| World tour byQueen | |
 Poster to the concert in Richfield, USA | |
| Location |
|
|---|---|
| Associated album | Hot Space |
| Start date | 9 April 1982 |
| End date | 3 November 1982 |
| Legs | 3 |
| No. of shows |
|
| Box office | $2.605 million ($8.49 million in 2024 dollars) |
| Queen concert chronology | |
| |
TheHot Space Tour was the ninth headlining concert tour by the Britishrock bandQueen in support of their 1982 albumHot Space. The tour started on the 9th of April in Gothenburg, Sweden and ended, after sixty-nine concerts, in Tokorozawa, Japan on the 3rd of November.[1][2]
The tour saw many changes to Queen's show. The tour was the first in which the band used a keyboardist, playing in the background. For the European leg of the tour, they usedMorgan Fisher. Fisher is best known for having been a member ofMott the Hoople in the 1970s. Queen were the opening act for Mott the Hoople's US Tour of 1974, so the band already had close connections with Fisher prior to the tour. Another connection which Fisher had with the band was through a short-lived progressive rock band calledMorgan, which he formed withTim Staffell, who was the bass guitarist and lead vocalist for the pre-Queen bandSmile.
Unlike most tours, in which the band would normally only need a few nights to become comfortable with a setlist, it would take more than a month during the start of the tour. All of the shows in April are unique as the band are undergoing an experimental period, before finally achieving an optimal setlist outline by May. The band would still continue to experiment throughout the year.Most songs from theHot Space album would be played on this tour, with "Action This Day" and "Under Pressure" being performed at every single show. Since the album itself was released on 21 May (the first night in Munich), fans at shows from the start of the tour until then would have been unfamiliar with the songs "Staying Power", "Back Chat" and "Action This Day". "Body Language" was introduced to the show briefly in May, before making a permanent return in July, and "Calling All Girls" would be introduced in July as well. "Life Is Real" would be heard at only a few concerts in August, and "Put Out The Fire" would be briefly introduced to the show in August, before permanently returning in September. "The Hero", "Sheer Heart Attack" and most of the fast version of "We Will Rock You" were dropped from July onwards, although the former would appear on the Japanese leg, and the latter would be re-introduced in September. Sheer Heart Attack would appear at least once on the North American leg of the tour, with Liar rumoured to have a performance in August.
Queen toured Europe, North America, and Japan throughout 1982. Several alterations were made to the touring schedule. The first being the cancellation of a planned concert at theRoyal Albert Hall in London, due to the venue not being able to cope with the weight of the band's light rig.[3] The second were two rescheduled concerts in England. The concert in Leeds was originally scheduled to take place atOld Trafford inManchester and the Milton Keynes concert was supposed to take place atArsenal Stadium in London. The concerts were moved due to potential noise complaints from local residents.[4][5]
A DVD documenting the band's 5 June 1982 concert at theNational Bowl in Milton Keynes was released in 2004 asQueen on Fire – Live at the Bowl.[6] The DVD Extras contained video clips and audio clips recorded in Austria and Japan.[7] The Japanese clips were recorded in Tokorozawa on the 3rd of November, 1982. They were released in Japan in 1983 simply as "Queen: Live in Japan", although the footage was trimmed down to 60 minutes.
The Hot Space Tour marked Queen's last concerts in North America to featureFreddie Mercury andJohn Deacon.Brian May andRoger Taylor returned to perform in the United States, along withPaul Rodgers, on theQueen + Paul Rodgers Tour.[8]
Queen dropped several popular songs on stage after this tour, including the fast We Will Rock You, Action This Day, Play The Game, Put Out The Fire, Save Me, Get Down Make Love, Calling All Girls, Fat Bottomed Girls,Body Language andTeo Torriatte. After this tour, Queen would take a nearly two-year long break from touring, where they recorded "The Works". During this downtime, Brian May worked on the "Star Fleet Project" with various other artists, Roger Taylor worked on his solo album "Strange Frontier", and Freddie Mercury would work on his debut solo album "Mr. Bad Guy", which would feature the touring keyboardistFred Mandel. He would be succeeded bySpike Edney on The Works Tour.
| Date (1982) | City | Venue | Attendance | Gross | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 July | Boston, United States | Boston Garden | 15,500 / 15,500 | $188,898 | [9] |
| 2 August | Toronto, Canada | Maple Leaf Gardens | 24,824 / 30,000 | $324,663 | [10] |
| 3 August | |||||
| 6 August | Detroit, United States | Joe Louis Arena | 18,024 / 19,950 | $211,505 | [9] |
| 10 August | New Haven, United States | New Haven Coliseum | 10,275 / 10,275 | $117,282 | [11] |
| 15 August | Saint Paul, United States | St. Paul Civic Center | 14,800 / 18,000 | $183,174 | [11] |
| 20 August | Houston, United States | The Summit | 13,453 / 17,048 | $157,075 | [10] |
| 21 August | Dallas, United States | Reunion Arena | 11,760 / 19,012 | $149,100 | [10] |
| 27 August | Oklahoma City, United States | Myriad Convention Center | 10,772 / 11,000 | $128,929 | [12] |
| 28 August | Kansas City, United States | Kemper Arena | 10,285 / 12,556 | $112,252 | [12] |
| 30 August | Denver, United States | McNichols Sports Arena | 10,264 / 18,000 | $131,843 | [12] |
| 2 September | Portland, United States | Memorial Coliseum | 6,832 / 12,110 | $81,438 | [12] |
| 3 September | Seattle, United States | Seattle Center Coliseum | 9,930 / 12,000 | $113,928 | [12] |
| 4 September | Vancouver, Canada | Pacific Coliseum | 10,264 / 16,696 | $140,064 | [13] |
| 7 September | Oakland, United States | Oakland Coliseum Arena | 10,969 / 14,500 | $133,066 | [13] |
| 10 September | Phoenix, United States | Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum | 13,328 / 15,000 | $157,404 | [13] |
| 14 September | Inglewood, United States | The Forum | 20,502 / 27,262 | $274,703 | [14] |
| 15 September | |||||
| TOTAL | 211,782 / 268,909 (79%) | $2,605,324 | |||
Queen
Additional musicians
