2.When have you seen them live for the first time? And where exactly?

I live about 18 miles from Cambridge and I first saw them live at the Cambridge Corn Exchange in March 1974 (I think it was 12th March). I had only just turned 13 on Feb 4th, so I was about 1 month into my teenage years. The only song I really knew then was “Ogre Battle” as I’d heard it on the tape, they played this song live and it was very impressive as they used pyrotechnics (flash bangs). I loved the whole show (even though I didn’t know the songs). A couple of days after I went out and bought my very first Queen album it was Queen II . The first time I ever saw Queen on TV was when they released ‘Killer Queen’ and they appeared on Top of the Pops a UK chart show in late 1974.

3.Please describe us how you managed to get to the show, and what were your feelings that day and your excitement as Freddie entered the stage. Tell us something about that wonderful day.

I had only just turned 13 and to be honest I did not really know what the band members looked like! At that time Queen were known as a ‘College Band’ they were playing Colleges and Universities, they were not really famous or very well known. No Inter-Net back then remember, I had seen a photo of Freddie Mercury, but I had no idea what the other band members looked like & I didn’t even know their names. I went to the show with a school friend, the band were awesome, even if I didn’t know the songs or the lyrics. After the show we missed the last bus home, so we had 18 miles to walk. On the way home the police stopped us and asked us what we were doing out so late at night. We were only kids really, so the police gave us a lift home. We had both lied to our parents, telling them we were spending the night at each others houses. Of course the police told our parents the truth that we had been to Cambridge to see our very first Rock show!

4.What word would you use to describe that day?

Memorable, it was my very first Rock Show and I knew that I had witnessed something really special. Obviously it was my first ever Rock Show, so I had nothing to really compare it to. Some months later I went to see Black Sabbath who were a BIG band at that time, but compared to Queen they were Crap! I believe Queen to be the finest live band that I have ever seen & that’s why I saw them 33 times live. I have seen Bowie, Thin Lizzy, Blue Oyster Cult, The Scorpions, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Deep Purple, AC/DC and many other top bands too. They were all great, but not in the same league as Queen .

5.Do you consider Queen still alive as a group today? Or do you think they are no longer a band after that November 1991?

There is no substitute for quality and that’s why 43 years after I first saw them they are still so HUGE. I have a soft spot for the first 4 albums, not so polished as their later albums, but this is the Queen that I first heard and grew up with. When Fred died my 34th live show was with Queen & Paul Rodgers. Great music, but without Fred it just wasn’t Queen anymore. I’ve not been to see Brian & Roger with Adam Lambert. From the clips I’ve seen Adam is really good, but after all those years of following them and watching them live, it’s just not the same Queen anymore.

I have a lot of highlights from some of the shows that I saw, The London Lyceum is particularly memorable as I chatted to Fred frequently throughout the show as he kept standing on my fingers!

Mark Egerton

Mark Egerton

Hi Rossella,

Please find below my answers to your questions. I have some other unique information that Queen fans will have never heard before, mainly personal memories from various Queen concerts that have never been reported in the media. I also have a lot of books badges, programmes and other memorabilia in my Loft. I plan to go up there later today and I’ll take a few photos for you. Please feel free to post any of these on your web site if you want to. They are just gathering dust in my Loft. I lost a lot of my stuff due to a burst pipe in my old house, but luckily the bulk of my collection was stored in a plastic container and so it survived. I’ve attached the photo of Fred that I took at the London Lyceum 13/12/79. I call it his Zandra pose after the winged messenger costume that Zandra Rhodes designed for him in the 1970’s, it was inspired by Mercury the messenger God. There is also attached my ticket from the famous 1977 Earls Court concert. I don’t know if you are aware but Fred’s Garden Lodge home is very close to Earls Court. My Ex wife was with me and she got invited to Fred’s house for the after show party. My ex wife was extremely pretty and one of the Queen roadies (it might have been Ratty), was told to round up a dozen pretty girls for the after show party. When she told them she was with me her invite was withdrawn. They only wanted pretty women, no men! As it happens my Ex got to meet Brian much later in 1979, he kept taking his clothes off! But that’s another story!

Hi Rossella,

As promised here are some of the items from my Queen collection. More photographs will follow. These were the CD’s I uncovered in my loft. The photo is an original still taken by Mick Rock for the Queen II album. If you look at it very closely you will see that Brian is wearing a hairnet over his head & face. This was to keep his curly hair flat, to get the right shot for the album cover.

The mug is readily available anywhere, it was given to me by an ex girlfriend who knew I loved Queen. The tiny drum came from another girlfriend & can be hung from your cars rear view mirror.

I have 2 copies of the first 2 Queen albums, basically because I wore the first one out through playing it so much.

The Jazz album contained a poster of naked women riding bicycles as a promotion for the Bicycle Race single. This poster was deemed too sexual at that time in 1978 and it was withdrawn within a week of the Jazz album going on sale. I got one of these posters and as you can see it’s nearly 40 years old now and is in A1 condition

In 1986 CD’s first became available and so I never bought anymore Queen in Vinyl format.

I first wore this jacket in 1974 to the famous Hammersmith Odeon Gig on Xmas Eve in London. I also wore it to the famous free concert at Hyde Park in 1976. The badges on the front were added during the late 70’s, 1977 I think.

In the early 1970’s Queen were not really that big until Bohemian Rhapsody and with no Internet it was difficult to get any Queen memorabilia at that time. My girlfriend at the time was 14 at the time and she hand stitched the Queen crest on the back of a Brutus GOLD denim jacket. It’s not brilliant, but at the time it caused quite a stir as there was nothing like it at the time.

At the end of the Hammersmith Gig in 1974 blow up sex dolls were dropped from the ceiling onto the audience. I was not quite 14 at that Gig and I had no idea what they were!

Apart from all my DVD’s that’s about it Rossella. I first saw Queen in March 1974 when I was 13. I last saw them at Knebworth in Aug 1986, the last time Queen ever performed live with Freddie. I love their music, particularly the 1970’s material.

I have more video’s in my loft and a few concert tickets, but I’m not going to rummage about in my Attic anymore . Please feel free to display the images wherever you like. All of this stuff sits in my Attic gathering dust, so I’m very happy for other Queen fans to see it.