Associated album Queen II Legs 2 End date May 11, 1974 | Start date 1 March 1974 No. of shows 41 Leg 2 | |
The Queen II Tour was a concert tour by British rock group Queen to promote their 1974 album Queen II. It was the second major tour by the group and started only a month and a half after the end of the Queen I Tour. The band visited major cities in the UK and also went on to tour the United States, supporting Mott the Hoople. The band had to cancel all other concerts after 11 May 1974 as guitarist Brian May contracted hepatitis.
Contents
Background
In March the band commenced a UK tour to promote their new album 'Queen II', and then embarked on their first trip to the USA. Once again they played support band to Mott The Hoople on a four-week tour beginning in April. The band paid more attention to their look on stage and employed the services of Zandra Rhodes to design some of their costumes. Queen's appearances came to an abrupt halt when Brian collapsed from hepatitis after the New York show on 11 May, and the band flew home for Brian to recover.
Mercury played the piano for the first time on stage on the songs "White Queen", "Seven Seas Of Rhye" and "The Fairy Feller's Masterstroke".
UK Tour
- "Procession"
- "Father to Son"
- "Ogre Battle"
- "Son and Daughter"
- "Guitar Solo"
- "Son and Daughter (Reprise)"
- White Queen (As It Began)"
- Great King Rat"
- "Keep Yourself Alive"
- "Liar"
"Encore": - "Jailhouse Rock"/"Stupid Cupid"/"Be Bop a Lula"
"Encore: - "Big Spender"
- "Modern Times Rock 'n' Roll"
The track listing varied from each show, with different songs becoming the encore. "Doing All Right" from the first album was not performed on this tour, but on Queen's live set on tours after.
Other tracks occasionally performed on this tour were:
"The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke" was thought Queen never played it live but there is an official recording of the song live released on Live at the Rainbow '74 and album featuring Queen's performance at the Rainbow Theatre on 31 March 1974. The song is also thought to have played live at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool and at the Locarno in Sunderland, but it is unknown.
US Tour
- "Procession"
- "Father to Son"
- "Ogre Battle"
- "Son and Daughter"
- "Guitar Solo"
- "Son and Daughter (Reprise)"
- "Great King Rat"
- "Liar"
- "Keep Yourself Alive"
- "Modern Times Rock 'n' Roll"
"Encore: - "Big Spender"
- "Bama Lama Bama Loo"
Songs played scarcely:
Live at the Rainbow '74
Live at the Rainbow '74 is a live album released by Queen in September 2014. The album features three performances live at the Rainbow Theatre. The one CD features the November while the other CD features the show from this tour.
The show was performed at the Rainbow Theatre on 31 March 1974 and the show was recorded by music producer Roy Thomas Baker. The CD features most of the songs on the setlist, however excluding "Hangman" and "Big Spender" but including "Seven Seas of Rhye", "See What a Fool I've Been" and "The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke". The album features the only known live recording of "The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke", which is considered to be the highlight of the album for some fans.
Also, from the show is video footage of "Son & Daughter" and "Modern Times Rock 'n' Roll" making this the earliest known footage of the band performing live.
The album peaked at #11 in UK Charts.