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The Works Tour in 1984/1985 was one of Queen's largest tours and included the Brazil Rock in Rio festival—in which they appeared on stage at two o'clock in the morning in front of 470,000 people during the first night and 250,000 on the second night. This tour is the first time Queen did not perform in North America. The lack of US dates is seen as peculiar given that Mercury had started living in New York around this time. The album was partially recorded in Los Angeles, and Queen had changed their US label from Elektra to Capitol. It was rumored that a full-scale US tour would put too much strain on Mercury's voice. Both media reports (e.g. covering the Wembley Arena show) and bootleg recordings throughout the tour show that Mercury would sometimes have vocal difficulties. Usually Mercury wore leotards reminiscent of his seventies attire but, in keeping with its unconventional video, on a number of occasions he would make a cameo appearance dressed, or partly dressed, in drag when "I Want to Break Free" was being performed. This sometimes received a mixed reception. Audiences reproduced the synchronised hand-clapping routine that appeared in the "Radio Ga Ga" video during the choruses of this song. In this tour, the band brought back some of the material from their first three albums into the set-list as part of a 'flash-back' medley. Rick Parfitt from Status Quo also appeared on-stage with the band during one of their London gigs and Tony Hadley from Spandau Ballet appeared on-stage with the band during their only New Zealand concert.

Queen were to participate in two music festivals (in 1984 and 1986) at Montreux in Switzerland, where they lip-synched a small selection of their latest material. This surprised many onlookers as the band had often spoken out strongly against this style of performance. The concerts were filmed and then broadcast to many millions of people throughout Europe. To their fans, it seemed obvious that the band, as well as some members of the audience, were dis-oriented and somewhat confused during these faked performances.

The 1984 performances in Sun City, South Africa landed the band in hot water. Many well-known acts, both before and after Queen, have played at the holiday resort in the desert and were not subsequently criticized for it. The international deploration of apartheid, however, would reach a high-point shortly after the band performed. Many action groups, including a group of musicians called Artists United Against Apartheid, publicly condemned Queen for their appearances at the resort. To try to calm the waters, Queen officially released a statement that they had no wish to promote racial prejudice.


Lyrics

Buddy you're a boy make a big noise
Playin' in the street gonna be a big man some day
You got mud on yo' face
You big disgrace
Kickin' your can all over the place
Singin'

We will we will rock you
We will we will rock you

Buddy you're a young man hard man
Shoutin' in the street gonna take on the world some day
You got blood on yo' face
You big disgrace
Wavin' your banner all over the place

We will we will rock you
(Sing it!)
We will we will rock you

Buddy you're an old man poor man
Pleadin' with your eyes gonna make you some peace some day
You got mud on your face
Big disgrace
Somebody better put you back into your place

We will we will rock you
(Sing it!)
We will we will rock you

(Everybody)

We will we will rock you
We will we will rock you

(Alright)