As the Final Notes Ring

nobody@flickr.com (Matt Granz Photography) — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 00:29:28 -0700

Brian May - Oakland, CA - 1982, Flying V

nobody@flickr.com (Matt Granz Photography) — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 00:27:56 -0800

Story behind the photo: This photo is from Queen's last Bay area show ever with Freddie Mercury. With the new direction that they took with the album "The Game" Brian May stated that Queen had "gained the world, but lost America". I think that after they played a Los Angeles gig or two after this particular show that they never did come back to the US. That is truly sad since they were one of the most charismatic of all rock groups to ever play on a stage. This concert was no exception! This photo was taken during Brian's echo solo. The three lights backlighting Brian belonged to one of two manned light pods that followed him around the stage. It was a spectacular effect!

The friend I went to the concert with (who's name I can't even begin to recall) took his SLR 35mm and I took a pocket fixed focus... after seeing me lament over the bad quality of my images he took mercy on me and sold me this memory as an 8x10 B&W Glossy that I kept secured in a folder... and just recently rediscovered and decided to digitize these many years later. My own pics from the concert all came out underexposed... drat! His SLR had some great lenses and he had his own darkroom. He also had great access to many good spots to shoot from.

By the way… remember the days when you didn't need a press badge to bring a camera to a concert? What happened??? Lawyers, I'll tell ya... Lawyers.

The story behind the Flying V being utilized was that at the very onset of his Echo solo, Brian busted a string on the "Red Special". He waked backstage and then shortly reappeared with this guitar. The sound was quite different. After the solo was done fifteen minutes later, he took back his own guitar and proceeded to use it for the rest of the show. It was pretty unusual to see him playing this and (besides the Tele he plays on Crazy Little Thing Called Love for the songs' first solo) have not seen him play another electric besides his main axe that he and his father made.

I was pretty poor at the time, but I liked this photo enough to buy it because of the before mentioned spectacular lighting and the fact that Brian is playing a Flying V.

Though I was not a fan of The Game, this concert was superb! I came to see Brian (being a guitarist myself) and was amazed at how distracted I was by the rest of the band. They were flawless that night and the floor seats I snuck into... 20 rows from the stage... provided the perfect viewing experience. The light show was also the best I had ever seen as well, in that it didn't distract from the music or musicians but rather pulsated perfectly with the beats and saturated the stage with great color combinations.

Freddie, Brian, Roger & John all had the whole auditorium held by the throat from the very start of the show till the last fading notes of "God Save the Queen". Sheer Excellence!

Another Queen story I have is that I had two separate bass players who at different times played in my band "the WindowPanes" who told me a tale of standing in line at the Winterland Auditorium in S.F. for a Queen show in the mid to late 70's. They both told me the same details of Queen arriving in their limo and getting out and walking by them with Brian clutching his guitar for dear life as he passed by. These bass players didn't and still do not know each other but must have been spitting distance from one another that night. Strange but true…

Update (2/23/2012) My band got a small article write up in Guitar Player Magazine and guess who should be gracing the cover? Yes, none other than the incredibly brilliant Brian May.

~ M@

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As the Final Notes Ring

Brian May - Oakland, CA - 1982, Flying V