#PIANO TUNER JOBS PLUS#

Carpet and rugs were laid down on the cold concrete floors, bare walls draped with material or pictures, and furniture, lamps, flowers and ‘objets’ were introduced to make it more comfortable and relaxing for the visiting artistes.

Theatres had dedicated dressing rooms, but sports-arena and convention-centre-style venues had functional facilities that had to be ‘dressed’ before they could be deemed a dressing room worthy of Queen’s visit. Queen’s dressing rooms varied in size and style, depending on the venue. ‘What’s the sound like out front now the crowd is in? The show is completely sold out tonight - isn’t it? How are ticket sales for the rest of the tour going, are they sold out too? Is the new single number one yet? What time are we on? What time will we be off? Is it hot/cold out there? Has that nasty buzzing sound in the monitors gone? Is it really true Van Halen have more lights in their show than us? And what about the tour merchandise - how are the Queen toasted sandwich makers selling…?’ He says nothing, as the rest of Queen leave him to it and excitably begin asking the perennial questions of their tour manager, assistant or roadie: Fred calms down a little as he ponders the tour manager’s words, passes the cigarette to somebody to extinguish, takes a drink of hot honey and lemon and, with a frown, huffily settles into a comfy chair. I’m ignoring all this melodrama and ambling around the dressing room, being one of the few people allowed in during this pre-show period. Me? Peter Hince (aka Ratty), Fred’s and John’s roadie and head of Queen’s crew. With one of my trusty Nikon cameras outside Mountain Studios in Montreux in 1981 // My ‘Rat’ pass for Queen U.K. Gerry Stickells, Queen’s wily tour manager, who has been hovering and observing in the background, approaches, and candidly reminds Mr Mercury that a hell of a lot of people - a sold-out crowd in fact - have waited a long time and paid good money to see him perform tonight, and that it wouldn’t be very nice to let them down, and Fred was never somebody to let his people down. He snatches a low-tar king size and takes a perfunctory draw. ‘Give me a ciggie!’ Fred demands of one of his ‘valets.’ Fred isn’t impressed.Ī drink, perhaps - to raise the spirits? Champagne - your favourite - Moët? No. One of the band assistants thumbs through his Spartacus guide and gleefully tells Fred that there is a gay telephone box, pedestrian crossing or even a late-night hardware shop in the area that they could go to after the show. Silly old tart! This scenario has happened before, but this time it looks like he might be serious.

Relaxing backstage with John Deacon after the first momentous South American concert at Velez Sarsfield Stadium in Buenos Aires, February 1981įred is precisely where he wants to be - at the centre of everyone’s attention, and is playing the drama queen role to perfection. Meanwhile, ‘management’ stop picking at the copious plates of food laid out like a banquet, and begin to get twitchy as they search their address books for lawyers’ and insurance companies’ telephone numbers. Well, what do you expect - screaming and ranting like that?īrian May and Roger Taylor start to mutter support and try to win him round, while bassist John Deacon stretches out on a couch, a Walkman plugged into his ears - nodding and smiling. It doesn’t.įred stands, waves his arms theatrically and loudly states his feelings again: ‘I’m telling you - I can’t do this show - my voice is fucked. They just ignore him and hope it will go away. Mr Mercury is in one of his moods and nobody present dares to say anything in response. Outside there is a packed arena containing nigh on 20,000 baying rock fans and it’s less than an hour until show time. A pale and fragile-looking Fred is sheltering backstage in the comfort of the dressing room. Queen are at the peak of their successes - and excesses.

#PIANO TUNER JOBS PLUS#

Well, looking at him right now, it appears that last night he did, plus a few of their friends. ‘I can’t do it! I simply can’t go on! It’s no good - the show will just have to be cancelled!’įreddie Mercury, the singer with rock band Queen, often expressed to his beloved live audiences that he’d like to have sexual relations with… all of them.

Piano tuner jobs