Queen post Freddie Mercury’s first professional live footage ‘We were impatient’ | Music | Entertainment

This week’s episode of Queen the Greatest Live takes fans back to the Rainbow Theatre in London’s Finsbury Park.

The year was 1974 and the band had finally become headliners having previously supported Mott The Hoople at the 3000 seat venue a year prior.

What’s extraordinary is that this is the first time Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon were professionally filmed live.

The guitarist told Mojo in 2013: “When I see the footage of us from those shows now, I see so much confidence and adrenalin.

“And I think, ‘My God, we were such impatient boys.’”

Queen were promoting their new album Sheer Heart Attack and today’s clip showcases the live performance of Stone Cold Crazy.

As an accompanying caption highlight: “With Roger counting in the band with a bellowed proto-punk ‘1-2-3-4!’, Freddie shooting his rapid-fire vocal without missing a syllable and Brian’s spacey guitar solo scaling the heights of his Red Special’s neck, this highlight from Sheer Heart Attack has never sounded so rocking.”

Upon the release of the live album in 2014, Roger reflected: “When I listen to Queen At The Rainbow now, I find it extraordinary. I’d forgotten how heavy we were with things like Stone Cold Crazy and Flick Of The Wrist. We weren’t a pop band. We were like Led Zeppelin with harmonies…”

Next week’s episode of Queen The Greatest Live looks back at the band’s epic encores.