City: Vancouver, BC, Canada
Venue: Pacific Coliseum
Date: December 14, 1978

Setlist:
We Will Rock You (fast), Let Me Entertain You, Somebody To Love, If You Can't Beat Them, 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, 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 tour is nearing its end, and Freddie, although he doesn't have the top of his range anymore, brings much creativity to the table in its absense. He sings very passionately throughout, and his re-interpretations of certain lines of songs are a joy to hear. While being careful with his range, he does manage to squeeze out a few higher notes out here and there. The only disappointment is his solo towards the end of Somebody To Love. He likely learned from his blunder in Chicago, and thought it'd be best if he took it down a notch until his voice settled down again.

As for the band as a whole, they offer absolutely fantastic versions of Spread Your Wings, It's Late and Brighton Rock. They play with much energy, but tonight is particularly the guitarist's night. Brian May nails everything with precision. Their vocal harmonies, for the most part, are top notch as well. The band are well into their stride late in the tour.

Aside from the terrific performance, there are a couple young men in the audience whose comments throughout their recording are entertaining as well. During the Death On Two Legs intro, one of them says, "That smoke smells like dope" (as if this kind of thing wasn't expected at a concert). His friend spots the smokers and says, "Oh, it's them!"

The instrumental interplay at the end of If You Can't Beat Them is exquisite. John Deacon's bass work changing between a mere two chords is very creative.

Some of the longest and most experimental versions of Get Down Make Love were on the Jazz tour, and the Vancouver show is no exception. Roger Taylor's drumming is a bit adventurous during Spread Your Wings.

After Dreamer's Ball, Brian says, "A little silliness there. Should keep us awake, you know." This amuses some audience members. "We'd like to thank you for filling up this beautiful place. Thanks a lot for coming." One audience member shouts in reply, "Any time!" The other one adds, "Come back more often!"

Before Love Of My Life, Freddie says, "We're gonna do something that we've been trying out a few times, depending on how the mood is, and the mood feels good." It seems Queen played the song every night, so this is probably the typical rock star chatter.

Before It's Late, one of the audience members shouts for Ogre Battle. After the song finishes, he says "that was the best song yet" - not bad, considering it's not what he had hoped for.

Tonight's version of Brighton Rock is incredible. First off, there's a small section where Brian is playing something reminiscent of the riff from Dead On Time. A short while into Brian's playing after Roger's tympani solo, one of our friends (they are now friends by this point) in the audience says, "Everybody's standing up. You don't see that very often!" The band soon begin the jam and it builds to this fantastic climax, and then - the tape cuts out.

Freddie starts to do the Fun It bit (starting with "Everybody") in the Keep Yourself Alive intro right when Brian jumps into the debut album's classic opening riff, forcing Freddie to stifle himself before anyone in the audience would realize what he was initiating.

Freddie, at the end of the show: "Good night, Vancouver! Thank you for being so good. Tremendous."

A fan, Phil Staines, recalls the night: "The band drank 14 bottles of Champagne while on stage. I counted the empty bottles. I was at the front and Roger was so drunk his eyes looked in different directions. The band did not miss a beat and there were 21 empty Champagne glasses on the drum riser. I would love to have seen their rider."

Here's a review of the show from the December 20 Vancouver Express (in place of the Vancouver Sun, which was on strike during this time).

The pictures were taken by Doug Bower.


Recording length: 115 minutes (2 CD, incomplete)
Quality: A
Source: Audience
Lineage: AUD > Master (Maxell UD90 cassettes) > Maxell XL II 90 cassettes > WAV > FLAC level 8
transfer: Fred's mics and rig (unsure - Marantz?) > vintage Akai replay deck (azimuth adjusted, no Dolby) > Sentrek 12 band analog EQ (minor low and high boost) > Denon DRM500 recording deck (Dolby on for recording) > Denon DRM500 (azimuth re-adjusted, no Dolby) > Sentrek 12 band analog EQ (more lows and highs, shaping upper bass/lower mids) > SoundBlaster live! 5.1 card (grounded and tweaked) > Wavelab 4.0 (track markers)
Track listing:
We Will Rock You (fast), Let Me Entertain You, Somebody To Love, If You Can't Beat Them, 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, Don't Stop Me Now, Spread Your Wings, Dreamer's Ball, Love Of My Life, '39, It's Late, Brighton Rock [cut], 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


This is a transfer from first generation cassettes, obviously done with much care as noted above. The recording is actually in full stereo, as it was probably done very close to the stage and centred. Freddie's vocal delay in Get Down Make Love is clearly off in one channel, as is Brian's guitar delay during Brighton Rock. The bass is particularly clear, and John Deacon's parts in Bicycle Race have never sounded better.


Recording length: 2 CD, incomplete
Quality: A
Source: Audience
Lineage: "Canadian Assault" (Wardour) silvers

   
Track listing:
We Will Rock You (fast), Let Me Entertain You, Somebody To Love, If You Can't Beat Them, 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, Don't Stop Me Now, Spread Your Wings, Dreamer's Ball, Love Of My Life, '39, It's Late, Brighton Rock [cut], 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


Wardour attempted some kind of hiss reduction, but the end result is no better or worse. It simply sounds digitally processed as opposed to real tape hiss.

The picture used for the back cover was taken in New York.

Here's a link to the always-reliable GS review: http://www.collectorsmusicreviews.com


Recording length: 2 CDR, incomplete
Quality: ?
Source: Audience
Lineage: "Right Up Front" (Breakdown)

 
Track listing:
We Will Rock You (fast), Let Me Entertain You, Somebody To Love, If You Can't Beat Them, 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, Don't Stop Me Now, Spread Your Wings, Dreamer's Ball, Love Of My Life, '39, It's Late, Brighton Rock [cut], 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


This bootleg is from the same source tape as well.




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