Question about this song's performance live: I had assumed (based on setlists and the Queen on Fire DVD) that TYMD was used as a closing number for the set from about 1977-1982, but some of the videos I've seen more recently (Hammersmith '79, Paris '79) seem to have the show ending after Bohemian Rhapsody, with TYMD in the encores. Was the song used as the last number before the encores on these tours, or was it the first song in the encores, with Bo Rhap (or Keep Yourself Alive, during the News of the World tour) serving as the last song in the set?
I don't think they ever ended with 'Bo Rhap'. They performed 'TYMD' immediately afterwards. Their outfit was different from the beginning of 'Bo Rhap' because they changed during the interlude.
jaxjag03 wrote: Was the song used as the last number before the encores on these tours, or was it the first song in the encores, with Bo Rhap (or Keep Yourself Alive, during the News of the World tour) serving as the last song in the set?
TYMD was always the "set closer" from 77-82, with one exception that we know of: Dallas 10-28-78, the first show of the Jazz tour. TYMD was the first encore that night, followed by WWRY/WATC... SHA was played earlier in the set. There aren't any more bootlegs from the tour until Nov 16 in NY, so at the moment we can't know how long they kept it like this.
kdj2hot wrote: Is it really a n encore if you do it every night? No!!!!!!!!!!! We will rock you/ We are the champions was the closer, duh.
No, not at all. If you leave the stage and come back after a few minutes, it's an encore... regardless of what you do from night to night.
As to Dallas 1978, I've got that bootleg (it's one of the reasons I asked, as TYMD is clearly an encore there), and as I understand it, the only reason SHA was played early is because Roger made a mistake and started drumming it, and the rest of the band just played along. Safe to assume then, I think, that the band decided "on the fly" to just play TYMD as the first encore instead of, well, only doing one encore, based on the setlists.
You're right, it's possible... but we can only speculate.
But about SHA... Roger started drumming it before Fat Bottomed Girls, and it seems he got the setlist mixed up in his head (I guess they didn't each have printed setlists on hand). I'd be very surprised if they didn't actually intend to play SHA after FBG as they did. The merge into KYA sounds pretty clean and rehearsed. Remember, at that point they still hadn't played the complete song yet.