Queen – An Afternoon At An Exhibition – ‘Stormtroopers in Stilettos’
Written by Johnny H
Wednesday, 02 March 2011 05:00
There aren’t many bands that can get me out of bed before 6 am on a cold and bleak Saturday morning in February, especially when it means a three hundred mile round trip just to see a display of memorabilia from said band. But we’re not talking just any band here, we’re talking Queen, a band that has long since left an indelible mark on my life ever since I first discovered them back around 1977/78 via their ‘News of The World’ and ‘Jazz’ albums. Back then if Kiss were like the musical equivalent to ‘Star Wars’ in my life, then Queen were like ‘Grease’, both bands chock full of high camp antics and musical theatre, the prerequisites for any truly great glam rock acts.
For those of you who may or may not know, 2011 is Queen’s fortieth anniversary, and the twentieth anniversary of Freddie Mercury’s death, and I couldn’t think of a better way to commemorate these events than via an exhibition celebrating the band’s first five albums (albums that coincidently the band’s new record label Island, are also just about to reissue in expanded 2CD editions).
Welcome then one and all to the rather splendidly named ‘Stormtroopers in Stilettos’.
On my arrival at the Old Truman Brewery in the East End of London on what was a cold and very wet morning for the exhibition’s second day; it was immediately obvious to see I was certainly not alone in my undying love of the band’s music. As assembled in the alley right next to the venue’s entrance awaiting the 11 o’clock opening time was the biggest collection of nerds you’ll see this side of a Collectormania event, and I’m more than happy to include myself as one of their number.
Whilst talking to the security to kill some time awaiting entry, the very friendly guy with the lanyard revealed that the opening Friday had seen 1,500 plus through the doors so I was more than happy to be near the front of the Saturday morning’s queue, ready for some entertainment and ready for a show. Then, once up the three flights of stars that are decked out with a pink arrow pointing the way into the event, the immediate thing that greeted me was a booming bass heavy rendition of ‘Another One Bites the Dust’ in the event’s foyer, and suddenly I’m wondering if I’ve come to the right exhibition here. I mean this song was released a full four years after the time period this exhibition celebrates ended, so why not have ‘Seven Seas of Rhye (from ‘Queen I’), ‘Procession’, ‘God Save The Queen’ or god forbid even ‘She Makes Me (Stormtroopers in Stilettos)’ playing? Perhaps I’m being a bit too picky but as I was about to enter the bedroom and living rooms of Freddie and Brian respectively (lovingly reconstructed in the Smile section) the thought of a moustachioed Mercury couldn’t really have been further from my mind at that point.
Anyway that small gripe aside, what ‘Stormtroopers in Stilettos’ does extremely well is take you on visual journey through the band’s early years up to and including 1976 when Mercury, May, Deacon and Taylor had made the full transition from simple Kensington Market wannabes to world conquering rock gods via their musical vehicle known to ‘You and I’ as Queen. Taking each album in order of release you get to see the early Rockfield Studios set up lovingly recreated, plus as many cat suits, capes and stage costumes you can squeeze into an hour or so of your life, all lovingly topped off with flight cases full of memorabilia from each of the albums. The walls are covered with dialogue and testimonials from some of todays biggest music names, but apart from some extra bits and bobs from the music press of the day there aren’t that many from Freddie, Brian, John and Roger that a die-hard fan of this era wouldn’t have already read. Although I must admit that Freddie’s quote regarding ‘A Night At The Opera’ featuring every musical instrument from a tuba to a comb was a welcome memory jogger for yours truly.
The absolute highlights of ‘Stormtroopers in Stilettos’ for me though were the video screens flickering with archive footage, some of which I recognised from bootlegs I already have, and some I immediately wanted to know more about…like what appeared to be interview footage from around ‘ANATO’ time, but being late to the consoles I simply had to delight myself with the visuals as all the headphones were taken up by as equally hungry Queen fans, and I sadly did not have all day to wait around to get my turn. Surely a DVD/Blu-ray box set of this stuff must now be in the offing given the stunning visual quality on offer here. Perhaps as also equally breathtaking were the Mick Rock and Zandra Rhodes sections, which I’ll leave anyone planning on visiting discover for themselves as visually these displays were simply stunning.
Bringing events to a close for the chronological order part of the exhibition is a simple display wall listing every Queen gig from June 27th 1970 in Truro through to September 10th 1976 in Cardiff, and suddenly I’m in a rain drenched Cardiff Castle waiting for Queen to take the stage. OK I might actually be watching video footage from the band’s free Hyde Park concert a week later that very same year, but you get my drift right? Then finally comes the only other small downer I have with ‘Stormtroopers in Stilettos’, this being the seemingly bolted on 3D ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ section just before you find yourself going back down the three flights of stairs on your way out of the exhibition. Demand was certainly high for the 3D experience, but for me it would have made much more sense to have finished things off by leading into the band’s pop years via a brief visual timeline rather than a written one that you had to be pretty sharp to actually see. Then perhaps the inclusion of ‘Another One Bits the Dust’ in the foyer might have made more sense.
All in all then ‘Stormtroopers in Stilettos’ as a celebration of the formative years of Queen’s career is a visual and aural delight for those of us who simply don’t get, and never want to get ‘We Will Bloody Rock You’, and I would urge anyone with a fondness for this classic era of the band to get along pretty damn quickly to the Old Truman Brewery as the exhibition only runs until March 12th
Oh and the best bit… It’s all FREE!!!!!