| City: | Tokyo, Japan |
| Venue: | Nippon Budokan |
| Date: | April 25, 1979 |
| Setlist: | We Will Rock You (slow/fast), Let Me Entertain You, Somebody To Love, Death On Two Legs, Killer Queen, Bicycle Race, I'm In Love With My Car, Get Down Make Love, You're My Best Friend, Now I'm Here, Teo Torriatte, Don't Stop Me Now, Dreamer's Ball, '39, It's Late, Brighton Rock, Keep Yourself Alive, Bohemian Rhapsody, Tie Your Mother Down, Sheer Heart Attack, We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions, God Save The Queen |
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This tour poster indicates that the fifth night in Tokyo was added due to ticket demand. Freddie is simply done for, as this is the sixth show in seven nights. This is probably the worst shape his voice was ever in, to the point where he could barely make it through most of the songs. After Somebody To Love, he says, "This brings us to the last concert in Tokyo for a while, and we're gonna bust our balls for you tonight. That means we're gonna put on a good show. We're gonna try, I tell you!" - an obvious reference to his ailing voice. The rest of the band are in spectacular shape, and make up for any of his shortcomings. Freddie, after Now I'm Here: "Straight away, we'd like to introduce Brian May on the piano." And then he quips, "He's after my job, I tell you!" Freddie struggles on the high notes in this version of Teo Torriatte, but any Japanese fans who notice probably don't care, and simply appreciate the gesture of Queen playing their special song for them. He asks them to sing for the band "as a giant unit," and they dutifully comply with joy. Following Dreamer's Ball, Brian does the band introduction as he does at most shows on this tour, but each time it's a little different. After Roger lets out one of his usual big screams, Brian begins, "Ladies and gentleman, on drums and screams, Mr. Roger Taylor! On bass guitar and Japanese shirts, Mr. John Deacon! And on silken vocals, Mr. Freddie Mercury!" Love Of My Life is dropped for this show, as it is a showcase piece for Freddie. This is probably the only occasion when he isn't able to pull it off. "Just throwing some of your junk back to ya!" says Freddie to the enthusiastic audience hurling things onto the stage after It's Late. "We have a song that features John, Roger and Brian. They're gonna improvise a little. This is a song called Brighton Rock." About a half hour of footage from this show was broadcast on Japanese TV a few times in July 1982. A few bars of the We Will Rock You guitar solo are notably edited out, presumably because Brian broke a string, as heard on the audience tape (he's seen with the Birch copy for We Are The Champions). 
Bits of I'm In Love With My Car, Dreamer's Ball, and Brighton Rock are seen on the A Night At The Opera 30th anniversary DVD. The whole show most likely exists in the Queen archives. See this table for details. In November 2009, the band posted some concert videos from the 70s on their website in conjunction with the release of their "Absolute Greatest" compilation, including We Will Rock You (fast) and Let Me Entertain You from this show. While the audio is still mono, the picture and sound quality are better than ever before. The Love Of My Life promo video presents a curious situation. While the Live Killers audio of the song was used (from Frankfurt with a few vocal fixes), it seems that most of the video footage comes from Japan, as Freddie is seen wearing his blue suspenders. But since the band didn't perform the song at this concert, it's reasonable to suggest that the footage was shot during the day, since the film crew was already there to be utilized (although the previous night's show was filmed as well - however, it's worth noting there is never a shot of Freddie or Brian with the audience at the same time). Some shots of Teo Torriatte are woven in as well, as are a few bits of footage from one of the Paris shows. |
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| Recording length: | 32 minutes (1 DVD, incomplete) |
| Quality: | A / A |
| Source: | TV |
| Lineage: | "Pride And Joy" (Wardour) silver |
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| Track listing: | We Will Rock You (fast), Let Me Entertain You, Killer Queen, Bicycle Race, I'm In Love With My Car, Teo Torriatte, Keep Yourself Alive, Don't Stop Me Now, Bohemian Rhapsody [cut], We Will Rock You [cut], We Are The Champions |
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The video footage on this silver is a straight copy from Japanese TV in both wonderful picture and sound quality. This set also includes audience tapes from the April 14th and April 23rd shows. Here's a link to the always-reliable GS review: http://www.collectorsmusicreviews.com |
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| Recording length: | 110 minutes (2 CD, incomplete) |
| Quality: | B |
| Source: | Audience |
| Lineage: | AUD > ? > CDR (x) |
