| City: | Tokyo, Japan |
| Venue: | Nippon Budokan |
| Date: | April 19, 1975 |
| Setlist: | Procession, Now I'm Here, Ogre Battle, Father To Son, White Queen, Flick Of The Wrist, Doing All Right, In The Lap Of The Gods, Killer Queen, The March Of The Black Queen, Bring Back That Leroy Brown, Son And Daughter, Keep Yourself Alive, Seven Seas Of Rhye, Stone Cold Crazy, Liar, In The Lap Of The Gods...Revisited, Big Spender, Modern Times Rock 'n' Roll, Jailhouse Rock, See What A Fool I've Been, God Save The Queen |
   
  
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This is Queen's first show in Japan. They encountered sheer mayhem from the Japanese people (and not just at the concerts), similar to The Beatles in 1964. The band were told that the audiences would be very quiet and stay in their seats during the concerts, but the reality was much to the contrary. Years later, Brian May recalled an "avalanche of people" coming out of their seats and screaming. In the 70s they attracted more of a teeny-bop crowd, but by the 80s larger numbers of the rock music fans would start to come out. But for now it was Queen's first taste of true success. The band arrived in Tokyo the previous day for a press conference, and to receive gold awards for Sheer Heart Attack. With much excitement in his voice, Freddie Mercury greets the audience in Japanese after the first song. He would have a few other things to say in Japanese throughout the show. While Freddie would learn to speak a few words to audiences in some countries, Brian May did considerable homework throughout Queen's live career. He would speak to just about any audience in any country, establishing a more personal atmosphere, usually asking audiences in their native language if they could hear and see well. In the 80s he would learn enough Spanish and Portuguese to conduct TV interviews and speak with the locals. Freddie somewhat nervously tries to calm the audience down after Ogre Battle: "Listen! Shuush! Quiet! You're going to have to be careful. Calm down a bit. We're gonna be here for a long time, so don't rush so much. Don't rush the front of the stage. Take it easy, ok? You know what I want? We're all gonna have a good time." After the next song, not much has changed. "I'm getting a show of my own! You're gonna have to quiet down a bit, so people don't get hurt. Please, take care of yourselves. Just behave and listen!" he demands. Freddie then toasts the audience in Japanese with a glass of champagne, and introduces White Queen as the next song. Brian plays the guitar intro, but Freddie has to shush the audience before singing the first verse. "You'll have to listen. Hush!" A great version of Doing All Right is played tonight (the earliest confirmed performance of the song), even though Brian's vocal mic isn't heard in the house for the first few songs. The song would remain in the setlist through 1976, and would be heard occasionally in 1977. This is the first show where the band would perform the second verse and chorus of Killer Queen. Up until this point, they'd jump right into the guitar solo after the first chorus. Brian May's vocal mic issues are finally sorted out, and the three part harmony is wonderful. Freddie has realized by this point in the show that very few people in the audience speak any English at all, so he speaks to them very slowly and phonetically. After the medley, he states, "We'd like to do a song now from our very first album." He gets no response. "Remember that? The first album, Queen?" Still no response. "This features Brian on guitar. It's called Son And Daughter." They react to this, as they know the song titles very well. Before In The Lap Of The Gods...Revisited, Brian says: "This is the last number, with the ambitious Freddie who is going to play the piano for you, which I'm sure you'll enjoy." The second encore of See What A Fool I've Been finds Freddie giving it his all, and Brian playing a tasty solo. They would finish with the Seven Seas Of Rhye b-side a few more times on this Japanese tour. Brian May recalled this show in a 2018 interview: "We did the Budokan, the very first one, and suddenly there was this sort of heaving mass of excitement and energy and it blew us away, and I think it really propelled us to a new place. We became different people in this environment. It really was something so extraordinarily powerful." The live footage from the classic video shown on Japanese TV in May 1975 is often mislabelled as being from this date - it is from the May 1 show. The footage of the band at the Prince Hotel garden thanking the fans is from April 20, the day after this first concert. Pictures 2 through 8 were taken by M. Takahashi. At some point during these couple weeks, Roger Taylor was seen in a store, and its owner pointed at him, excitedly saying, "Ah, you Queen!" and proceeded to take pictures of him non-stop for about ten minutes. |
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| Recording length: | 49 minutes (1 LP, incomplete) | |
