The tour began on 7 June 1986 in
Stockholm. During the 21 June concert at the
Maimarktgelände,
Mannheim, Marillion frontman
Fish sang "
Tutti Frutti" with Mercury. Five days later at the
Waldbühne,
West Berlin, the group played an impromptu version of
Led Zeppelin's "
Immigrant Song". A cover of
Shirley Bassey's "
Big Spender" was performed twice on the tour, having been regularly featured in the group's early days. The concert at
Slane Castle on 5 July was marred by bad weather and crowd violence. The group played
St James' Park,
Newcastle, on 9 July. All profits for the concert were donated to
Save the Children Fund. Support band
INXS were delayed because of traffic. During the tour, Mercury told the audience about rumours that Queen would disband, and flatly denied them. All 72,000 tickets for the 11 July show at
Wembley Stadium sold out quickly, so a second date was added for the following night. The group played for over 150,000 people over the two nights. The first was played during bad weather, but the second was clear and filmed by
Tyne Tees and recorded by
Capital Radio for a future television and radio broadcast. Giant inflatable models representing the cartoon version of the group on the
A Kind of Magic album cover were released; three were caught by the crowd, while one landed in
Chelmsford approximately 35 miles away. During the show, Mercury addressed the audience, again denying rumours that Queen were splitting up, adding "we're gonna stay together until we fucking well die". After the second show, Mercury played an impromptu set at
Kensington Roof Gardens with Fish,
Samantha Fox and
Gary Glitter. The concert at the
Népstadion,
Budapest, on 27 July was one of the first concerts by a major rock group behind the
Iron Curtain. As well as 80,000 tickets selling out, a further estimated 45,000 people listened to the group outside. Some fans had travelled from as far away as
Russia and
Poland to see the concert. The show was professionally filmed on
35 mm movie film by 17 of Hungary's best cameramen. The gear employed, including seventeen cameras and 25 miles of film, was all that was accessible in the country, and the Hungarian government approved the entire operation. During the show, the group performed an acoustic arrangement of the traditional Hungarian folk song "Tavaszi Szél Vizet Áraszt". Mercury wrote the lyrics on the palm of his hand. The
Knebworth concert on 9 August 1986 was added to the end of the tour because earlier dates at Wembley Stadium had sold out. 120,000 fans attended, making it the group's biggest UK concert. The stage featured 5,000 amplifiers, of cable and a video screen. This was the last live concert featuring the classic line-up of Queen.
Henry Lytton Cobbold, 3rd Baron Cobbold, owner of Knebworth Castle, later said he felt it was one of the best Queen gigs, but owing to an oversight, nobody remembered to tape video footage of the concert, although the show was professionally multitracked, along with handheld audience footage capturing the show. Queen flew into the show from Battersea Heliport in West London in a helicopter emblazoned Queen A Magic Tour, photographed from an accompanying aircraft by official tour photographer
Denis O'Regan, as featured across the centrefold of the
Live Magic album. The tour played to more than 400,000 fans, and earned the group £11 million. Supposedly, it was the only Queen tour that made a profit. ==Aftermath==