| City: | Tokyo, Japan |
| Venue: | Nippon Budokan |
| Date: | May 9, 1985 |
| Setlist: | Machines (tape), Tear It Up, Tie Your Mother Down, Under Pressure, Somebody To Love, Killer Queen, Seven Seas Of Rhye, Keep Yourself Alive, Liar, impromptu, It's A Hard Life, Dragon Attack, Now I'm Here, Is This The World We Created?, Love Of My Life, guitar solo, Brighton Rock (ending), Another One Bites The Dust, Hammer To Fall, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Bohemian Rhapsody, Radio Ga Ga, I Want To Break Free, Jailhouse Rock, We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions, God Save The Queen |
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This second night at the Budokan is Queen's final performance at the famed venue. This is surely Freddie's best performance of the entire Works tour. With his voice being in such pristine shape, he is in complete control. Among the standout moments is his intro to Somebody To Love, which is nothing short of breathtaking. Every song tonight is delivered with passion and conviction. Queen still had a immense impact on Japanese audiences in 1985. On one of the recordings, girls can be heard crying after Now I'm Here, when the band give everyone's ears a break for the acoustic set. It's worth noting that at the beginning of We Will Rock You, Freddie doesn't come out with the UK/Japan half and half flag, as he does on the officially-released video from two nights later. If he had done this, then on the recording there would be an enormous cheer from the audience acknowledging the gesture. Instead, Freddie jumps into the first verse pretty quickly. With this in mind, it becomes clear that on this tour the band generally wanted to do this very worthwhile and effective visual only for the biggest shows (recall Rio) - although it's worth noting that Freddie came out with the Italian flag in Milan the previous year. It would be a nightly event on the Magic tour in 1986 (except for the UK shows, naturally). |
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| Recording length: | 104 minutes (2 CD, incomplete) |
| Quality: | B- |
| Source: | Audience |
| Lineage: | AUD > ? > CDR (x) |
| Track listing: | Machines (tape), Tear It Up, Tie Your Mother Down [cut], Under Pressure, Somebody To Love, Killer Queen, Seven Seas Of Rhye, Keep Yourself Alive, Liar, impromptu, It's A Hard Life, Dragon Attack, Now I'm Here, Is This The World We Created?, Love Of My Life, guitar solo, Brighton Rock (ending), Another One Bites The Dust, Hammer To Fall, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Bohemian Rhapsody, Radio Ga Ga, I Want To Break Free, Jailhouse Rock, We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions, God Save The Queen |
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This audience recording isn't great quality, but for a while it was the only available recording from this show. |
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| Recording length: | 104 minutes (2 CDR, incomplete) |
| Quality: | A- |
| Source: | Audience |
| Lineage: | "At Last Budokan" (Masterport) |
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| Track listing: | Machines (tape), Tear It Up, Tie Your Mother Down, Under Pressure, Somebody To Love, Killer Queen, Seven Seas Of Rhye, Keep Yourself Alive, Liar, impromptu, It's A Hard Life, Dragon Attack, Now I'm Here [cut], Is This The World We Created?, Love Of My Life, guitar solo, Brighton Rock (ending), Another One Bites The Dust, Hammer To Fall, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Bohemian Rhapsody, Radio Ga Ga, I Want To Break Free, Jailhouse Rock, We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions, God Save The Queen |
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This early 2003 release introduced a new and great-sounding audience source. They did some nasty (and unnecessary) hiss reduction on it though, resulting in a lot of digital noise. There is a slight cut in Now I'm Here for a tape flip. The encores don't sound quite as vibrant, as it seems the taper repositioned his gear during the break. |
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| Recording length: | 108 minutes (2 CD, incomplete) |
| Quality: | A |
| Source: | Audience |
| Lineage: | "At Last Budokan" (Wardour) silvers |
 
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| Track listing: | Machines (tape), Tear It Up, Tie Your Mother Down, Under Pressure, Somebody To Love, Killer Queen, Seven Seas Of Rhye, Keep Yourself Alive, Liar, impromptu, It's A Hard Life, Dragon Attack, Now I'm Here [cut], Is This The World We Created?, Love Of My Life, guitar solo, Brighton Rock (ending), Another One Bites The Dust, Hammer To Fall, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Bohemian Rhapsody, Radio Ga Ga, I Want To Break Free, Jailhouse Rock, We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions, God Save The Queen Machines (tape), Tear It Up, Tie Your Mother Down, Under Pressure, Somebody To Love, Killer Queen, Seven Seas Of Rhye, Keep Yourself Alive, Liar, impromptu, It's A Hard Life, Dragon Attack, Now I'm Here [cut], Is This The World We Created?, Love Of My Life, guitar solo, Brighton Rock (ending), Another One Bites The Dust, Hammer To Fall, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Bohemian Rhapsody, Radio Ga Ga, I Want To Break Free, Jailhouse Rock, We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions, God Save The Queen |
