THIS IS AN INTERVIEW WITH GREG BARNES OF THE YOUTUBE CHANNEL GREGSYNTH BOOTLEGS
HI GREG THANKS FOR AGREEING TO ANSWER A FEW QUESTIONS.
FOR ME YOUR QUEEN BOOTLEGS CHANNEL IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE DESTINATIONS ON YOUTUBE, AND WHILE THERE ARE OTHER SITES FEATURING BOOTLEGS, IT'S YOUR PASSION FOR THE SUBJECT, ALONG WITH THE MATERIAL POSTED THAT I KEEP COMING BACK FOR.
ON TO THE QUESTIONS?
WHEN DID YOU START THE CHANNEL AND WHAT MOTIVATED YOU TO DO SO?
Well to start off, thank you for this interview opportunity. I’ll be more than happy to answer your questions! I officially started the Gregsynthbootlegs channel back in March of 2010. To give credit where it’s due, it wasn’t my own decision to start that channel. My friend from California (Brian) actually gave me the idea while we were listening to random performances from the Crazy and Game Tours. He told me that it would be cool if I uploaded a couple of Queen shows for everybody to hear. It started off very small – then look what happened!
WHERE DOES THIS PASSION FOR QUEEN COME FROM? WHAT WAS YOUR EUREKA MOMENT?
Queen is an amazing band. You can’t go wrong with those four amazing musicians who had a knack for creating amazing harmonies. They were an extremely diverse band as well. They went from songs with heavy metal influences, to more progressive rock, to pop-rock, to rockabilly, to funk-influenced songs, etc. There’s a song that everybody will like from that band – even if they aren’t a fan! They were also an amazing live band. It wasn’t exactly the same as the studio, but they sounded great in a different way. Their live shows were more raw when compared with the polished studio recordings and a large amount of their songs benefited in a live setting. When I was getting into Queen during my high school years, I absolutely loved their diversity and wanted more than just the studio stuff. I started watching and listening to random live performances by them in 2008 and my love for the band grew with each month. Around late 2009, I saw this amazing performance of “Need Your Loving Tonight” from Oakland on the Game Tour, and that’s when my cherry broke for starting to get into the live recordings. There’s this awesome guy from Hamilton Canada named Bob who runs this Queen database website who I’m honored to be friends with – he sent me the complete Oakland 1980 recording. I blame him for getting me into the live shows so much!
ARE A LOT OF THE UPLOADS FROM PHYSICAL BOOTLEGS THAT YOU OWN? IF SO HOW MUCH MATERIAL IS IN YOUR COLLECTION THAT HASN'T BEEN UPLOADED YET?
Surprisingly no. All of my uploads were sourced from Queenzone. That website has all of Queen’s available live recordings for everybody to download. I had one upload that was from my own collection (a Live Aid bootleg), but I deleted it when a better version popped up on Queenzone! I pretty much uploaded everything that is available on Queenzone. I’m currently re-uploading some shows due to better sources being circulated.
TELL ME A LITTLE MORE ABOUT THE LIVE AID BOOTLEG?
It’s a Live Aid bootleg that was sourced from a radio broadcast. I bought that back in 2011 during the Breakthru (North American Queen Fan Convention) event. I already had the official Live Aid performance from the Rock Montreal set, so this was going to be an interesting listen.
WHAT KINDS OF TECHNICAL THINGS DO YOU DO TO THE AUDIO BEFORE POSTING...DO YOU TRY TO CLEAN UP BAD SOURCES FOR EXAMPLE?
Every once in a while, you’ll run into a recording that runs at the wrong speed. Since all of Queen’s recordings were made in the 70s and 80s, it’s a crapshoot on the quality and if it runs at the right speed. Nowadays, virtually every recording you can find from today’s era is in excellent quality (thanks to digital recorders). I had recordings that ran at least 2 semitones off of the original and although it was hilarious to hear, I couldn’t just leave it in the original speed. I try to at least get the tape speed right and eliminate tape hiss. The latter of the two is difficult because if you overdo it, it can remove too much sound and not sound the best. The hiss reduction is pretty much a trial-and-error thing for me.
WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE BOOTLEG FROM EACH TOUR AND WHICH IS YOUR FAVORITE SHOW OVERALL?
Good questions! This is one of those questions that I have to really think about since there are so many excellent shows from each tour. Here are the answers:
Queen I Tour – Manchester 1973.
Queen II Tour – Rainbow 1974 (the official release it absolutely brilliant).
Sheer Heart Attack Tour – Either Rainbow 1974 or Tokyo from May 1st 1975.
A Night At The Opera Tour – Boston 1976.
A Day At The Races Tour - Copenhagen 1977.
News Of The World Tour – Either Philadelphia 1977 or a tie between Stockholm 1978/Copenhagen 1978.
Jazz Tour – Tie between the second New York concert (November 17th 1978) and Oakland 1978. The 1979 Live Killers leg has to go to Cologne.
Crazy Tour – Hammersmith 1979.
The Game Tour 1980 – Oakland 1980.
The Game Tour 1981 – Sao Paulo (1st night) or Monterrey 1981.
Hot Space Tour – Edinburgh (1st night)
The Works Tour – Stuttgart 1984
The Magic Tour – 2nd Leiden 1986
Out of all of those shows, my favorite has to be Hammersmith 1979 (Oakland 1980 is a very close second). That was the first non-official video I saw way back in 2008. It always gets a listen from and me and I never tire of that show.
WHAT ARE THE STANDOUT SONG PERFORMANCES FROM EACH TOUR?
Ah… this one is hard! So many songs, so many great performances! Pretty much every song that carried over from different tours is performed differently – so it’s hard to really narrow it down! I’ll give it a shot:
Queen I Tour – Ogre Battle, Liar
Queen II Tour – Son And Daughter, Father To Son, Liar
Sheer Heart Attack Tour – In The Lap Of The Gods…Revisited, White Queen, Killer Queen, March Of The Black Queen, Bring Back That Leroy Brown, Liar, Seven Seas Of Rhye.
A Night At The Opera Tour – The medley with Bohemian Rhapsody, Killer Queen, The March Of The Black Queen, and the Bo Rhapsody reprise. Other songs are Sweet Lady, Bring Back That Leroy Brown, and The Prophet’s Song.
A Day At The Races Tour – Tie Your Mother Down, White Queen, Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy, Death On Two Legs, and Sweet Lady.
News Of The World Tour – We Will Rock You (Fast and Slow), We Are The Champions, Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy, White Man, It’s Late, Spread Your Wings, Now I’m Here, The Millionaire Waltz, Liar, Get Down Make Love, Somebody To Love, I’m In Love With My Car, and My Melancholy Blues.
Jazz/Live Killers Tour – Dreamer’s Ball, Brighton Rock (with the instrumental sections), Keep Yourself Alive (with the Fun It intro), If You Can’t Beat Them, and Now I’m Here.
Crazy Tour – Don’t Stop Me Now, Somebody To Love, Bohemian Rhapsody, ’39, Spread Your Wings, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Let Me Entertain You, Save Me, Now I’m Here, Keep Yourself Alive, We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions, and Sheer Heart Attack.
The Game Tour (1980 and 1981) – Let Me Entertain You, Play The Game, Need Your Loving Tonight, Save Me, Mustapha, Death On Two Legs, Somebody To Love, Now I’m Here, Dragon Attack, Another One Bites The Dust, Fat Bottomed Girls, and Love Of My Life.
Hot Space Tour – The Hero, Action This Day, Somebody To Love, Staying Power, Under Pressure, Back Chat, Now I’m Here, Dragon Attack, Save Me, Fat Bottomed Girls, Another One Bites The Dust, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, and Tie Your Mother Down.
The Works Tour – Somebody To Love, Hammer To Fall, It’s A Hard Life, Love Of My Life, I Want To Break Free, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Dragon Attack, Radio Ga Ga, and the Impromptu.
The Magic Tour – One Vision, Tear It Up, Tie Your Mother Down, A Kind Of Magic, the Impromptu, Under Pressure, Another One Bites The Dust, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Bohemian Rhapsody, Radio Ga Ga, and Hammer To Fall.
