| Keith Stone 02.05.2018 02:26 |
TL;DR: This is a long post, so I'll summarize it before we go on. Show some love for the Races Tour. Let me know what you guys think. Tell me what I'm missing out on. I'd love to hear some hidden gems. I've listened to a lot of show recordings, read a lot of forums, and I've seen the same shows and tours come up as the worst and best. The usual suspects for best are the Crazy Tour, some Hot Space Tour, some Game Tour. Usual suspects for worst are Jazz Tour, Works Tour, Japanese Opera Tour. I haven't heard or seen many people give some love to the Races Tour. I know this whole tour seems to be "good", but not "great" or "terrible", but I want to find the hidden gems from this tour. Most of the mentions are of the widely circulated bootlegs, which is understandable. The shows I've seen mentioned many times are as follows: Seattle 3/13/1977: Great sound quality. It's a mono soundboard source. Freddie's voice is straining on higher notes because it's the last US leg show. Overall, compared the shows below, this show is OK. Songs I've seen praised on forums are White Queen, White Man, Bohemian Rhapsody, and Liar. Copenhagen 5/12/1977: Another pleasurable sounding recording, however it sounds a bit distant. Freddie sounds better at this show, as we've moved to the European leg. This gig has a few hidden gems. Tonight's version of The Millionaire Waltz is the only performance from this tour mentioned by most, because the NOTW versions seem to overshadow most others. Another one is You Take My Breath Away, which is regarded as the best non-falsetto version of this song as he hits all of the notes on the second half of the bridge, while keeping a *breath-taking* tone to his voice. Lastly, another one I've seen mentioned is Sweet Lady. Freddie is struggling with the A4s in the verses, but the whole band gives a good version for this tour. Bristol 5/23/1977: Decent recording quality. Freddie still sounds great. I'm starting to notice a trend, because I only see 3-4 from each show I see mentioned in forums. Anyway, the first for tonight is White Queen. It's a nice rendition, his voice is clear, the band is great. Next, Death on Two Legs, which is regarded as the best full version of the song (under the medley version at Oakland 1980). Freddie hits effortless Bb4s throughout the song, making it the closest to the full studio version. Last is Bohemian Rhapsody, which is at least the best on this leg of the tour, if not the entire Races Tour. Freddie still has his voice, and keeps the emotion in the song, keeping the usual Races phrasing. Glasgow 5/30/1977: Pretty good recording quality. Freddie's voice is still sounding great. First is tonight's rendition of Sweet Lady. This version outdoes Copenhagen's version, as the song is earlier in the set at this show, and Freddie's voice is fresh. This could most likely be the best version of the Races tour, but I could be wrong. Last is Liar, which is a great effort from the whole band. Freddie gives an amazing performance despite the wear and tear, hitting phrases like "you're LYING to me" and the last sustained "ALL day long". Both Earls Courts: These are the most widely circulated Races Tour shows. Many people cite these performances as tops, but these performances are average for this tour. This doesn't mean they aren't good, but the shows above can beat these. Listen to Death on Two Legs third verse ;). Jokes aside, from the first night, there's great renditions of Killer Queen, Doing All Right, ITLOTG...Revisited, and both nights have great RnR medleys. Honorable Mentions: White Man / Prophet's Song (Richfield 1/23/1977), Bohemian Rhapsody (Stockholm 5/8/1977). If the We Are the Champions shoot counts, then Tie Your Mother Down, Bohemian Rhapsody, and See What a Fool I've Been are top versions. Whoo. That took a while. Leave your thoughts below. I need to do regular people things, like eat food, and breathe lol. |
| MemeOverlord69 02.05.2018 04:52 |
New York 2/5/1977 Is probably Freddie's strongest gig on the US leg. |
| cmi 02.05.2018 07:42 |
