Memories II

|19| • A Picnic by the Serpentine •

The concerts in Edinburgh and Cardiff were a lot of fun. I learned a lot about life on tour, life with a rock band. It was a lot of input, but I liked it, surprisingly. I could imagine it would be tiring being out with them for longer, but for now it was fine. We would see how I'd feel if - when - I went on tour with them for longer. Brian had told me they would be touring the US early the following year, starting shortly after the new year began. We had talked a little about what we would do for that during these past weeks, but we hadn't really reached a conclusion yet. We would have to reach one somewhat soon so we could make the appropriate arrangements considering travel preparations, but I was struggling to decide. I had to choose between my job - staying at home - or my boyfriend and going on tour with him.

I was struggling with that because I didn't know how to tell Brian that until I was married I was very hesitant to quit my job. It was unlikely, but what if we didn't work out in the end? What if I quit my job because he could support us both, and then we broke up and I was stuck without a job. If I didn't like my job, that might not have been such a big deal to me, but I did like my job. I had worked there for a long time, almost as long as I had known Brian, and I knew having such a good job was almost a luxury. Having a good relationship was also a luxury, which made this a very tough choice. At the moment I was definitely leaning towards staying at home and only visit him a few times during those two and a bit months. However, now that I had seen them on stage, I wasn't too keen on knowing he would be out there, all on his own, with women swooning over him. I was going back and forth and I knew I'd probably have to talk to him about this, but for that I would have to work out what and how to say it.

And that could definitely wait until after tonight. Tonight they would be playing a free concert in Hyde Park, the pinnacle of their little tour through the country. Richard Branson, the man who helped them organise it all, thought it would be a good way to thank their fans for their loyalty. It wasn't just Queen who would be on stage, but they were the last group of the day, closing after a day of good music.

I took advantage of being still relatively unknown and wandered around the venue during the day, trying not to melt in the sun, and saw some good perfomances. That included Kiki Dee singing Don't Go Breaking My Heart to a slightly smaller than life-size cardboard cutout of Elton John instead of the actual full life-size man. It was still good though, I had fun. But I talked to a few people, and learned that they were all just here for the boys, excited to see them live. During the day, more and more people came to the park and honestly I couldn't have guessed how many it were when it was finally 8pm and the time for them to go on stage was nearing. But it were a lot of people and I was excited.

I was backstage again, still curious about the pre-show preparations. I helped Brian decide on an outfit again, this time with was a big angel-winged white one with thin colourfull arrows. He looked great with it, and I gave him a kiss good luck before I sent him off on his way and found my spot to watch the show on the sidelines of the stage. I had considered watching from the audience, but both Brian and Richard had strongly advised against it in case we had to leave quickly after the show because of the leaving crowds.

So here I was, at the side of the stage with Mary, Veronica, and Richard's assistant Dominique who we had been talking to throughout the day. And not just us, she seemed to have piqued Roger's interest. Understandably, because she was so pretty. Not just that, she was lovely and I found myself hoping that something developed between them so I could see her more. Both Veronica and Mary had been around the guys for a while, they were familiar with this, other than me, and it would be nice to have someone who understood the struggles of getting used to everything. We would see, and could only hope for the best for them.

The crowd had been chattering, moving about, but when the intro from their upcoming album played on the speakers, it all turned quiet with expectation. They came on with their biggest hit, Bohemian Rhapsody, to get the audience in the right mood. And it worked, the cheers were almost louder than the music. Instead of introducing the band, Freddie ended up having to inform the audience the constables asked him to tell them not to throw things. If anyone would follow that, I doubted it, but he tried.