SEPTEMBER 15, 1982 – Queen performed at the Great Western Forum in Inglewood, California, in what turned out to be their last US concert with original lead singer Freddie Mercury. The tour was ultimately not nearly as successful as previous outings. Four scheduled nights at the Los Angeles Forum had dwindled down to two when ticket sales were slow. In a 1999 interview with Mojo magazine Roger Taylor recalled, “I remember suddenly realizing that we weren’t packing them in quite as much as we used to.” Billy Squier, who opened for Queen at every show on the tour, joined them in the encore during a one-off version of Jailhouse Rock, adding vocals, and Michael Jackson met with the band backstage.
Reflecting on this tour, Squier had some kind things to say about Mercury: “He loved to perform. I think all the words about how great a performer he was have been used up. I just used to stand and watch him every night thinking, ‘How do you do that? Just how do you get away with it?’ It was the onstage Freddie that was most fearless. He believed in what he and the band were doing so much. He never projected the slightest fear or self-doubt and that just swept the audience along with him. He just knew that the show was going to work. He was made for the stage. His sense of theatricality was the key, and it was a key which so very few other rock performers have at their disposal.”
