The Works Tour


The Works Tour was a concert tour by the British rock band Queen. During the tour, Queen participated in the Rock in Rio festival in 1985; the concert was released on VHS. The band released a DVD from a concert in Tokyo titled , but the name of the concert was incorrect as the band performed 2 further concerts after Tokyo in Nagoya and Osaka.

Stage design

The stage design was based on a scene from Fritz Lang's Metropolis with huge rotating cog-wheels at the rear of the stage and a brightly lit cityscape. Due to a prior ligament damage in his knee, it was somewhat of a challenge for Mercury to navigate the complex set of multiple levels and stairs. Eventually, in Hanover, Mercury fell down the stairs during the performance of "Hammer to Fall". He was only able to play "Bohemian Rhapsody", "We Will Rock You", and "We Are the Champions" afterwards, shortening the concert somewhat. Due to Mercury's injury, May played the first bars of "We Will Rock You" out of anxiety to get Mercury to the hospital.

Breaking apartheid embargo

Queen scheduled 12 performances in Bophuthatswana, South Africa, at the Sun City Super Bowl in October 1984. Due to the apartheid policy of South Africa the United Nations requested entertainers to boycott the country and the Britain's Musicians’ Union banned any of its members from performing in Sun City. Queen played anyway, despite the controversy, though several shows were cancelled after Mercury's voice gave out after three days live performances. The show was extended to a third weekend.

Tour band

Additional musicians:

Average setlist

This setlist is representative of the performance on 30 September 1984 in Vienna, Austria. It does not represent all the setlists for the duration of the tour.
  1. "Machines"
  2. "Tear It Up"
  3. "Tie Your Mother Down"
  4. "Under Pressure"
  5. "Somebody To Love"
  6. "Killer Queen"
  7. "Seven Seas Of Rhye"
  8. "Keep Yourself Alive"
  9. "Liar"
  10. "Impromptu"
  11. "It's A Hard Life"
  12. "Dragon Attack"
  13. "Now I'm Here"
  14. "Is This The World We Created...?"
  15. "Love Of My Life"
  16. "Stone Cold Crazy"
  17. "Great King Rat"
  18. "Keyboard Solo"
  19. "Guitar Solo"
  20. "Brighton Rock "
  21. "Another One Bites The Dust"
  22. "Hammer To Fall"
  23. "Crazy Little Thing Called Love"
  24. "Bohemian Rhapsody"
  25. "Radio Ga Ga"
    Encore
  26. "I Want To Break Free"
  27. "Jailhouse Rock"
    Encore
  28. "We Will Rock You"
  29. "We Are The Champions"
  30. "God Save The Queen"

    Selected setlists

Tour dates