QUEEN AT THE MARQUEE, 1972
By the end of 1972, Queen were confidently blazing a trail towards rock stardom, even though it would take another year before they gained mainstream popularity. A new management and production deal with brothers Barry and Norman Sheffield, the founders of Soho’s Trident Studios, paved the way for the recording of the band’s eponymous début album while their increasingly theatrical stage presence, thanks to visionary frontman Freddie Mercury, was winning them a loyal following that expanded with every live performance.
Although earlier incarnations of the band – including Smile, featuring Brian May and Roger Taylor – had played the Marquee, December 20th 1972 marked their first appearance as a Trident act and also the first at the club with new bassist John Deacon completing the definitive line-up.
With support from Fantasy, the gig was advertised in Melody Maker simply as ‘Two Live Groups’ – such was Queen’s still relatively underground status at the time – and had been organised as a well-attended showcase by Trident in association with the NME and the Marquee.
In the early ’70s, the club’s in-house sound and lighting systems were minimal. Although it was common for name artists to bring their own equipment, having the on-site back-up of Entec as a rental source meant that good quality supplementary gear was on tap, and this proved very useful for Queen.
Before they could afford to hire their first touring systems of note from David Bowie’s Ground Control rental operation, Queen carried their own basic PA, which included an Allen & Heath mixer and Millbank 1kW amplifiers.
It fell to Entec, however, to provide the stage lighting that gave the ‘royal’ foursome an edge as they previewed ‘Keep Yourself Alive’, ‘Liar’, ‘Ogre Battle’ and ‘Great King Rat’ from the début album that would eventually be released by EMI Records the following July.
