Background
There were slight differences between the UK, US and Japanese tour. The Japanese shows were a bit longer (Queen even played Hangman and See What A Fool I've Been sometimes), possibly due to the warm welcome they received from the Japanese fans.
The year started with their first trip outside of Europe and an appearance at the Sunbury Music Festival in Australia. Although the band headlined the event on 2nd February, their appearance the next day was cancelled. In March, the band commenced on a UK tour to promote their new album 'Queen II', and then embark on their first trip to the USA. Once again, they supported 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 slot came to an abrupt halt however, when Brian collapsed from hepatitis after the New York show on 11th May, and they all had to fly home so that he could recover. The band were soon back on the road and commenced their second tour as the headlining act, with nineteen concerts at eighteen different venues around the UK. The band ‘Hustler’ were the support band, and the setlist contained much of the material from the new album 'Sheer Heart Attack'. With more money to invest in a new stage show, the band wore new costumes for this tour and added an additional lighting rig, complete with state of the art stage effects. To conclude Queen’s touring for the year, they embarked on a European tour consisting of ten shows in six countries, performing over a two and a half week period. The tour would have been longer, but an accident involving the truck that transported their equipment meant it was not able to reach the remaining scheduled venues.
Read more about this topic: Sheer Heart Attack Tour
Famous quotes containing the word background:
“... every experience in life enriches one’s background and should teach valuable lessons.”
—Mary Barnett Gilson (1877–?)
“Silence is the universal refuge, the sequel to all dull discourses and all foolish acts, a balm to our every chagrin, as welcome after satiety as after disappointment; that background which the painter may not daub, be he master or bungler, and which, however awkward a figure we may have made in the foreground, remains ever our inviolable asylum, where no indignity can assail, no personality can disturb us.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I had many problems in my conduct of the office being contrasted with President Kennedy’s conduct in the office, with my manner of dealing with things and his manner, with my accent and his accent, with my background and his background. He was a great public hero, and anything I did that someone didn’t approve of, they would always feel that President Kennedy wouldn’t have done that.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)