31 January 1975 – Queen flew to New York to start ‘Sheer Heart Attack’ Tour.
Queen left for the USA and their first headlining tour, amid much excitement. They were looking forward to being top of the bill and using all new technology in lights and sound they had taken with them. With their sights set on conquering America on their own, they flew to the Beacon Theater in New York on 31st of January to tighten their set list for their upcoming tour.
They were coming off of a six-week break. US tours were generally longer than most tours, since there’s more ground to cover. Queen’s two month tour would involve thirty-eight shows at thirty different venues. To provide further promotion, the band would give at least two radio interviews in each city, which became a source of irritation among the band, especially Roger, who later admitted that he was often hungover during the interviews, and his threshold for answering the same tedious questions was considerably lower than usual.
The band were all slightly apprehensive too. ‘Killer Queen’ had been released a couple of months previously and had sold quite well, reaching number five in the rock charts, but they still didn’t know how they would be received.
They needn’t have worried — the tickets for all the shows throughout the tour sold out so quickly that several extra dates had to be added to cope with the demand. They often found themselves playing two shows in a day, both to sell-out crowds.
Their first gig was at the Agora Theater in Columbus on the 5th of February, supported by Kansas, whom they had met during the Mott The Hoople tour, and Mahogany Rush. The American band Styx occasionally stood in for Kansas when they were playing gigs of their own. The American press received the first concert enthusiastically.
Unfortunately for Queen, the tour was marred by further health problems. Because of the demanding itinerary, Freddie’s voice gave out completely after the second show in Philadelphia.
He was barely able to speak, he had to consult with a throat specialist at the Philadelphia University Hospital. Jack Nelson and Dave Thomas stayed in Philly with Freddie while the rest of the band travelled on to Washington, their next stop. The specialist told Freddie he might have two throat nodules, caused by him having strained his voice. He recommended that Freddie refrain from singing, and spoke as little as possible, for at least three months. Freddie not wanting to disappoint the band or the fans decided to test out his voice on one more show and took the stage at the gig in Washington, he and his band mates knew this may be their last show for some time as Freddie was suffering, but whether it was the thought of not being able to do anything for a while that did it, or whatever, they played one of the best shows they had ever given
Freddie did see another specialist in Washington for a second opinion. He was told that he didn’t have nodes but his throat was badly swollen and he needed to rest his voice as much as possible. Everyone was very relieved: nodes might have meant an operation and the swelling, though inconvenient and painful, was easier to cope with.
A silent Freddie reluctantly agreed to cancel several shows to allow his throat time to heal. Complete rest was his only cure. He was given a course of antibiotics and painkillers to try and ease the pain and take down the swelling.
Nonetheless, their North American tour was highly successful even with the hiccups of Freddie struggling with his voice.