WHICH TOURS HAVE FREDDIE IN THE BEST VOICE AND WHICH HAVE HIM STRUGGLING WITH HIS WELL PUBLICIZED VOCAL NODE PROBLEM?
Which tours have Freddie in the best voice and which have him struggling with his well publicized vocal node problem?
If you want Freddie at the top of his game, the Crazy Tour from late 1979 is probably the best tour for his vocal performances. He was unstoppable on that tour. It’s probably the only tour (with the nodes) where he’s completely healthy for the duration of the shows. If you listen to the Newcastle or Hammersmith performances from that tour, Freddie’s singing stuff like Don’t Stop Me Now pretty much dead on (with the chorus high notes like the record version) and he sounds effortless moving up and down the scales. He sounded pretty strong on the early tours (Queen I through the European Sheer Heart Attack shows) before the nodules appeared, and he was strong on the News Of The World Tour. The Game Tour has him sounding good on most shows, Hot Space has some really good vocal shows on the last couple weeks of the European Tour, and the Magic Tour is pretty good as well.
If you want Freddie’s weakest tours, the Jazz Tour (most specifically the Japanese tour) and the Works Tour are the biggest offenders. The Jazz Tour was extremely long and demanding – and when you combine that with all the partying, it’s going to hurt your voice (especially if you already have a vocal condition to begin with). The Works Tour is more of a hit/miss affair where Freddie can sound great on one show, and then on the next night, his voice is almost completely shot. Both of those tours have redeeming qualities (like the musicianship) so it’s not a total disaster (not even close), but when Freddie’s voice is screwed up – it’s hard to ignore.
NOW OF COURSE QUEEN WEREN'T JUST FREDDIE MERCURY...WHAT DO YOU THINK WERE THE STANDOUT SHOWS/TOURS FOR BRIAN, JOHN AND ROGER?
Some of Brian’s best shows are on the early tours – where he seemed to try out a lot more stuff during his solo spots. He is an amazing guitar player and I always love listening to any era of his playing – but if I had a choice, I always go for his live guitar work from the 70s live shows. For Roger, I love his playing on all the tours – but I have a fondness for his playing on the Sheer Heart Attack, News Of The World, and Opera Tours. He was fast, furious, energetic, and he was in the pocket. His fills are insane. John was brilliant on every single tour. I especially love his funky playing on the Hot Space Tour. Check out Dragon Attack and Liar from those 1982 shows. Deacon was the man – a brilliant musician who doesn’t get enough credit for his contributions to Queen and to music in general.
WHAT ARE THE SHOWS THAT YOU KNOW EXIST BUT NO MATTER HOW HARD YOU SEARCH THEY REMAIN ELUSIVE?
Shows from the Crazy Tour are at the top of my list. There’s only 4 recordings that circulate from that tour (Glasgow, two Newcastle shows, and Hammersmith). Bob’s site mentions that tapes from Manchester and Liverpool are out there somewhere. Oh – I’d cut my nuts off to get those recordings! ;)
WHICH ARE THE BEST SOUNDING BOOTLEGS FROM A TECHNICAL STANDPOINT FOR PEOPLE NEW TO COLLECTING BEFORE THEY GRADUATE TO THE POORER SOUNDING MATERIAL?
For anybody who wants to start listening to Queen’s live shows, Boston 1976 is one of the first things to go for. The quality is insanely good. Other great recordings are Chicago 1978, Vancouver 1978, London 1973, Houston 1977, Hammersmith 1979, Edinburgh 1982, Stuttgart 1984, Tokyo 1985, Mannheim 1986, and Osaka 1985.
THE ARTWORK OF BOOTLEGS CAN AT TIMES BE INSPIRED...WHILE AT OTHER TIMES IT CAN SEEM VERY THROWN TOGETHER...WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITES/DISLIKES?