| Track listing: | We Will Rock You (slow/fast), Let Me Entertain You, Somebody To Love, Death On Two Legs, Killer Queen, Bicycle Race, I'm In Love With My Car, Get Down Make Love, You're My Best Friend, Now I'm Here, Teo Torriatte, Don't Stop Me Now, Dreamer's Ball, '39 [cut], It's Late, Brighton Rock, Keep Yourself Alive, Bohemian Rhapsody, Tie Your Mother Down, Sheer Heart Attack, We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions, God Save The Queen |
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This audience source is average quality and just about complete. |
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| Recording length: | 105 minutes (2 CD, incomplete) |
| Quality: | B |
| Source: | Audience |
| Lineage: | "Dreamer's Ball" (Wardour) silvers |
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| Track listing: | We Will Rock You (slow/fast), Let Me Entertain You, Somebody To Love, Death On Two Legs, Killer Queen, Bicycle Race, I'm In Love With My Car, Get Down Make Love, You're My Best Friend [cut], Now I'm Here, Teo Torriatte, Don't Stop Me Now, Dreamer's Ball, '39, It's Late, Brighton Rock, Keep Yourself Alive, Bohemian Rhapsody [cut], Tie Your Mother Down, Sheer Heart Attack, We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions |
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This 2004 bootleg from Wardour uses a second audience source. God Save The Queen is missing. Here's a link to the always-reliable GS review: http://www.collectorsmusicreviews.com |
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| Recording length: | 86 minutes, incomplete |
| Quality: | B |
| Source: | Audience |
| Lineage: | AUD > Cassette (x) > WAV (GoldWave speed correction) > FLAC level 8 |
| Track listing: | We Will Rock You (slow/fast), Let Me Entertain You, Somebody To Love, Death On Two Legs, Killer Queen, Bicycle Race, I'm In Love With My Car, Get Down Make Love, You're My Best Friend, Now I'm Here [cut], Teo Torriatte, Don't Stop Me Now, Dreamer's Ball, '39 [cut] Brighton Rock [cut], Keep Yourself Alive, Bohemian Rhapsody, Tie Your Mother Down |
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Source 3 is missing It's Late and the encores. |
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| Recording length: | 115 minutes (2 CD, incomplete) |
| Quality: | B |
| Source: | Audience |
| Lineage: | "Budokan 1979 5th Night" |
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| Track listing: | We Will Rock You (slow/fast), Let Me Entertain You, Somebody To Love, Death On Two Legs, Killer Queen, Bicycle Race, I'm In Love With My Car, Get Down Make Love, You're My Best Friend, Now I'm Here, Teo Torriatte, Don't Stop Me Now, Dreamer's Ball, '39, It's Late, Brighton Rock, Keep Yourself Alive, Bohemian Rhapsody [cut], Tie Your Mother Down, Sheer Heart Attack, We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions, God Save The Queen |
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A fourth audience source emerged in 2018 on an unknown bootleg label. It's complete apart from a tiny bit of Bohemian Rhapsody being missing at the beginning for a tape flip (like on source 2). |
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| Recording length: | 2 CD, complete |
| Quality: | A / B |
| Source: | Audience |
| Lineage: | "Definitive Budokan 1979 5th Night" (Wardour) silvers |
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| Track listing: | We Will Rock You (slow/fast), Let Me Entertain You, Somebody To Love, Death On Two Legs, Killer Queen, Bicycle Race, I'm In Love With My Car, Get Down Make Love, You're My Best Friend, Now I'm Here, Teo Torriatte, Don't Stop Me Now, Dreamer's Ball, '39, It's Late, Brighton Rock, Keep Yourself Alive, Bohemian Rhapsody, Tie Your Mother Down, Sheer Heart Attack, We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions, God Save The Queen |
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For this 2019 bootleg Wardour merged audience source 4 with the video soundtrack, and filled in a few gaps with audience source 2. |
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| Recording length: | 101 minutes (2 CD, complete) |
| Quality: | B |
| Source: | Audience |
| Lineage: | "Up Field Tapes" (Soldier's Things) silvers |
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| Track listing: | We Will Rock You (slow/fast), Let Me Entertain You, Somebody To Love, Death On Two Legs, Killer Queen, Bicycle Race, I'm In Love With My Car, Get Down Make Love, You're My Best Friend, Now I'm Here, Teo Torriatte, Don't Stop Me Now, Dreamer's Ball, '39, It's Late, Brighton Rock, Keep Yourself Alive, Bohemian Rhapsody, Tie Your Mother Down, Sheer Heart Attack, We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions, God Save The Queen |
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This 2019 bootleg debuts a fifth audience source in decent quality. It was encoded to mp3 at some point. The running time is so much shorter because the tape runs too fast and all the cheering between encores is absent. |
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