| City: | Manchester, UK |
| Venue: | Palace Theatre |
| Date: | October 30, 1974 |
| Setlist: | Procession, Now I'm Here, Ogre Battle, Father To Son, White Queen, Flick Of The Wrist, In The Lap Of The Gods, Killer Queen, The March Of The Black Queen, Bring Back That Leroy Brown, Son And Daughter, Keep Yourself Alive, Seven Seas Of Rhye, Liar, Stone Cold Crazy, In The Lap Of The Gods...Revisited, Big Spender, Modern Times Rock 'n' Roll, Jailhouse Rock, God Save The Queen |
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This is the beginning of Queen's first full-scale European tour. Tonight are the first performances of new songs from Sheer Heart Attack: Now I'm Here, Flick Of The Wrist, In The Lap Of The Gods, Bring Back That Leroy Brown, and In The Lap Of The Gods...Revisited (Stone Cold Crazy had already been performed as far back as 1970). Now I'm Here would be a staple in their set, performed at virtually every show hereafter, making it the song they performed most frequently throughout the years - it was clearly a unanimous band favourite, as it is the only song they performed more than Bohemian Rhapsody. This is the first show where Queen employed the use of delay on Freddie's voice - at the beginning of Now I'm Here. The band sound a bit nervous at the beginning of the show tonight, so Now I'm Here isn't quite the most brilliant version ever played. Still, the band are surely happy to be back on stage, especially Brian May who has made a full recovery from his health issues. On the Sheer Heart Attack tour, Freddie would be seen singing the line "Now I'm here" on one side of the stage amidst the darkness and dry ice, and a few bars later, at "Now I'm there," he would "appear" on the other side of the stage (a member of the crew would be dressed in an identical Zandra Rhodes outfit to the one worn by Freddie), giving a very dramatic effect. Although they no longer open the show with Father To Son, the first few bars of the song are still on playback. Brian, introducing Flick Of The Wrist, the other side of the Killer Queen single (it was a double A-side): "You probably may know, we have a little single out at the moment, and this is the one you don't usually hear on the radio." This is also the earliest known live performance of The March Of The Black Queen. Only a small portion of The March Of The Black Queen would be performed on stage as part of the medley (with the exception of the intro being played once in 1978). Queen would perform a medley of songs on most tours from here onward, and tonight it would debut in their set. The medley on this tour consists of In The Lap Of The Gods, Killer Queen, The March Of The Black Queen, and Bring Back That Leroy Brown (including Brian playing the banjo solo, as heard on the album). For this tour and the 1975 North American tour, Killer Queen is a very abbreviated version, as it is only one verse and a chorus, leading right into the guitar solo (which was never performed in full, as it was physically impossible to reproduce all of those layers of guitars live). They began performing the second verse of the song in Japan. In an interview for "Disc" with Rosemary Horide just prior to the tour, Brian May frankly said, "I'm not sure whether we'll be doing Killer Queen because it could be rather an unexciting number to stage, but we'll certainly do some of the others." Indeed, there was a certain delicacy of the song that they never were able to replicate live. Brian now uses two analog delays when performing his solo spot in Son And Daughter, something that has become a trademark of his. Even though the guitar solo was heard in Brighton Rock on the Sheer Heart Attack album, the song wouldn't be heard on stage until late 1975. On this tour, Freddie sings the verses of In The Lap Of The Gods...Revisited in falsetto in the higher octave, as on the studio version. A great example of this can be seen on the Live At The Rainbow video. For the next few years, the song would be performed with dry ice, and it also introduced pyrotechnics to their show, as on the very last note, it would very dramatically signal the end of the set proper. The song would remain in Queen's show into 1977, and would be revived for their final tour in 1986. The encore on this tour is a medley of Big Spender, Modern Times Rock 'n' Roll, and Jailhouse Rock. See What A Fool I've Been would be used as a second encore a few times the following spring in Japan. Queen now use their own recorded version of the British national anthem, God Save The Queen, as their exit music - although on this tour it plays about minute after they've left the stage. Brian May's arrangement (recorded just a few days earlier on October 27) would also close out their international breakthrough album, A Night At The Opera. The ritual of leaving the stage to this piece of music would last well over 40 years, into the Paul Rodgers and Adam Lambert eras. In addition to his Fender Strat, Brian now has an additional spare guitar - a Les Paul. But Brian ultimately wouldn't be satisfied with its sound. After this tour he would have a copy of the Red Special built for him by luthier John Birch. Brian used the Birch copy as his backup until he smashed it at a concert in 1982. The third photo was taken by Howard Barlow. |
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| Recording length: | 39 minutes (1 CD, incomplete) |
| Quality: | C+ |
| Source: | Audience |
| Lineage: | AUD > ? > CDR (x) |
| Track listing: |
Procession, Now I'm Here, Ogre Battle, Father To Son, White Queen, Flick Of The Wrist, In The Lap Of The Gods, Killer Queen, The March Of The Black Queen, Bring Back That Leroy Brown, Son And Daughter [cut] |
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While this is pretty rough quality, it is currently the best known version of the audience tape. |
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| Recording length: | 70 minutes (1 CD, incomplete) |
| Quality: | C |
| Source: | Audience |
| Lineage: | AUD > ? > CDR (x) |
| Track listing: |
Procession, Now I'm Here, Ogre Battle, Father To Son, White Queen, Flick Of The Wrist, In The Lap Of The Gods, Killer Queen, The March Of The Black Queen, Bring Back That Leroy Brown, Son And Daughter, Keep Yourself Alive, Seven Seas Of Rhye, Liar, Stone Cold Crazy, In The Lap Of The Gods...Revisited, Big Spender, Modern Times Rock 'n' Roll |
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This higher gen copy is more complete. |
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