Very interesting topic! It'll be great to read such analysis for each tour... Small corrections: 1) Seattle '77 is excellent AUDIENCE recording. 2) While both nights from Earls Court were professionally recorded/filmed. But only the first night (6/6/77) available to community. Even the setlist of the second night is exactly not known. For me live career of Queen divided in several periods: 1) Early days - Summer '76 mini tour is the most exciting heavy period. 2) ADATR Tour - NOTW Tour transitional period. Very exciting except quite boring Vocal improvisation in The Prophet's Song. 3) Jazz Tour - HS Tour - powerful but 'more Hits - less Deep Cuts' set list 4) Works Tour - Magic Tour - less exciting not that powerful middle-aged period. I mostly listen to Seattle and Copenhagen '77 shows from ADATR tour because of quality so I can't comment on each show of the tour... But after your notions I will try to check all mentioned songs. Thanks! |
| Michael Scapp 02.05.2018 15:44 |
I love what they did with Doing All Right on this tour. It's one the best highlights from their set. |
| OhioMustapha 02.05.2018 20:29 |
Richfield 1977 is pretty cool because Brian references the Beatles "I Feel Fine" during his solo in Jailhouse Rock. |
| The Real Wizard 03.05.2018 02:34 |
Great thread. No mention of Boston 2-9-77? It's by far the best sounding audience tape of the year ! |
| MemeOverlord69 03.05.2018 04:55 |
But Freddie's voice is weak in Boston. New York is where it's at, even if it's average quality. |
| The Real Wizard 03.05.2018 19:39 |
That's true. But it's still such an enjoyable listen. It's the only Races tape where you really feel like you're in the audience. |
| The Real Wizard 03.05.2018 19:41 |
Glad to see Bristol and Glasgow getting some attention. Those are indeed two of the best Queen audience tapes ever. Top notch performances. Mercury is flying high, and the band are so solid yet not sterile like they would be by the mid 80s. They were just so good and focused. |
| Chopin1995 04.05.2018 11:16 |
What shines through to me: 1. Freddie and Roger's costumes 2. Brian, Roger and John's excellent playing 3. Freddie going for Bb4 (like on the record) in 'somebody to looooo-OOO-ooo...' on some nights. Shame he abandoned that phrasing so early. Glasgow is my favourite recordng from the entire tour. |
| *goodco* 07.05.2018 15:01 |
First, I’d disagree in regards to strong/weak whatever tours only from my sampling. While I’d agree there are strong ‘Hot Space’ shows, that’s for the European leg. The North American setlist onward was more than disappointing, especially with ‘Rock It’ opening, and the weak ‘Hot Space’ inclusions. North American ‘Jazz’.... link .... from Providence....great setlist, and, perhaps the best audience recording EVER of a Queen show. Oakland, Chicago, Jersey, NYC, Montreal (for personal reasons) are some of my most enjoyable. That said….thanks for the summary for the ADATR tour. Very helpful. I’ve gone through and listened to most since this post. Quite pleasureable (understatement). Seattle and Copenhagen have been my ‘go to’ listens for some time (due to quality, as mentioned above). Having attended their January concert in Kalamazoo that year, it’s in my top five all time shows. There was an ‘elogance’, ‘mystique’, and ‘British’ flavor that was very much still in evidence during the NOTW tour, ‘downgraded’ severely for most of the ‘Jazz’ shows, and almost nonexistant afterwards. As to Freddie’s voice on various shows……beyond his youthful habits and such, Queen always toured North America in the late fall/winter/early spring until their 80 and 82 tours (I believe he even makes a comment to that fact at the Chicago 80 show). Anyhoo….good thread, very informative. |
| Holly2003 07.05.2018 15:43 |
*goodco* wrote: First, I’d disagree in regards to strong/weak whatever tours only from my sampling. While I’d agree there are strong ‘Hot Space’ shows, that’s for the European leg. The North American setlist onward was more than disappointing, especially with ‘Rock It’ opening, and the weak ‘Hot Space’ inclusions. North American ‘Jazz’.... link .... from Providence....great setlist, and, perhaps the best audience recording EVER of a Queen show. Oakland, Chicago, Jersey, NYC, Montreal (for personal reasons) are some of my most enjoyable.There's a reason why Queen killed it live back then and this show is a great example. Great setlist and really powerful versions of Brighton Rock, It's Late, If You Can't Beat Them and KYA. Awesome stuff. Never bettered imho. |
| *goodco* 08.05.2018 08:46 |
Yes, they 'killed' it during the Jazz/Live Killers tour.....but how does one express what it was like (after Thin Lizzy) to walk around the bar areas of the arena, chat with fans, grab a cold one, catch and throw a Frisbee.....chill while the lights are out.....and then hear the album intro of ADATR before ....well...... still my favorite witnessed intro..... only because they didn't do the 'Flash/The Hero' bit as they did in the UK |