City:	Oxford, UK
Venue:	New Theatre
Date:	November 20, 1973

Setlist:	Procession, Father To Son, Son And Daughter, Ogre Battle, Hangman, Keep Yourself Alive, Liar, Jailhouse Rock medley, Bama Lama Bama Loo
The recording of the soundcheck, despite the average sound quality, is a very interesting listen (hearing Ogre Battle with only bass, drums, and vocal is worth the price of admission). Most of the time is spent running portions of the songs and getting the monitor mixes right. An exasperated Brian May pleads with his sound guy John Harris of the crew after they run a bit of Son And Daughter: "Please, I must have my guitar in the monitors." Harris says, "I've got the guitar on." Brian responds, "I can't hear it here." Soon enough they get it right. There's a funny moment after Freddie breaks up Bama Lama Bama Loo because he can't hear himself well. "That's like a wet fart through the bloody monitors." The show photos were taken by Barbara Cascinari. More shots from this show can be found at http://www.repfoto.com. You have to register as a user.

Recording length:	15 minutes (1 CD, incomplete)
Quality:	B-
Source:	Audience
Lineage:	AUD > Unknown (low) generation tape TDK D90 > Sony CFD-50L > Sound blaster Live Line in > WAV > FLAC Level 8
Track listing:	Soundcheck (Ogre Battle, Procession, Father To Son, Son And Daughter, Bama Lama Bama Loo, Keep Yourself Alive) [cut]
This is an edited version of the soundcheck tape. The uncut version is 21 minutes long, but this one has been edited down to 15 minutes, removing many spots of silence during the soundcheck. Someone must have snunk in to tape this, as it was clearly recorded from somewhere in the house. At one point Brian is working with the front of house guy to get more guitar in his monitor, but he is still heard at the same volume throughout the process.

Recording length:	38 minutes (1 CD, incomplete)
Quality:	B-
Source:	Audience
Lineage:	AUD > ? > CDR (x)
Track listing:	Procession [cut], Father To Son, Son And Daughter, Ogre Battle [cut], Hangman [cut], Keep Yourself Alive [cut], Liar [cut], Jailhouse Rock medley [cut]
This is the best-sounding version of the Oxford audience tape, although it has a high-pitched hum that introduces itself part way through Ogre Battle. The EQ focuses on the top end, and the tape runs a bit fast. On every copy of the audience tape, some banter after Ogre Battle is missing (sometimes in different spots), part of Hangman is missing, and the beginning of Keep Yourself Alive is cut. The beginning of Ogre Battle, a few seconds of Liar, and the last few minutes of the show are missing on this copy. Whether or not the concert and soundcheck were recorded by the same person is currently unknown.

Recording length:	40 minutes (1 CD, incomplete)
Quality:	C+
Source:	Audience
Lineage:	AUD > Master tape > tape (x) > TDK D-90 > FLAC level 8
Track listing:	Procession [cut], Father To Son, Son And Daughter, Ogre Battle, Hangman [cut], Keep Yourself Alive [cut], Liar, Jailhouse Rock medley, Bama Lama Bama Loo
This is an inferior copy of the audience tape, but it is more complete.

Recording length:	41 minutes (acetate, incomplete)
Quality:	B-
Source:	Audience
Lineage:	"Before The Mott" acetate
Procession, Father To Son, Son And Daughter, Ogre Battle, Hangman [cut], Keep Yourself Alive [cut], Liar, Jailhouse Rock medley, Bama Lama Bama Loo
This is an early acetate bootleg of the Oxford audience tape. It is the only copy on which Procession isn't cut at the beginning.

Recording length:	22 minutes (1 LP, incomplete)
Quality:	C+
Source:	Audience
Lineage:	"A Cry Of A Screamin' Pain That's Born From Sorrow" LP
Track listing:	Procession [cut], Father To Son, Son And Daughter, Ogre Battle, Hangman [cut]
This is one of many bootlegs to come out shortly after Freddie's death. Side B is labelled as Queen's show in Newcastle two days later, but is actually part of the common Oxford audience tape. The recording runs very fast, and there is a lot of tape hiss. Side A contains three songs by Marillion, a demo from May 1980. Accordingly, the bootleg's title is a combination of lyrics by both bands: "A Cry Of A Screaming Pain" is from My Fairy King by Queen, while "A Scream That's Born From Sorrow" is from Script For A Jester's Tear by Marillion, both from their respective debut albums. A song by the J. Geils Band is tagged onto the end.

Recording length:	42 minutes plus 21-minute soundcheck (1 CD, incomplete)
Quality:	B-
Source:	Audience
Lineage:	"Supporting Mott The Hoople" silver
Track listing:	Soundcheck (Ogre Battle, Procession, Father To Son, Son And Daughter, Bama Lama Bama Loo, Keep Yourself Alive), Procession [cut], Father To Son, Son And Daughter, Ogre Battle, Hangman [cut], Keep Yourself Alive [cut], Liar, Jailhouse Rock medley, Bama Lama Bama Loo
This bootleg uses a decent enough copy of the audience tape (although Ogre Battle and Hangman are badly damaged), and includes the full soundcheck. The date printed on the back cover is definitely wrong.

Recording length:	11 minutes (1 CD, incomplete)
Quality:	B / C
Source:	Audience
Lineage:	"Ultra Rare Trax" (FQ) silver
Track listing:	Soundcheck (Ogre Battle, Procession, Father To Son, Son And Daughter, Bama Lama Bama Loo) [cut], Bama Lama Bama Loo
This 1995 Mexican compilation bootleg contains two bits of the Oxford recording - a shorter (only 9 minutes long) but superior-sounding copy of the edited version of the soundcheck (although the tape runs a bit fast), and Bama Lama Bama Loo in very rough quality.

Recording length:	11 minutes (1 CD, incomplete)
Quality:	B / C
Source:	Audience
Lineage:	"The Ultimate Rarities Collection" (FBCD) silver
Track listing:	Soundcheck (Ogre Battle, Procession, Father To Son, Son And Daughter, Bama Lama Bama Loo) [cut], Bama Lama Bama Loo
This 1996 Italian disc is a straight copy of "Ultra Rare Trax."

Recording length:	1 CD, incomplete
Quality:	?
Source:	Audience
Lineage:	"Complete Rare Demo & Studio Live" silver
Track listing:	Soundcheck (Ogre Battle, Procession, Father To Son, Son And Daughter, Bama Lama Bama Loo)
This 1996 Japanese compilation bootleg contains the Oxford soundcheck as well.

Previous Concert

Next Concert

Back to 1973 Concerts

Home