City: Ewell, UK
Venue: Technical College
Date: January 9, 1971

Possible setlist:
Keep Yourself Alive, Doin' Alright, Liar, Great King Rat, Modern Times Rock 'n' Roll, Son And Daughter, Hangman, Jailhouse Rock medley


 

Queen were one of the bands opening up for Genesis and Kevin Ayers' current project called The Whole World, with a young Mike Oldfield on bass (although Queen weren't initially on the bill, as seen in the first version of the ad above - Hard Meat broke up shortly before the gig, so Queen were drafted in on little notice).

A fan who attended the show recalls that Queen were on a sidestage, either because there was no space, or no-one was interested in having them on the main stage.

In the dressing room, according to then bassist Barry Mitchell, Peter Gabriel asked Roger Taylor to leave Queen and join Genesis, which the drummer declined. However, Genesis touring manager Richard Macphail suggests in his autobiography that it may have been the other way around, with Queen wanting Phil Collins. The book also says this is the night John Deacon met the rest of Queen - a tale told by none other than Brian May himself (it had been previously told that they met at a party).

This show would be Barry Mitchell's last with Queen. He left the band mostly due to creative differences, as he was hoping to introduce some brass on Queen's debut record. He explained his reasons in a 2018 interview: "The music wasn't my kind of music. I didn't see it progressing, which in hindsight looks foolish, but they weren't the band that they became. Freddie at the time didn't have great command of his voice. His singing was a bit off and a bit squeaky sometimes. Roger has famously described Freddie's voice as sounding like a strangled sheep. He hadn't gotten control of his voice. Brian's obviously a great guitar player. Roger's a superb drummer. For me, I saw Freddie as their weak link then, but you couldn't have foreseen what happened. He developed his voice, he got his technique right, and we all know what his voice ended up as. But it wasn't like that at the start."

Barry would go on to play briefly in a band called Crushed Butler. They would build an underground following, especially after a gig where they opened for UFO, but they were never able to score a record deal.

For years Barry was convinced that he had a recording of his final Queen show. Unfortunately it turns out that the Rock 'n' Roll medley on the tape in his collection was actually from the London '73 radio show, so there probably isn't a genuine Ewell recording in existence.

The setlist seen above is according to Barry's memory.




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