| City: | Osaka, Japan |
| Venue: | Osaka-jo Hall |
| Date: | May 15, 1985 |
| Setlist: | Machines (tape), Tear It Up, Tie Your Mother Down, Under Pressure, Somebody To Love, My Fairy King (part), 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, Mustapha (intro), Hammer To Fall, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting, Bohemian Rhapsody, Radio Ga Ga, I Want To Break Free, Jailhouse Rock, We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions, God Save The Queen |
|
|
|
This is the last concert of the Works tour, and the band ensure this performance is a special one for their Japanese fans. It would turn out to be the final concert Queen would ever play in Japan, the place where the band first found much critical and commercial success. Before Killer Queen, Freddie leads the band into the one-two punch of The March Of The Black Queen and My Fairy King as they had done last year in Sun City. This is the last time both songs would be referenced on stage. Freddie's voice isn't quite as good as it was a week ago, although he does get a bit stronger as the show progresses. Despite not being able to hit the highest notes, his delivery of It's A Hard Life is perhaps the most emotional it would ever be - which may have been a reflection of his personal life at the time. This would be the last performance of the song. Somebody To Love, Killer Queen, Liar, Dragon Attack, the Brighton Rock finale, and Jailhouse Rock also wouldn't make it past the Magic Tour cutting room floor. Keep Yourself Alive would be dropped as well, but a couple short improvised versions would be heard in 1986, like in Munich. Brian gives a heartfelt speech before Love Of My Life: "This is kind of a sad night in a way because it's not only the last night of the Japanese tour; it's the last night of the world tour, so this stuff will never be seen again. I'd just like to take this opportunity of saying that it's not just us four guys that go around the world. It's a complete team, and it's the best team in the world. I'd like to say thank you very much to the Queen crew and everybody who's worked with us. And to you." Like a couple nights ago, the band play a long version of Elton John's "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting." Freddie introduces it as "A song written by a well-known poofter; I'm sure you know what he's called." Freddie throws a bit of Jerry Lee Lewis' Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin On into Jailhouse Rock for the last night's sake. The photo was taken by Dave Matkin. |
|
| Recording length: | 102 minutes (2 LP, incomplete) |
| Quality: | A- |
| Source: | Audience |
| Lineage: | "Queen's Last Stand 1985" LP |
|
|
| Track listing: | Machines (tape), Tear It Up, Tie Your Mother Down, Under Pressure, Somebody To Love, My Fairy King (part), 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, Mustapha (intro), Hammer To Fall, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting, Bohemian Rhapsody, Radio Ga Ga, I Want To Break Free, Jailhouse Rock, We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions, God Save The Queen [cut] |
|
This vinyl bootleg came out not long after the concert. It is a great-sounding audience tape of the nearly complete show that beautifully captures the atmosphere in the audience. |
|
| Recording length: | 102 minutes (2 CD, incomplete) |
| Quality: | A- |
| Source: | Audience |
| Lineage: | "Queen's Last Stand 1985" (ETS) silvers |
|
|
| Track listing: | Machines (tape), Tear It Up, Tie Your Mother Down, Under Pressure, Somebody To Love, My Fairy King (part), 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, Mustapha (intro), Hammer To Fall, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting, Bohemian Rhapsody, Radio Ga Ga, I Want To Break Free, Jailhouse Rock, We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions, God Save The Queen [cut] |
|
The LP source was released on CD in the late 1990s with identical packaging. |
|
| Recording length: | 108 minutes (2 CDR, incomplete) |
| Quality: | A+ / A / A- |
| Source: | Audience |
| Lineage: | "The Last Concert In Japan" (Masterport) |
|
|
| Track listing: | Machines (tape), Tear It Up, Tie Your Mother Down, Under Pressure, Somebody To Love, My Fairy King (part), 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, Mustapha (intro), Hammer To Fall, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting, Bohemian Rhapsody, Radio Ga Ga [cut], I Want To Break Free, Jailhouse Rock, We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions, God Save The Queen [cut] |
|
