This is a sequel to - You've Got To Hide Your Love Away. The first story is from 1969 through the end of 1974. This new story picks up in early 1975 and continues the love story of two aspiring musicians who found love together under unusual circu...
Things were certainly different on this tour from the last. A lot different! We were on our way up the singles chart with Bohemian Rhapsody. We had jumped from number 47 to 17 in a week. It was pretty amazing how well the reception has been for such an unconventional song. We are all thrilled. I barely finished my own songs in time for our album to go to pressing and we had less than a week to decide and rehearse our new concert setlist together. But we managed to pull it off. Freddie was on cloud nine with the success of his masterpiece and he had acquired some new stage clothes to add to the drama of his presentation. He was sporting a new winged costume reminiscent of the mythical character Mercury - the Messenger of the Gods! It felt fitting considering we were taking flight quickly in the world of rock and roll. We all had some new stage clothes and added more lights and effects but nothing compared to Freddie's new look.
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Speaking of things being different. Another big change from the last tour to this one was bringing along Tiger Lily and Clare with us. We had questioned doing this but when the IRA bombed another site in London in mid-October, the idea of leaving them at home with these attacks going on left me quite anxious. Clare had been upset as well. We notified our new tour manager that we needed accommodations for four instead of two. Gerry Stickells is just the best. He has worked with many other notable music acts, but I am particularly impressed with his stint as tour manager for Jimi Hendrix. Being handled by the same man who handled Jimi really makes me feel like a rock star I must say. He took care of our situation with no fuss and we found that two hotel rooms with adjoining inside doors was provided for us at each tour stop. This made our lives much easier. We were grateful. We were also grateful he accepted working for us after we disclosed that Roger and I were together.
One thing I am grateful for is the fact that Roger has been true to his word. He expressed a lot of regret about the amount of drinking he has done over the past few months. He has hardly drank at all and been quite attentive to me and the girls. It has been a nice change. One less thing to weigh on me. We managed to get packed and traveled north for our first show of the tour. Liverpool has always been a great city for us and we sold out two nights at the Empire theater. In fact, with the attention our new record is getting, the entire tour has already sold out. There has been talk already about adding some shows, but we all feel we need the break during the holidays to rest up before our giant tour of North America and Japan next year. John Reid is also negotiating some shows for us in Australia since we will already be in that part of the world during our touring. It's quite exciting but a long time to be on the road. It was going to be a busy new year.
We left the hotel and headed for the soundcheck at the Empire. We rode separate from the others since we had Clare and Tigs coming to watch us. We arrived at the theater and got out of the car and I went to pick up Tigs so I could carry her inside. Roger grabbed my arm as I reached for her.
