The Hot Space Tour was a concert tour by the British rock bandQueen in support of their 1982 album Hot Space. The tour started on 9 April in Gothenburg, Sweden and ended, after sixty-nine concerts, in Tokorozawa, Japan.
Background
The tour saw many changes to Queen's show. The tour was the first in which the band used a keyboardist, playing in the background. For the European leg of the tour, they used Morgan Fisher. Fisher is best known for having been a member of Mott the Hoople in the 1970s. Queen were the opening act for Mott the Hoople's US Tour of 1974, so the band already had close connections with Fisher prior to the tour. Another connection which Fisher had with the band was through a short-lived progressive rock band called Morgan, which he formed with Tim Staffell, who was the bass guitarist and lead vocalist for the pre-Queen band Smile. After taking most of the April shows to warm up, Freddie Mercury's voice achieves a peak during May and June, giving some of his best live performances in the band's history, as evidenced by him achieving high notes rarely seen on most other tours. His voice no longer has the same superiority from July however, which progressively weakens until the Japanese concerts in October and November. However it remains strong overall. Thus, the June shows are said to be the last in his 'prime era'. Queen toured Europe, North America and Japan throughout 1982. Several alterations were made to the touring schedule. The first being the cancellation of a planned concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London, due to the venue not being able to cope with the weight of the band's light rig. The second were two rescheduled concerts in England. The concert in Leeds was originally scheduled to take place at Old Trafford in Manchester and the Milton Keynes concert was supposed to take place at Arsenal Stadium in London. The concerts were moved due to potential noise complaints from local residents. A DVD documenting the band's 5 June 1982 concert at the National Bowl in Milton Keynes was released in 2004 as Queen on Fire – Live at the Bowl. The DVD Extras contained video clips and audio clips recorded in Austria and Japan. The Hot Space Tour marked Queen's last concerts in North America to feature Freddie Mercury and John Deacon. Brian May and Roger Taylor returned to perform in the United States, along with Paul Rodgers, on the Queen + Paul Rodgers Tour.
Tour band
Freddie Mercury – lead vocals, piano, acoustic guitar
Brian May – electric guitar, acoustic guitar, backing vocals, piano
Unlike most tours, in which the band would normally only need a few nights to become comfortable with a setlist, it would take more than a month during the start of the tour. All of the shows in April are unique as the band are undergoing an experimental period, before finally achieving an optimal setlist outline by May. The band would still continue to experiment throughout the year. Most songs from the Hot Space album would be played on this tour, with "Action This Day" and "Under Pressure" being performed at every single show. Since the album itself was released on May 21, fans at shows from the start of the tour until then would have been unfamiliar with the songs "Staying Power", "Back Chat" and "Action This Day". "Body Language" was introduced to the show briefly in May, before making a permanent return in July, and "Calling All Girls" would be introduced in July as well. "Life Is Real" would be heard at only a few concerts in August, and "Put Out The Fire" would be introduced to the show in September.
Average setlist
This setlist is representative of the performance on 5 June 1982 in Milton Keynes, England. It does not represent all the setlists for the duration of the tour.
