Monday 31 May 2010

Thanks to queensongs.info: this explains which songs were played when...

Saturday 28th March 1970: Sour Milk Sea play at Wardour Street, London, and break up afterwards, leaving Freddie without a band.

Saturday 9th May 1970: Smile play at the Imperial College in Kensington, London. That'd be their last concert. Later, Tim Staffell would quit.

Saturday 27th June 1970: At some point between 9th May and this date, Queen were founded by Freddie, Brian and Roger, who'd been friends for a while. Smile had a concert booked for this date, which was played by Queen instead (using the name 'Smile' as flyers were already printed) at the City Hall in Truro, Cornwall, England. Roger's friend Mike Grose was the bassist. The only original song in the setlist was apparently Stone Cold Crazy.

Saturday 25th July 1970: PJs, Truro. The third concert Queen ever played and last with Mike Grose. Another Roger's acquaintance, Barry Mitchell, would replace him. Liar was, reportedly, already in the set-list, but no more original songs.

Sunday 23rd August 1970: First concert with Barry. Over the past month, the founding members had rehearsed more original tunes which would be added to the set during this period: Keep Yourself Alive, Great King Rat, Modern Times Rock 'n' Roll, Son and Daughter and Hangman.

Saturday 31st October 1970: Halloween night, and Queen were honoured to play at the Cavern Club in Liverpool (the legendary place where The Beatles started). Coincidentally, exactly five years after that, Queen would release Bohemian Rhapsody as a single.

Friday 8th January 1971: Queen played at the Marquee Club in Soho for the first time. That venue would be very important in their early concert days.

Saturday 9th January 1971: Last concert with Barry Mitchell, at a College in Surrey.

Friday 19th February 1971: First post-Mitchell concert, held in Haringey, North London. Jesus could've been in the set-list as they'd rehearsed it with Barry and had a month to polish it after he left. Bass player was now a bloke called Doug (surname uncertain).

Saturday 20th February 1971: The band played in SW London as an opening act for Yes.

Sunday 21st February - Thursday 1st of July 1971: Between these dates, there were no concerts played. The reasons being, they were all busy with college, busy enough for Doug to call it quits. They auditioned John Deacon to be the bassist and another bloke to play rhythm guitar; the latter didn't get the part, but John would complete the line-up and that's how Queen would be for their entire career.

Friday 2nd July 1971: First concert with John Deacon, perhaps at the same College in Ewell they'd played the previous year. The Night Comes Down was probably added to the set around this time.

Saturday 17th July to Saturday 21st August 1971: Roger's mum arranged a tour around the county of Cornwall in South England. They all travelled in a van and had their equipment there. During these concerts, John get to know the band a lot better and turned 20. Many of the songs were later recorded on the first album.

Sunday 22nd August to Tuesday 5th October: No concerts during this period. Brian met up with a friend who got them their first recording session, which was held on one day (presumably Saturday the 18th of September) at De Lane Lea Music Centre.

Wednesay 6th October 1971: Concert at the Imperial College in London.

Thursday 9th December 1971: Queen play at an indoor pool in Surrey, with awful results. They wouldn't get another gig until New Year's Eve in South London and then four weeks after that at a College in Bedford. The band wasn't yet a full-time job so concerts were occasional.

During 1972 there were few concerts but the first album 'Queen' was recorded.

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