6 February 1979, Queen performed @ Dom Sportova, Zagreb, Yugoslavia “Live Killers Tour”
Zagreb and Ljubljana were Queen’s only visit to (what was) Yugoslavia (Now Croatia) They were amongst the biggest concerts in the country of the decade.
“Is everyone Feelin’ Okay? Alright? I must say it’s really nice to be here in Yugoslavia. Thank you for giving us such a nice welcome. We have a lot of music to play for you tonight. This next song happens to be the latest single, right here – this is called ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’, says Freddie with enthusiasm.
During ‘Now I’m Here’, Freddie, as usual at this point of the evening, tries to entice the Yugoslavian audience to do what all the other European fans do at this point; mimic everything he sings or speaks. The locals are baffled by it, however, and remain silent. Freddie summons them to repeat him, but they don’t; they just look up at him, bemused.
“This ain’t gonna work, but I’m gonna try”. The response is minimal but Freddie does not give up – it isn’t in his nature. Eventually, inevitably, he has them repeating a lyric or two. Then, instead of going into the “I think I’ll stay around” part of the song, Freddie coaxes them into an unscheduled part of “Mustapha”, and this they do repeat. When he’s finished, Brian resumes ‘Now I’m Here’ and Queen are back on track again.
Unlike their German, Dutch and Swiss counterparts, the Yugoslavian fans are unfamiliar with the words, and this is a relatively tame affair. Freddie helps them through and they soon get the idea. They will be ready for Freddie next time.
Brian says after the his solo, “Thank you. You’re great! Now, we’d like to welcome back the rest of the Queen group. On drums… Mr Roger Taylor. On bass guitar… Mr John Deacon. And on virtuoso maracas and vocals… Mr Freddie Mercury.”
Three minutes of video footage from this show allegedly exist in the archive of a Croatian television station.
