City: Tokyo, Japan
Venue: Nippon Budokan
Date: February 16, 1981

Setlist:
Jailhouse Rock, We Will Rock You (fast), Let Me Entertain You, Play The Game, Mustapha, Death On Two Legs, Killer Queen, I'm In Love With My Car, Get Down Make Love, Rock It, Save Me, Now I'm Here, Dragon Attack, Now I'm Here (reprise), Love Of My Life, Keep Yourself Alive, drum/guitar solos, Vultan's Theme, Battle Theme, Flash, The Hero, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Bohemian Rhapsody, Tie Your Mother Down, Another One Bites The Dust, Sheer Heart Attack, We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions, God Save The Queen



           

After a gutsy version of Play The Game, Freddie thoroughly enjoys himself during a drawn-out intro to Mustapha to start the medley.

Freddie, after Get Down Make Love: "Ok, we're gonna do a new song tonight, one that we haven't done for a while. This is a song written by Roger Taylor. It's off the new... it's off the album The Game." He corrects himself as the album really isn't that new anymore. "It's called Rock It!"

During the first verse of the song, he says a couple quirky things between lines. After the first stanza, he says, "I'm gonna hit that high note." After the next line, he actually hits the high B. He then quickly says to one of his bandmates, "You didn't think I was gonna go for it," and continues the song without missing a beat.

The audience's rhythmic hand-clapping throws Freddie off during the first verse of Save Me, and he has to catch up to Brian who skips the half-beat before "how I loved you" probably for the same reason. Freddie gives a strong vocal performance of the song, but when he returns to the piano for the middle eight he messes up a few of the chords.

The band offer great versions of Now I'm Here and Dragon Attack tonight.

Fat Bottomed Girls is dropped for a few nights, as it was in late 1980.

Brian drops hints of "In The Death Cell" from the Flash Gordon album at the beginning of his solo spot.

When John Deacon first had his hair cut short, road crew members remarked saying how he looked like a convict, with one of them even referring to him as "Birdman of Alcatraz." The nickname "Birdman" stuck, and the crew soon bought him the pyjamas to match, which he wore on this night, as seen in the picture above.

The first picture was snapped at the end of the show by Peter "Ratty" Hince, the head of the Queen crew (it's from Phil Sutcliffe's excellent book, The Ultimate Illustrated History of the Crown Kings of Rock). The second photo set (mostly taken by Koh Hasebe) could be from any of the five dates in Tokyo (except the second night).


Recording length: 109 minutes (2 CD, complete)
Quality: B+
Source: Audience
Lineage: "Prime Jive" (Wardour) silvers

 
Track listing:
Jailhouse Rock, We Will Rock You (fast), Let Me Entertain You, Play The Game, Mustapha, Death On Two Legs, Killer Queen, I'm In Love With My Car, Get Down Make Love, Rock It, Save Me, Now I'm Here, Dragon Attack, Now I'm Here (reprise), Love Of My Life, Keep Yourself Alive, drum/guitar solos, Vultan's Theme, Battle Theme, Flash, The Hero, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Bohemian Rhapsody, Tie Your Mother Down, Another One Bites The Dust, Sheer Heart Attack, We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions, God Save The Queen


These are discs 1 and 2 of a 4-disc set released in 2005. The sound is pretty clear, although the mix is a bit muddy.

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


Recording length: 112 minutes (2 CD, complete)
Quality: A
Source: Audience
Lineage: "The Miracle Game" (Tarantura) silvers

 
Track listing:
Jailhouse Rock, We Will Rock You (fast), Let Me Entertain You, Play The Game, Mustapha, Death On Two Legs, Killer Queen, I'm In Love With My Car, Get Down Make Love, Rock It, Save Me, Now I'm Here, Dragon Attack, Now I'm Here (reprise), Love Of My Life, Keep Yourself Alive, drum/guitar solos, Vultan's Theme, Battle Theme, Flash, The Hero, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Bohemian Rhapsody, Tie Your Mother Down, Another One Bites The Dust, Sheer Heart Attack, We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions, God Save The Queen


Tarantura's second Queen bootleg release (the first being Tokyo '75) came in May '09. It is a superb recording from an alternate source, surely the best audience recording of 1981. This taper reportedly recorded hundreds of concerts in Japan between 1970 and 1985.

While the sound is truly excellent, the source tape has been altered - there has been much compression done, saturating some of the subtleties in the sound.

Despite the cover's claim, Brian definitely does not play part of Execution Of Flash during his solo spot.


Recording length: 104 minutes (2 CD, complete)
Quality: B
Source: Audience
Lineage: AUD > Master > 2nd Gen Cassette > ? > CDR (x)
Track listing:
Jailhouse Rock, We Will Rock You (fast), Let Me Entertain You, Play The Game, Mustapha, Death On Two Legs, Killer Queen, I'm In Love With My Car, Get Down Make Love, Rock It, Save Me, Now I'm Here, Dragon Attack, Now I'm Here (reprise), Love Of My Life, Keep Yourself Alive, drum/guitar solos, Vultan's Theme, Battle Theme, Flash, The Hero, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Bohemian Rhapsody, Tie Your Mother Down, Another One Bites The Dust, Sheer Heart Attack, We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions, God Save The Queen


This third source is average quality.




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