#mott the hoople
May 7–11, 1974
Six Queen appearances in new York city, at the URIs Theatre Broadway (now The Gershwin Theatre), as the opening band Mott the Hoople. The audience is about 2000 people. Fragments from the book Jackie Gunn and Jim Jenkins «As It Began»:
«From May 7 to 11, 1974, Mott and Queen had scheduled concerts in New York City, at the Uris Theatre on Broadway, where rock concerts had never been held before! The owners of the theater were slightly alarmed by the upcoming events, but promoter Ron Delsener reassured them, and all six concerts were completely sold out.
Unfortunately, the theater suffered little damage, because some viewers extinguished cigarette butts directly on the carpet. However, Ron inspected the room before the first concert, counted all the existing holes from cigarette butts, and after the concert again walked through the rows for the same purpose, so that the group was fined only for new damage to the coating.
On May 11, at the last concert, during a gala performance with Mott (performed, of course, by All The Young Dudes), Brian, who had not been feeling well for the past few days, suddenly lost consciousness. He was forced to go to the hospital in Boston before the next concert. The band was looking forward to hearing about Brian’s health to decide whether to cancel the shows or not. The doctors were adamant: they should cancel the concerts not only in Boston, but also the whole American tour, because Brian has viral hepatitis!
Brian recalls: «The first day I woke up at Parker House in Boston, I felt like my whole body was filled with lead, I tried to eat a grapefruit on a friend’s advice to be in shape, literally dragged myself to the bathroom mirror and saw that I was turning yellow! Suddenly, our dream of conquering America came to an end. I felt guilty, as if I had let everyone down, they took me and put me on a plane back to Britain, where I was bedridden for six weeks! And that was just the beginning!..»
Elektra Records contacted all the people who contacted Brian to make sure everyone was vaccinated against hepatitis, which meant that all the other Queen members, all journalists, Mott The Hoople, tour managers, roadie and many others were interviewed. The label received extensive information from the doctors at the hospital, where the group was vaccinated before leaving for Australia. The conclusion was unambiguous: Brian was infected when using a dirty syringe or needle, which caused all subsequent problems with his hand, which bothered him since January 1974. Mott The Hoople continued the tour, replacing Queen with the canadian band Kansas.»
Many years later, Roger recalled: «Poor Brian was yellow, bright yellow, and I was amazed at how we managed to get him through the check-in queue at Kennedy airport in New York. The poor man could hardly stand, we put him on a plane, took him home, then took him to the hospital. He was sick. We were devastated. You know, the tour was interrupted because it was our first trip to America, so we had mixed feelings about it, but on the other hand, we were very worried about Brian…».
Photos from the concerts May 7 to 11, 1974 in New York:
