Today’s Blimp Time-Hop: Queen’s Last Maine Appearance

Queen made the trek to Maine 4 times from 1974 to 1980. Their first appearance in Blimpville was at the Portland Expo on April 28, 1974. They returned for number 2 at the Lewiston Armory in February of 1975.

The third Queen show in Maine happened in November of 1977, the first year of operation for Cumberland County Civic Center In 1980 they came back to Portland for the last time, able to leave their fur coats behind for a summer night in Maine.

On August 27, 1980, Queen rocked us silly on The Game Tour. The show opened with Freddie in all his outrageous brilliance, wearing a black leather motorcycle jacket and launching into Jailhouse Rock. The sheer power of his four-octave vocal range stills echoes today within the walls of the CCCC!

We can’t find the Portland setlist. Here’s what Queen played in Providence the night before our show. We figure it's probably pretty close to this.

Check out this rarely seen US TV special from The Game/Flash Gordon era! Ringo Starr and his wife, Barbara Bach are in the intro. British comedian John Cleese shows up around 22:00 to express his “distaste” for Queen. Precious stuff!