City: Dortmund, Germany
Venue: Westfalenhalle
Date: January 21, 1979

Presumed setlist:
We Will Rock You (fast), Let Me Entertain You, Somebody To Love, Death On Two Legs, Killer Queen, Bicycle Race, I'm In Love With My Car, Get Down Make Love, You're My Best Friend, Now I'm Here, Mustapha (intro), Don't Stop Me Now, Spread Your Wings, Dreamer's Ball, Love Of My Life, '39, It's Late, Brighton Rock, Fat Bottomed Girls, Keep Yourself Alive, Bohemian Rhapsody, Tie Your Mother Down, Sheer Heart Attack, We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions, God Save The Queen



 
         

The first picture was taken on the day of the concert in front of Dortmund's main railway station, about three kilometres from the concert hall.

The audience has a ball throughout, and don't seem to notice (or care) that Freddie's voice isn't in too great shape for this show.

The tension breaks during the vocal exchange of Now I'm Here when Freddie laughs at his efforts to reach for a high note. "I ain't gonna make the top note," he contends, and he continues on. Soon he tries the same scale again and hits the high note this time.

This is the first known instance of an audience chanting their request for Mustapha from the Jazz album, and Freddie singing the a cappella intro for them (as heard on Live Killers before Bohemian Rhapsody). Some fans in the audience are disappointed when the band don't play the song itself, and they even repeat their chant after the next song. "We just might do that one of these days," says Freddie. They would do so on the next European tour, although it wouldn't stop in Dortmund.

Tonight is the first known performance of Don't Stop Me Now. The song would always be performed with Freddie only playing the piano intro and Brian noodling some lines that resemble the melody. The breakdown section of the song would vary from night to night, as it would be greatly extended from the studio version.

Roger's effortless vocalizing in the intro of Dreamer's Ball finds Freddie jokingly responding with "I hate you, bitch!"

After the song, Brian: "We'd like to do this next one in response to almost no popular demand at all," referring to Love Of My Life. He states this facetiously, as the audience were singing quite a lot during the show, as heard on the recording. A fan who attended the show confirms that Freddie and Brian did perform the song (it is the one song missing from the recording), and he recalls purchasing Live Killers and fondly remembering precisely how that moment of the show felt.

This fan also recalls how many people had brought along bicycle bells to the show with hopes of ringing them during Bicycle Race, and how the band left them in confusion when the shortened version of the song led into I'm In Love With My Car, eliminating their chance to ring their bells to mimic those heard on the studio version.

The audience sing along for most of the show, and with Mercury's ailing voice he appreciates their enthusiasm, even thanking them after Now I'm Here for their participation. He even leaves holes in Bohemian Rhapsody for them to fill in, and they do so dutifully.


Recording length: 78 minutes (1 CD, incomplete)
Quality: B
Source: Audience
Lineage: AUD > ? > CDR (x)
Track listing:
We Will Rock You (fast), Let Me Entertain You, Somebody To Love [cut], You're My Best Friend [cut], Now I'm Here, Mustapha (intro), Don't Stop Me Now, Spread Your Wings, Dreamer's Ball, '39, Keep Yourself Alive, Brighton Rock, Fat Bottomed Girls, Tie Your Mother Down, Sheer Heart Attack, We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions, God Save The Queen [cut]


The recording is a bit distant, as audience members often drown out the band.

It clocks in 81 minutes, but that's because the last half of Somebody To Love has been stitched in from Seattle '77. A few songs are slightly cut at the beginning and/or end and thus fade in or out respectively. This is one of those unusual recordings where someone down the line (most likely the taper) mangled with it beyond the norm for reasons of their own.

Keep Yourself Alive wasn't performed after '39, as cross-fades can clearly be heard. The editor probably moved the track to be after '39 so the running order would be closer to echoing that of the Live Killers album.

Also worth noting is the editing job done between Dreamer's Ball and '39. Roger is heard shaking his tambourine and John is heard warming up on his fretless bass (both in preparation for '39) while Brian plays some Love Of My Life-like bits on his guitar. And then suddenly Freddie suggests they do '39, which is unusual compared to the other shows on the tour. Upon closer examination, however, it sounds like a mixture of two parts of the tape being played at the same time, cross-faded to layer on top of one another.


Recording length: 89 minutes (1 CD, incomplete)
Quality: B / B-
Source: Audience
Lineage: AUD > Cassette (x) > WAV (GoldWave speed correction) > FLAC level 8
Track listing:
We Will Rock You (fast), Let Me Entertain You, Somebody To Love [cut], Death On Two Legs [cut], Killer Queen, Bicycle Race, I'm In Love With My Car, Get Down Make Love, Now I'm Here, Mustapha (intro), Don't Stop Me Now, Spread Your Wings, Bohemian Rhapsody [cut], Dreamer's Ball, '39, It's Late [cut], Brighton Rock, Fat Bottomed Girls, Keep Yourself Alive, Tie Your Mother Down, Sheer Heart Attack [cut]


Another cassette dating back to the 80s has a much different track listing and edits. While it has the Somebody To Love hybrid with the Seattle '77 LP and is still missing Love Of My Life (with the same cross-fade trick as the copy listed above), Keep Yourself Alive is in its correct spot, and Bohemian Rhapsody, absent from previous copies, is tagged onto the end of side A (with a huge cut in the middle of the song).

The medley (Death On Two Legs through Get Down Make Love) seems to come from an alternate source from Dortmund, as its quality is inferior to the rest of the show and it doesn't match any other shows from the tour. It's Late is heard here for the first time as well, and there is some more tape at the beginning of the show.

There are some speed issues in a few spots, and Don't Stop Me Now particularly has some tape warble.

Between the two available copies the show is nearly complete, with only about ten minutes missing.




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