This 2003 bootleg is the first appearance of a second audience source in superb quality which rivals any of the best audience tapes ever made, namely the famous "Listen To This Eddie" recording of Led Zeppelin from 1977 done by Mike Millard. The microphones must have been placed right in front of the mains, as the audience is barely heard. About 95 minutes of the show are from this new source, which appears lossy in a freqency analysis, likely from a minidisc transfer in the lineage. There is a cut in Radio Ga Ga for a tape flip (and there's a bit of a dip in quality likely due to a bad azimuth alignment during the tape transfer), and the recording ends part way through I Want To Break Free. The LP source patches in gaps wherever necessary to best complete the show. |
|
| Recording length: | 109 minutes (2 CD, complete) |
| Quality: | A+ / A |
| Source: | Audience |
| Lineage: | "Last Concert In Japan" (Wardour) silvers |
|
|
| Track listing: | Machines (tape), Tear It Up, Tie Your Mother Down, Under Pressure, Somebody To Love, My Fairy King (part), 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, Mustapha (intro), Hammer To Fall, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting, Bohemian Rhapsody, Radio Ga Ga, I Want To Break Free, Jailhouse Rock, We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions, God Save The Queen [cut] |
|
This 2006 bootleg is also from the second audience source. Wardour has filled in the cut in Radio Ga Ga with the LP source, and there's a cleaner splice into I Want To Break Free after the tape runs out. This sound on this copy suggests that the Masterport version was EQ'd a bit, as this one sounds a bit more natural. The channels have been swapped through Now I'm Here (until the first tape flip of the C-90), and the LP source is a bit quieter. The quality of the bit of Radio Ga Ga after the tape flip is a noticeable improvement over the Masterport version. Here's a link to the always-reliable GS review: http://www.collectorsmusicreviews.com An extra disc called "Rock In Rio Complete" was included, taken from the official Rio '85 VHS release (which is definitely not 'complete' as the title suggests). |
|
| Recording length: | 109 minutes (2 CD, incomplete) |
| Quality: | A+ / A / A- |
| Source: | Audience |
| Lineage: | "Definitive Osaka 1985" (Wardour) silvers |
|
|
| Track listing: | Machines (tape), Tear It Up, Tie Your Mother Down, Under Pressure, Somebody To Love, My Fairy King (part), 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, Mustapha (intro), Hammer To Fall, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting, Bohemian Rhapsody, Radio Ga Ga, I Want To Break Free, Jailhouse Rock, We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions, God Save The Queen [cut] |
|
This 2018 bootleg from Wardour is a merge of existing copies of the show, save for the gap at the beginning of God Save The Queen. |
|
| Recording length: | 108 minutes (2 CD, incomplete) |
| Quality: | A |
| Source: | Audience |
| Lineage: | "Queen's Last Stand 1985 Definitive Master" (Wardour) silvers |
|
|
| Track listing: | Machines (tape), Tear It Up, Tie Your Mother Down, Under Pressure, Somebody To Love, My Fairy King (part), 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, Mustapha (intro), Hammer To Fall, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting, Bohemian Rhapsody, Radio Ga Ga, I Want To Break Free, Jailhouse Rock, We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions, God Save The Queen [cut] |
|
Wardour released what they claim is the master of source 1 in 2019. The sound quality is excellent and it is a considerable upgrade over the old LP, so there's little reason to doubt it. It sounds nearly as good as source 2, but periodic audience noise keeps it from also receiving an A+ rating. There were many edits between songs on the LP, but here the uncut tape is heard for the first time. The tape runs a bit too slowly. |
|
| Recording length: | 109 minutes (complete) |
| Quality: | A+ / A / A- |
| Source: | Audience |
| Lineage: | merge of three sources |
| Track listing: | Machines (tape), Tear It Up, Tie Your Mother Down, Under Pressure, Somebody To Love, My Fairy King (part), 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, Mustapha (intro), Hammer To Fall, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting, Bohemian Rhapsody, Radio Ga Ga, I Want To Break Free, Jailhouse Rock, We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions, God Save The Queen |
|
The two most recent Wardour bootlegs are the primary source material for this merge. A third audience source is used to fill in the gap in God Save The Queen. |
|
Previous Concert
Next Concert
Back to 1985 Concerts