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Wardour's first version came out in late 2004, which they claim is a transfer of the master tape. The sound is wonderfully clear, so that very well may be the case. The extra four minutes on the tape is the cheering before the encores that were axed from Masterport's version. This is a 4-disc set, with discs 3 and 4 being a copy of the Masterport "remaster". Here's a link to the always-reliable GS review: http://www.collectorsmusicreviews.com |
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| Recording length: | 108 minutes (2 CD, incomplete) |
| Quality: | A |
| Source: | Audience |
| Lineage: | "At Last Budokan" (Wardour) silvers |
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| Track listing: | Machines (tape), Tear It Up, Tie Your Mother Down, Under Pressure, Somebody To Love, Killer Queen, Seven Seas Of Rhye, Keep Yourself Alive, Liar, impromptu, It's A Hard Life, Dragon Attack, Now I'm Here [cut], Is This The World We Created?, Love Of My Life, guitar solo, Brighton Rock (ending), Another One Bites The Dust, Hammer To Fall, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Bohemian Rhapsody, Radio Ga Ga, I Want To Break Free, Jailhouse Rock, We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions, God Save The Queen |
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In April 2005, Wardour released discs 1 and 2 on their own. This version doesn't include the booklet. |
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| Recording length: | 108 minutes (2 CD, complete) |
| Quality: | A- |
| Source: | Audience |
| Lineage: | AUD > Master Cassette > WAV > CDR (x) |
| Track listing: | Machines (tape), Tear It Up, Tie Your Mother Down, Under Pressure, Somebody To Love, Killer Queen, Seven Seas Of Rhye, Keep Yourself Alive, Liar, impromptu, It's A Hard Life, Dragon Attack, Now I'm Here, Is This The World We Created?, Love Of My Life, guitar solo, Brighton Rock (ending), Another One Bites The Dust, Hammer To Fall, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Bohemian Rhapsody, Radio Ga Ga, I Want To Break Free, Jailhouse Rock, We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions, God Save The Queen |
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This third audience source emerged in 2008. |
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| Recording length: | 108 minutes (2 CD, complete) |
| Quality: | A- |
| Source: | Audience |
| Lineage: | "Final Budokan Nights" (Uxbridge) |
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| Track listing: | It's Still Rock And Roll To Me, Machines (tape), Tear It Up, Tie Your Mother Down, Under Pressure, Somebody To Love, Killer Queen, Seven Seas Of Rhye, Keep Yourself Alive, Liar, impromptu, It's A Hard Life, Dragon Attack, Now I'm Here, Is This The World We Created?, Love Of My Life [cut] Machines (tape), Tear It Up, Tie Your Mother Down, Under Pressure, Somebody To Love, Killer Queen, Seven Seas Of Rhye, Keep Yourself Alive, Liar, impromptu, It's A Hard Life, Dragon Attack, Now I'm Here, Is This The World We Created?, Love Of My Life, guitar solo, Brighton Rock (ending), Another One Bites The Dust, Hammer To Fall, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Bohemian Rhapsody, Radio Ga Ga, I Want To Break Free, Jailhouse Rock, We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions, God Save The Queen |
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In early 2009, Uxbridge bootlegged the third audience source, as well as an alternate source from the previous night, both from the same taper. |
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| Recording length: | 105 minutes (2 CDR, complete) |
| Quality: | A- |
| Source: | Audience |
| Lineage: | "Last Stand At Budokan" CDRs |
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| Track listing: | Machines (tape), Tear It Up, Tie Your Mother Down, Under Pressure, Somebody To Love, Killer Queen, Seven Seas Of Rhye, Keep Yourself Alive, Liar, impromptu, It's A Hard Life, Dragon Attack, Now I'm Here, Is This The World We Created?, Love Of My Life, guitar solo, Brighton Rock (ending), Another One Bites The Dust, Hammer To Fall, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Bohemian Rhapsody, Radio Ga Ga, I Want To Break Free, Jailhouse Rock, We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions, God Save The Queen |
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An unknown label released a fourth source of this show in 2011. It sounds a bit better than the Uxbridge source but not as good as Wardour's. |
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| Recording length: | 109 minutes (2 CD, complete) |
| Quality: | A |
| Source: | Audience |
| Lineage: | "Definitive Budokan 1985 2nd Night" (Wardour) silvers |
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| Track listing: | Machines (tape), Tear It Up, Tie Your Mother Down, Under Pressure, Somebody To Love, Killer Queen, Seven Seas Of Rhye, Keep Yourself Alive, Liar, impromptu, It's A Hard Life, Dragon Attack, Now I'm Here, Is This The World We Created?, Love Of My Life, guitar solo, Brighton Rock (ending), Another One Bites The Dust, Hammer To Fall, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Bohemian Rhapsody, Radio Ga Ga, I Want To Break Free, Jailhouse Rock, We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions, God Save The Queen |
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In 2018 Wardour released another bootleg of this show, a merge of the two existing sources. They EQ'd the main source (which accentuates more of the tape hiss), but the source tape is likely the same. |
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