Your 5 favorite legs/tours of Queen (also the 5 least favorite).

Lets start another topic:

Your favorite and least favorite legs/tours of Queen:

FAVORITE:

1. Crazy Tour (Everybody's in top shape, Freddie's voice is never better)
2. NOTW Tour (Freddie's first "great" vocal tour, plenty of fantastic gigs-especially on the 1978 leg)
3. European Hot Space Tour (Love the rotating setlists, Freddie's improvs are awesome, Everybody's on fire)!
4. The 1981 South American/Latin American legs (Audiences are awesome, gigs are legendary, Freddie's in top form)
5. European A Day At The Races Tour (Some awesome performances, Freddie's first "great" tour leg.

MIXED (These are ones you like, but have something you dislike about them):

1. Magic Tour (Freddie's voice is much better than the last tour, but I wasn't too fond of the setlist (mostly Acoustic section)
2. Japan 1982 Hot Space (I love the performances and the setlists, though Freddie's voice was a bit iffy).
3. The Game Tour of 1980 (There's alot of great moments throughout, but I wasn't fond of the oversinging on some songs)
4. Japan 1985 (I love the first two concerts, the next 3 are pretty good, but not up to the standards of the first two)
5. North American  A Day At the Races Tour (Freddie's voice wasn't quite the best--but overall this leg is great).

LEAST FAVORITE:

1. Australia 1985 (The band just sound tired throughout the leg)
2. North American Hot Space Tour (Compared to the European leg, the band seem very laid-back and almost "tired." I also didn't like the setlist.
3. Japan 1981 (Although there's some strong moments, the band sound like they are either holding back, or were "out of it" in a way.
4. The Works Tour of 1984 (Wasn't too fond of the setlist/opener, hated the drums, and Freddie's voice was often shot).
5. Jazz/Live Killers tour: Freddie's weakest tour overall, though this is made up for by some GREAT band performances--especially during the 1979 leg).

DISCUSS!!

Very good guide to Queen's live gigs! I can't remember these things in such detail, but I can say without a doubt that the gig from 1979 at the Hammersmith Odeon is my all-time favorite Queen concert and the one I'd love to see released in a decent quality: I'd enjoy it thoroughly. 

The setlist still features some of my favorite songs - Spread Your Wings, Don't Stop Me Now, Mustapha - but the guys had become by that time much more mature as musicians - years of touring, and an exhaustive tour which had just ended, must have tought them a thing or two! The band puts on a hell of a performance: Brian's playing in "Let Me Entertain You" and the slightly modified - maybe partially improvised - solo of "Don't Stop Me Now" are wonderful; his playing is stellar for most of the gig. Roger has rarely sounded better - both his drumming and his singing - his singing in "We Are The Champions" and "Don't Stop Me Know" is thrilling.

And, of course, Freddie is in wonderful shape, displaying all the qualities which made him such a towering rockstar. He delivers some of the best performances of such songs as We Are The Champions, Somebody To Love and Don't Stop Me Now,  John's playing just fine as well.

My favorite tour is by far the News Of The World tour, which is my favorite album as well. Next would come the Latin American leg of the 1981 tour - the performances were great, the audience was very enthusiastic and, of course, we have a pretty good record of it, as many gigs were professionally recorded. The problem in assessing the Crazy Tour lies both in the lack of good recordings of the concerts and in the fact that it was just too short.

In no particular order

FAVORITE:

1. Crazy Tour
2. NOTW European Tour
3. European Hot Space Tour
4. The 1981 South American/Latin American legs 
5. Sheer Heart Attack 74/75

MIXED:

1.  European Races Tour
2. Magic Tour (Potentialy great but the repeatative set list and weak guitar sound spoil it)
3. Live Killers (Great performances let down by poor vocals)
4. Japan 1985 (Good and bad)
5. The Game 80 (Great, but just does'nt do it enough for me? Cant quite understand why)

LEAST FAVORITE:

1. Jazz 78
2. North American Hot Space Tour  
3. Japan 79 (Unbearable vocals, cant listen to these shows) 
4. The Works Tour (Just poor in general, bad vocals, bad guitar sound, bad drum sound)
5. ANATO Japan 76 (Some shocking vocal performances)

Bad Seed wrote: In no particular order

FAVORITE:

1. Crazy Tour
2. NOTW European Tour
3. European Hot Space Tour
4. The 1981 South American/Latin American legs 
5. Sheer Heart Attack 74/75

MIXED:

1.  European Races Tour
2. Magic Tour (Potentialy great but the repeatative set list and weak guitar sound spoil it)
3. Live Killers (Great performances let down by poor vocals)
4. Japan 1985 (Good and bad)
5. The Game 80 (Great, but just does'nt do it enough for me? Cant quite understand why)

LEAST FAVORITE:

1. Jazz 78
2. North American Hot Space Tour  
3. Japan 79 (Unbearable vocals, cant listen to these shows) 
4. The Works Tour (Just poor in general, bad vocals, bad guitar sound, bad drum sound)
5. ANATO Japan 76 (Some shocking vocal performances)

=========================================

Yeah, Freddie's voice is totally screwed during those Japan 1979 shows (especially the late April ones), but I'll give Freddie some credit because he actually TRIES to sing effectively--the Works Tour/American Hot Space tour just had him singing really "plain" (almost lazy in a sense).

As bad as the Japan 1979 shows were, I think the 3/26/1976 (Fukuoka) show was probably Freddie's WORST gig overall. "Shocking" is the correct word!

