Brian May Band/London,UK 1993

Brian May’s first solo tour with his friend Cozy Powell, “BACK TO THE LIGHT TOUR 1992-1993”, has been officially released. After losing Freddie Mercury, QUEEN stopped activities, and Brian May’s next activity was attracting attention. He started his solo career in 1992, the year after Freddie’s death. Brian welcomed his old friend Cozy Powell to produce the album “BACK TO THE LIGHT” and began a world tour. The first act, “London performance on June 15, 1993”, was officially filmed and made into a work. This work is a DVD of the official video “LIVE AT THE BRIXTON ACADEMY”. First, let’s look at the position of this show in the tour overview. {April 20, 1992: Freddie Memorial Concert} {September 28, 1992 “BACK TO THE LIGHT” released} November 1992: South America (5 performances) February-April 1993: North America #1 (22 performances) May-July 1993: Europe #1 (30 performances) ←★Here★ September 12, 1993: Switzerland (1 performance) October 1993: North America #2 (8 performances) November 1993: Japan (7 performances) November-December 1993: Europe #2 (18 performances) This is the whole picture of the first solo tour. Cozy’s last visit to Japan was also a memorable one, but the London performance of this work is the 15th performance of “Europe #1” about half a year before that. It has been more than 20 years since this video was released, but it has not yet been officially released on DVD and is a masterpiece that remains buried in the darkness. In this work, we have precisely made it into a DVD using the mint quality Japanese version VHS released at that time. The quality is incredible, the VHS source is incredible. Glossy color, noise-free sound, no uneven running or distortion at the edge of the screen, which should be the fate of VHS. Of course, it should have gone through analog, but it is beautiful and neat even for modern eyes that are accustomed to digital images. If there is no information, it is of the finest quality that can only be thought of as a laser disc. The wonderfulness of the “BACK TO THE LIGHT TOUR” depicted with such beautiful images… Of course, the numbers from the solo album “BACK TO THE LIGHT” will be played, but the core of the show is QUEEN. Brian himself sings and plays the shining masterpieces. His singing voice is truly wonderful. Of course, he also gave us a beautiful voice in QUEEN, and we are well aware of his singing skill. However, I wondered if he could sing Freddie’s songs, and if he could sing a full show by himself and keep his voice up… I was worried about that at the time, but here he shows not only delicate but also powerful vocalization. Today, we have witnessed “QUEEN + ○○” with substitute singers, but still, it doesn’t feel unsatisfying at all… No, Brian’s “authenticity” surpasses even “QUEEN +”. And the backing band that supports him is the best. Spike Edney and Jamie Moses, who also support QUEEN, are great, but his ally Cozy is also great! Cozy was a migratory bird until the end, but the basis of his later years was THE BRIAN MAY BAND. It was his top priority in terms of schedule, and it seems that the condition for various bands/projects was “as long as they didn’t overlap with Brian’s”. That’s why Cozy in this work is not just “helping” but has the spirit of “my main”. Moreover, it is wonderful because that spirit is directed not towards “power” but towards “motivation”. Cozy is often thought of as a forceful artist, but in his early days he was able to compete with the mercurial Jeff Beck with delicate techniques, and even in his later years with BLACK SABBATH, he was a skilled artist who created drama with his own drum riffs. Tony Iommi also described him as “more of a percussionist than a rock drummer,” but in this work he skillfully plays both hard and soft sounds, greatly enhancing the great songs of QUEEN. However, power is also an important charm of Cozy. This is exploded in “Resurrection,” which features a drum solo. In the first place, this song itself is a vocal number adaptation of Cozy’s solo song “Ride To Win” (the guitar on the original version was also Brian). Brian’s guitar solo is interrupted by thunderous drumming, and we enter the Cozy world at once! Then, we move on to the drum solo. Although it is a relatively short solo here, it features that “1812.” Since 1984, the latter half of WHITESNAKE, the theme of “Mars” has been around for a long time, but it has been revived here. After the grand finale, they finish with “Resurrection” again, sandwiching QUEEN’s “Tie Your Mother Down”. The drum hero is truly in his element. It’s “Cozy on Stage” (and this was Cozy’s last version…). Another song unique to Cozy is “Since You’ve Been Gone”. He also played it at COZY POWELL’S HAMMER, but it was Brian who requested this song. You can see how Brian and Cozy were partners at the time. Brian May, who started his solo career to shake off Freddie’s death. Cozy Powell, the hero who supported the revival. This is “Next to QUEEN”, drawn by two allies who unfortunately did not last long. This is a piece that allows you to enjoy the colorful and powerful show in super beautiful official quality. Live at the Brixton Academy, London, UK 15th June 1993 PRO-SHOT Taken from the original Japanese VHS (TOVW-3178) 1. Back To The Light 2. Driven By You 3. Tie Your Mother Down 4. Love Token 5. Headlong 6. Love Of My Life 7. ’39 / Let Your Heart Rule Your Head 8. Too Much Love Will Kill You 9. Since You’ve Been Gone 10. Now I’ m Here 11. Guitar Extravagance 12. Resurrection 13. Drum Solo feat. 1812 Overture 14. Tie Your Mother Down/Resurrection(reprise) 15. Last Horizon 16. We Will Rock You 17. Hammer to Fall Brian May – lead vocals, lead guitar Cozy Powell – drums, percussion Neil Murray – bass guitar Spike Edney – keyboards, backing vocals Jamie Moses – rhythm guitar, backing vocals Cathy Porter – backing vocals Shelley Preston – backing vocals PRO-SHOT COLOUR NTSC Approx.89min.