The Works Tour

The stage design was based on a scene from Fritz Lang's Metropolis with huge rotating cog-wheels at the rear of the stage and a brightly lit cityscape.^[1] Due to a prior ligament damage in his knee, it was somewhat of a challenge for Mercury to navigate the complex set of multiple levels and stairs. Eventually near the end of the European tour in Hanover, Mercury fell down the stairs during the performance of "Hammer to Fall".^[2] He was only able to play "Bohemian Rhapsody", "We Will Rock You", and "We Are the Champions" afterwards, shortening the concert somewhat. Due to Mercury's injury, May played the first bars of "We Will Rock You" out of anxiety to get Mercury to the hospital.

The band revived older songs for the setlist, some of which had not been performed for close to a decade such as Seven Seas of Rhye and Great King Rat. Keep Yourself Alive returned to the set after being absent for the Hot Space Tour as part of the band's medley. Somebody to Love also joined this medley after being performed standalone most nights from 1977. Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting, a song by Elton John, would also be improvised on several nights of the tour. ^[3][4]

Queen scheduled 12 performances in Bophuthatswana, South Africa, at the Sun City Super Bowl in October 1984.^[5] Due to the apartheid policy of South Africa, the United Nations requested entertainers to boycott the country and Britain's Musicians’ Union banned any of its members from performing in Sun City.^[5] Queen played anyway, despite the controversy, though several shows were cancelled after Mercury's voice gave out after three days of live performances. He was given steroids to help his ailing voice, and the tour leg was extended to include a third weekend.^[5]

The band performed two sold-out shows in at the Rock in Rio Festival, on the 11th and 18th of January 1985, but given that they went on after midnight, they technically performed on the 12th and 19th of January, respectively. After this, Queen would perform their only show in Auckland, with Tony Hadley of Spandau Ballet joining the band for Jailhouse Rock.^[6][7] After performing their final Australian leg, the band would play five shows in Japan. Their final show in Tokyo was released on VHS and Laserdisc as We Are The Champions: Final Live in Japan. The band would play two more shows in Nagoya and Osaka before ending the tour.^[8]

Queen

• Freddie Mercury – lead vocals, piano, rhythm guitar (on "Crazy Little Thing Called Love")
• Brian May – electric and acoustic guitars, backing vocals
• Roger Taylor – drums, percussions, backing vocals
• John Deacon – bass guitar, rhythm guitar (on "Staying Power"), backing vocals

Additional musicians

• Spike Edney – keyboards, synthesizer, piano, backing vocals, rhythm guitar (on "Hammer to Fall")