A Night At The Opera

A Night At The Opera Tour (14.11.1975 - 22.04.1976)

After the recordings of the album Queen set on a triumphant local tour for which they had some new instruments and amps. Thanks to the extraordinary Hammersmith Odeon video we've got a deep grasp on what did they use at the time.

During the world tour the instruments were somehow different to those used in the UK. For both American and Japanese legs the band brought a 12-string Ovation acoustic guitar and a Fender Precision fretless bass which suggests that they may have thought of adding an acoustic set but, as far as we know, that idea never bore fruition.

Percussion
	Roger's Ludwig kit consisted of 26" x 14" Bass Drum, 10" x 14" and 12" x 15" Rack Toms, 16" x 16" and 18" x 16" Ludwig Floor Toms, 5.5" x 6", 5.5" x 8" and 6.5" x 10" concert toms, 15" Zildjian Hi-Hats, 20" Zildjian Crash, 18" Paiste & Zildjian Crash, 22" Zildjian Ride, 14" x 15" Snare. The bass drum logo changed to white crest on a black background. Freddie played New Era tambourines, Roger used Ludwig and New Era cowbells and John played a Ludwig triangle in Killer Queen. At the end of BoRhap Roger hit a Paiste 6" Gong.

Guitars / banjo
Brian played the Red Special in all the songs. After being disappointed with the way both his Strat and his Les Paul combined with the Vox Ac30 amplifiers, he commisioned legendary luthier John Birch to make a replica of his fireplace guitar and it had its debut on this tour. Brian was still not happy with the sound of the spare guitar but it was the best option since the other guitar he owned at the time (a Burns Bison) wasn't adequate for the sound he wanted on concerts. During Leroy Brown he played the same George Formby ukelele-banjo.

Bass guitars
Sometime in the summer 1975, John stripped the paint off both his basses and now they were natural. This could have come from the legend that instruments sound better after the process (which happened to Lennon & McCartney's Epiphone guitars in mid-60s). The older model ('67 - silver logo) was still the main one and the newer ('68 - black logo) was the spare. For the world 1976 tour John switched the basses (the '68 model has become his main bass).

Pianos
During the concerts in England and Wales in 1975 Freddie used the same white Bechstein he'd employed to record the album and for the Bo Rhap video. It was mic'd through Helpinstill system; the fact that John Reid (Queen's manager) worked with Elton John (who'd popularised the use of Helpinstill) could have been a key factor for this. For the concerts in Scotland 1975 Freddie used a black Steinway baby-grand but for the famous Xmas Eve gig at Hammersmith Odeon he played the white Bechstein again. During the world tour Freddie used whatever pianos were available at the venues - from baby-grand's to concert-grand's, from electrified to externally mic'd and from American brands (Steinway, Baldwin) to Japanese (Yamaha, Kawai).

Vocals
Freddie used two mics (one at the piano), Brian, Roger and John had one vocal mic each, plus a further one by Brian for the ukelele. Both Brian and Roger got the chance to speak with the public: Brian used to introduce Flick Of The Wrist and In The Lap Of The Gods... revisited while Roger spoke a bit before the Rock'n'roll medley.