind of fashionable again, these things go in cycles, do they not?

Queen On Fire - Live At The Bowl

Another One Bites The Dust

We Will Rock You

We Are The Champions

God Save The Queen

Brian May & Roger Taylor Interview, Milton Keynes 1982

Freddie Mercury Interview, Munich 1982

Brian May & Roger Taylor Interview, Munich 1982