Queen’s first US tour: The Start is the End

Whilst checking details of Queen’s first US tour this morning (for a Quora answer: What year did Queen first tour the US?), I spotted another error in This Day In Music’s Guide To Queen. Drat! I think the last one I reported was A tale of two vans – proofreading and beyond.

On page 61 of This Day In Music’s Guide To Queen, there’s a feature box entitled ‘Mott The Hoople US Tour’. It begins with the statement:

“Queen’s first taste of touring in the US started with six consecutive concerts at the Uris Theatre (now the Gershwin Theatre) in New York, commencing on May 7, 1974.”.

This should read:

Queen’s first taste of touring in the US ended abruptly on May 7, 1974, after six consecutive concerts at the Uris Theatre (now the Gershwin Theatre) in New York.

I re-checked my original research notes and can see how the error occurred; I’d picked the Uris Theatre dates as a suitable bookmark for Queen’s first US tour. When it came to assimilating all my various live tour research notes into the book’s content, I mistook that particular bookmark for a tour start, rather than end.

To further my frustration with this two paragraph feature, I spotted another misleading statement:

The final New York gig was cancelled and Mott The Hoople continued their tour with Kansas as their replacement support group.

The final Uris Theatre date was cancelled, although May 12 had originally been scheduled as an optional date, subject to ticket sales. However Mott The Hoople’s support band for the remainder of the tour varied, depending on who could be booked at short notice, particularly for the first few shows after Queen’s departure. Most support slots were filled by either Kansas or REO Speedwagon; Aerosmith also played one date and Skyhook appear to have been the first band to be drafted in. Perhaps a better version would be:

The final New York gig was cancelled and Mott The Hoople continued their tour with various bands replacing Queen in the support slot.

Perhaps I should re-read This Day In Music’s Guide To Queen and check all stated facts and dates etc. against my original research and external sources. Knowing how long it took me the first time around, I suspect even the current Covid-19 lockdown won’t allow anything like the amount of time required.

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