“Queen The Greatest Live” The Greatest series returns with a year-long celebration of Queen Live.

A 50-week YouTube series going behind the scenes to reveal what goes into creating a Queen show, featuring moments from iconic performances and demonstrating why the band is regarded as the ultimate live act.

Queen The Greatest Live: Big Spender (Episode 28)

A chance to revisit era-spanning archive footage of Queen’s classic show tune cover, as Freddie gets right to the point – and Brian, Roger and John lay down the bombastic groove – at Hammersmith Odeon in ’75 and Wembley Stadium in ’86.  

“Could you imagine me doing Big Spender when we were first starting? As a rock band? They'd freak. Now we do more a combination of rock ‘n’ roll and theatre.” Freddie Mercury

Queen’s kaleidoscope of influences meant almost no song was off-limits as a potential cover. From formative rock ‘n’ roll standards to classic show tunes, the band never ceased to surprise on the stage – but one song that obviously held era-spanning affection was Big Spender, showcased by this week’s archive footage from two of the band’s most famous concerts in 1975 and 1986. 

With its irresistible gold-digger lyric and fruity flourishes of brass, this timeless show tune was first performed on the Broadway stage in the 1966 musical Sweet Charity. But it’s more likely the song reached Queen’s Freddie Mercury via the definitive rendition by legendary Welsh singer Dame Shirley Bassey, the three-time James Bond soundtrack theme song provider. 

As Freddie told Hit Parader in 1977, the decision to expand Queen’s oeuvre was not made lightly. “Sneaking my cabaret influences into our act was done slowly. Could you imagine me doing Big Spender when we were first starting? As a rock band? They'd freak. Now we do more a combination of rock ‘n’ roll and theatre.”  

Having made that leap of faith, Queen never looked back. This week’s episode opens with footage from Hammersmith Odeon on Christmas Eve 1975, where the band teased the sell-out crowd – and the BBC audience watching at home – by walking offstage after the frenzied finale of In The Lap Of The Gods. Finally, with the atmosphere at fever pitch, the band returned to encore with Big Spender. 

With Roger Taylor pounding his toms in a multi-colored clown wig, Brian May reimagining the classic brass motif as an anvil-heavy slide guitar riff, and Freddie playing provocatively with the cord of his kimono – before dropping the garment entirely – it's a bravura performance topped only by the band’s showstopping reprise, eleven years later, at Wembley Stadium.   

Next week: Queen The Greatest Live - An Unforgettable Moment

Photo: © Queen Productions