| Quality: | B+ | |
| Source: | Audience | |
| Lineage: | "A Beautiful Album" LP | |
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| Track listing: | Procession, Now I'm Here, White Queen, Doing All Right, In The Lap Of The Gods, Killer Queen, The March Of The Black Queen, Bring Back That Leroy Brown, Stone Cold Crazy, In The Lap Of The Gods...Revisited, Big Spender, Modern Times Rock 'n' Roll, Jailhouse Rock, See What A Fool I've Been, God Save The Queen |
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This was released in 1975 not long after the show. It was the first Queen bootleg released in Japan, and is one of the most valuable Queen bootlegs of them all. Less than 100 copies of the "Aprilfool" version exist, and under 30 copies of the "Now I'm Here" version exist. This recording captures a fair chunk of the show, with a few seamless edits between songs. The quality improves on side B, beginning with Stone Cold Crazy. Strangely, there is what sounds like digital noise at the beginning of Jailhouse Rock. |
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| Recording length: | 49 minutes (1 CD, incomplete) | |
| Quality: | B+ | |
| Source: | Audience | |
| Lineage: | "A Beautiful Album" silver | |
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| Track listing: | Procession, Now I'm Here, White Queen, Doing All Right, In The Lap Of The Gods, Killer Queen, The March Of The Black Queen, Bring Back That Leroy Brown, Stone Cold Crazy, In The Lap Of The Gods...Revisited, Big Spender, Modern Times Rock 'n' Roll, Jailhouse Rock, See What A Fool I've Been, God Save The Queen |
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This bootleg CD from the late 90s is a straight copy of the vinyl. Amongst all the misspellings on the back cover, God Save The Queen is omitted altogether. |
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| Recording length: | 49 minutes (1 CD, incomplete) | |
| Quality: | B | |
| Source: | Audience | |
| Lineage: | "Great King Hangman" silver | |
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| Track listing: | Procession, Now I'm Here, White Queen, Doing All Right, In The Lap Of The Gods, Killer Queen, The March Of The Black Queen, Bring Back That Leroy Brown, Stone Cold Crazy, In The Lap Of The Gods...Revisited, Big Spender, Modern Times Rock 'n' Roll, Jailhouse Rock, See What A Fool I've Been, God Save The Queen |
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This version uses A Beautiful Album as the source material, although it doesn't sound quite as good. Procession, Big Spender, and God Save The Queen aren't listed on the back cover. The three bonus tracks (Great King Rat, Seven Seas Of Rhye, and Hangman) are from the Stunning LP of the May 1 show. |
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| Recording length: | 101 minutes (2 CD, incomplete) | |
| Quality: | B- | |
| Source: | Audience | |
| Lineage: | AUD > Master Cassette > ? > MD > WAV > FLAC level 8 | |
| Track listing: | Procession [cut], Now I'm Here, Ogre Battle, Father To Son, White Queen, Flick Of The Wrist, Doing All Right, In The Lap Of The Gods, Killer Queen, The March Of The Black Queen, Bring Back That Leroy Brown, Son And Daughter [cut], Keep Yourself Alive, Seven Seas Of Rhye, Stone Cold Crazy, Liar, In The Lap Of The Gods...Revisited, Big Spender, Modern Times Rock 'n' Roll, Jailhouse Rock, See What A Fool I've Been, God Save The Queen [cut] |
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This is currently the earliest Queen concert with more than one audience source. This much more complete second source emerged in early 2011. The recording is pretty distant, but it is still important for its historical value. It's worth noting that out of the 50 shows Queen played in Japan, all but two were recorded from the audience. The tapers certainly were busy, as there are multiple sources of more than half of the gigs. And the level of Japanese technology ensured that plenty of them were above average quality. |
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| Recording length: | 2 CDR, incomplete | |
| Quality: | B- | |
| Source: | Audience | |
| Lineage: | "First Tokyo Tapes" CDR | |
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| Track listing: | Procession [cut], Now I'm Here, Ogre Battle, Father To Son, White Queen, Flick Of The Wrist, Doing All Right, In The Lap Of The Gods, Killer Queen, The March Of The Black Queen, Bring Back That Leroy Brown, Son And Daughter [cut], Keep Yourself Alive, Seven Seas Of Rhye, Stone Cold Crazy, Liar, In The Lap Of The Gods...Revisited, Big Spender, Modern Times Rock 'n' Roll, Jailhouse Rock, See What A Fool I've Been, God Save The Queen [cut] |
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An unknown CDR label bootlegged the second audience source shortly after it was shared online for free. |
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