keep it professional - r. taylor

33

~July 1985~

"Ladies and gentlemen, her majesty, Queen!" The crowd erupted into cheers. People were screaming at the top of their lungs in hopes of getting noticed by the band. Banners began to fly in the air, sprawling the words, "We Love You Queen" or, my personal favorites, "Marry Me Roger". It still baffled my mind how even the people in the very back of the arena were yelling their heads off, even if they could barely see the stage.

I snaked my way through the backstage area, eventually finding my spot in the wings. Jim was already waiting there, hands in his pockets, leaning up against a speaker. Even though I had only met him for one brief moment, he seemed like a sweet guy, and someone I genuinely didn't mind being around, which was much better than I could say about the last men around Freddie.

I also saw Mary and her husband, to whom I said a quick hello to. I would've talked to her a bit more, but it was nearly impossible to hold any kind of normal conversation over the noise coming from the crowd. I silently hoped Mary heard my suggestion to talk afterwards, but was doubtful when she looked at me with confused eyes as I stepped away.

Looking across the stage, I saw the boys begin to take their places. They all took a second to really take in the grandeur of the stadium, and the thousands of people that were cheering them on. It wasn't much bigger than any other large arena they had performed at, but something seemed different.

Freddie, stopping to take everything all in, hit the first notes on the piano. There had been a little voice in the back of my mind, nervous about Freddie's recent vocal fries. During certain rehearsals, his voice would absolutely crack near the end of the set from straining his chords too much. Hopefully, this repetition wouldn't occur today. It couldn't. They had all worked so hard for Freddie to completely break down and blame himself.

As Freddie began the opening chords to "Bohemian Rhapsody", the crowd went absolutely ballistic, as they should. They all began singing along with Freddie, echoing the lyrics throughout the stadium. It was unlike anything I had ever seen before. I even heard some of the crew members above and behind me singing along, a natural effect Queen had on people.

Wrapping up their first number, I put a mental check next to the first song, only needed to get through the next seventeen minutes or so. I know I had told myself earlier that I needed to relax and enjoy myself, it was quite impossible when possibly the biggest rock band in the world, whom you are the manager for, are playing together for the first time in years.

One of the grips threw Freddie his unattached microphone stand, allowing him to strut around the stage freely. The opening drums provided a background noise for Freddie to stomp around the stage, absolutely hypnotizing the camera and audience's attention. Now, with the presentation of a more upbeat song, the crowd began moving from side to side. It was actually quite hilarious to see the cameramen try to follow Freddie around since he would go from one side of the stage to another in a second.

Brian was focused on his playing, and John was dancing around the stage. And by dancing, I mean turning in circles to the beat as well. Roger had his focused look on his face, the one where he looks too in the zone to focus on anything else. That look never failed to make me laugh. He just looks way too serious.

Once the band made it to the chorus, the entire stadium raised their arms up to clap in rhythm. I even raised my arms slightly, keeping them near my shoulders, and clapping along to the beat. How could I not? The song's chorus is basically asking to be clapped along to.

As the whole band reset themselves for the next number, Freddie took it upon himself to do some interactions with the crowd. It transported me back to when he first tried it, wanting to incorporate more of the audience into the performances. But now, I was completely dumbfounded by his stage presence and performance. He had the attention of over 70,000 people in his fingertips. As soon as he finished up singing one of his calls, they would immediately respond in perfect time. My mouth was slightly ajar, completely shocked at what he was pulling off. Just like with "Radio Ga Ga", I sang back in response to Freddie's little improv, fulfilling my promise of cheering as loudly as I could for them.