My favorite bootleg artwork has to be from Milwaukee 1975. There’s a bootleg out there from the “Gypsy Eye” label that named the recording “In The Lap Of The Queen.” It has all the Queen members wearing sunglasses and smiling at the camera. It’s a cool picture! My least favorite has to be from Vienna 1984 (1st night). It’s not that it looks bad, but whoever did the artwork altered a group shot of the band. They did some weird effect with the texture and it makes the band members look really weird like a cartoon or something.
A LOT OF THE BOOTLEGS HAVE VERY INTERESTING TITLES...WHAT ARE THE BEST AND WORST IN YOUR OPINION?
My favorite title has to be “Dedicate To Great Tits, Great Ass.” That’s the title of the Mr. Peach-sourced bootleg of the April 23rd 1979 Tokyo show. Probably the most amusing title for a Queen show I’ve seen. My least favorite is “European News Of The World Tour.” The bootleggers completely screwed up the tour timeline by mentioning the News Of The World Tour on a recording from the European Day At The Races Tour (Gothenburg 1977)!
WHAT ABOUT LIVE AID? I THINK...GIVEN THE OCCASION AND THE PRESSURE EVERY ARTIST MUST HAVE BEEN UNDER,THAT QUEEN AND FREDDIE WERE PHENOMENAL ON THE DAY. IT'S MY PERSONAL FAVORITE AND I FIND IT THEIR MOST INSPIRING PERFORMANCE. LIVE AID WAS OFFICIALLY RELEASED SO THE FOLLOWING QUESTION DEALS PURELY WITH PERFORMANCE.
SO MY QUESTION IS THIS...KNOWING HOW YOU'VE STUDIED PAST SHOWS...HOW DOES THE LIVE AID PERFORMANCE STACK UP?
Queen were amazing at Live Aid. Anyone who tells you otherwise is absolutely crazy. They were indeed the best band out on that stage. They took the time to rehearse their set, and the results paid off. While it’s hard to compare a 20 minute set to one of their actual concerts, it’s easier to look at the individual song performances. Live Aid has the most amazing Radio Ga Ga vocal performance by Freddie. He completely nailed that vocal better than any version I’ve heard (including the studio version). Considering that Freddie was fighting laryngitis, he really was at the top of his game at Live Aid. He sings Bohemian Rhapsody with power and clarity without any sort of roughness. The We Are The Champions from Live Aid is one of the gutsiest performances from Freddie. Before I heard the broadcast version of Live Aid, I had to really listen for Freddie singing the chorus parts in the original octave (like the studio version). When I listened to the broadcast version for the first time, I was absolutely shocked on how good he sounded on the choruses. I played that performance probably 12 times in the same day. I showed my friends the recording and they couldn’t believe it. The unofficial broadcast made Live Aid even better than what it originally was (you can hear Freddie’s voice up front easier).
Live Aid definitely ranks extremely high – one of my favorite Queen recordings ever.
SO TO END WITH GREG WHAT CAN WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING ON YOUR CHANNEL IN THE FUTURE?
You’ll see more Queen-related uploads ;)
On a more serious note, I’ll be uploading newer/alternative sources of shows that need them. I’ll be bummed out when I completely run out of shows to upload, but there’s always hope for additional sources or new recordings to surface. I plan on working on a few miscellaneous projects here and there to keep myself busy -- I can’t let that channel go to waste. I absolutely love reading all the comments and replying to them. I had to get a hand transplant recently since my original hands stopped working in the middle of replying to all the comments on Youtube. I’m also working with other subscribers with Queen uploads as well. Although people paint me as “the guy that uploads Queen shows,” I can’t be the only one doing it. I’ve met some amazing people through Facebook and Skype that are huge fans of Queen and some of them are way younger than me! They became fans of Queen at a younger age then when I first became a Queen fan! It’s amazing to see the younger generations getting into all this live recording stuff. I think it’s awesome to have fans of different generations working together to bring all this music for the general public to hear. I also love reading everybody’s different views on shows. I can actually learn stuff and really get to hear different points of view from various sources. I try to maintain contact with everybody as best as I can – whether it’s Skype, Youtube, Facebook, or email!
It’s been a pleasure doing this. Thank you for the questions!
- Gregsynthbootlegs
Many thanks to Greg Barnes from youtube channel :
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