Yara wrote: Very good guide to Queen's live gigs! I can't remember these things in such detail, but I can say without a doubt that the gig from 1979 at the Hammersmith Odeon is my all-time favorite Queen concert and the one I'd love to see released in a decent quality: I'd enjoy it thoroughly. 

The setlist still features some of my favorite songs - Spread Your Wings, Don't Stop Me Now, Mustapha - but the guys had become by that time much more mature as musicians - years of touring, and an exhaustive tour which had just ended, must have tought them a thing or two! The band puts on a hell of a performance: Brian's playing in "Let Me Entertain You" and the slightly modified - maybe partially improvised - solo of "Don't Stop Me Now" are wonderful; his playing is stellar for most of the gig. Roger has rarely sounded better - both his drumming and his singing - his singing in "We Are The Champions" and "Don't Stop Me Know" is thrilling.

And, of course, Freddie is in wonderful shape, displaying all the qualities which made him such a towering rockstar. He delivers some of the best performances of such songs as We Are The Champions, Somebody To Love and Don't Stop Me Now,  John's playing just fine as well.

My favorite tour is by far the News Of The World tour, which is my favorite album as well. Next would come the Latin American leg of the 1981 tour - the performances were great, the audience was very enthusiastic and, of course, we have a pretty good record of it, as many gigs were professionally recorded. The problem in assessing the Crazy Tour lies both in the lack of good recordings of the concerts and in the fact that it was just too short.
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That is a very good point about the Crazy Tour (and a point I've failed to realize): There's only 4 available audio downloads from that concert (out of the 20 or so). We don't know what he sounded like!

That's why I'm so wanting more bootlegs from that tour--I don't mind the quality!

You forgot the European and North American ANATO leg for first great leg(s). All gigs I have heard from those legs he is great and puts in great performances. In Japan, eh...not so much.

Worst Queen tour ever = Works Tour
Most successful was probably the whole game tour era (1980-1981) and Freddie did not over sing and even if he did, who the hell cares?

There is alot of oversinging on that 1980 leg (which is why I divided it into 1980 and 1981). Killer Queen is a prime example (almost every performance has him being "Macho Freddie" and hitting notes that are either too high, or in the WRONG KEY). That completely ruins the effect of the song (playful ballad). Death On Two Legs was oversung alot also. Except it actually WORKS! Let Me Entertain You and Save Me also had some ridiculous lines (mostly over-doing the vibrato). You're My Best Friend was oversung (yelling A4s in spots that don't even have that key, is messed up), and some Bo Rhap performances had some overdone versions.

So yes, there was plenty of oversinging on that leg. Freddie wanted to be Mr. Bad Guy (lol), so he started smoking, then grew the mustache, then to further the image--he started oversinging (he stopped that by 1981).

I don't care as much about the oversinging--unless it RUINS the feelings/effects of songs.

[i] Gregsynth wrote: There is alot of oversinging on that 1980 leg (which is why I divided it into 1980 and 1981). Killer Queen is a prime example (almost every performance has him being "Macho Freddie" and hitting notes that are either too high, or in the WRONG KEY). That completely ruins the effect of the song (playful ballad). Death On Two Legs was oversung alot also. Except it actually WORKS! Let Me Entertain You and Save Me also had some ridiculous lines (mostly over-doing the vibrato). You're My Best Friend was oversung (yelling A4s in spots that don't even have that key, is messed up), and some Bo Rhap performances had some overdone versions.

So yes, there was plenty of oversinging on that leg. Freddie wanted to be Mr. Bad Guy (lol), so he started smoking, then grew the mustache, then to further the image--he started oversinging (he stopped that by 1981).

I don't care as much about the oversinging--unless it RUINS the feelings/effects of songs. [/i]  
I agree with everything you wrote, though I'd like to suggest that, despite all these problems you correctly pointed out, I guess The GameTour from 1980 features some of the best versions of a couple of songs, "Let Me Entertain You" from Oklahoma being for sure one of them. What Freddie does there works wonders and fits the mood of the song just perfectly. I'd say the same about "I Need Your Loving Tonight" and "Dragon Attack" - the latter having received awe-inspiring renditions at those year-end Wembley concerts.

I like this tour because he's more daring than usual - you're right, he's sloppier and overbearing in his singing, but the need for making the songs sound different is commendable: one can't help but feel very excited by the way the whole band plays "We Are The Champion" at the very last of those Wembley concerts - Freddie sings it as daringly and passionately as he had done at the Hammersmith in the previous year.

I often wonder if the oversinging was because he was getting bored of singing the song?
Most of these songs were dropped for the Hot Space tour

I do love when Freddie changes up lines/improvs--I really do. But if you start adding random high notes in songs that either mess up the feeling, or don't even fit in the key, I gotta draw the line somewhere! This is exactly why I'm not really fond of his vocals on the Works Tour overall: There's alot of Under-singing--which also doesn't feel right with the faster/harder songs, and there's alot of "speak-singing" on that tour. I love deviations from the original songs--but too much (either overdoing it, or under-doing it) just doesn't sit well.

As for Bad Seed's comment: I think it's a combination of being bored (what you wrote), and then my theory (the "Mr. Bad Guy" one): Freddie wanted to beef up his image, so he grew the mustache, started smoking, and starting over-doing some songs live (probably because of being "bored with the songs," or he was trying to "beef up" his image on stage).

FAVORITE
The Game Tour USA West Coast leg (Freddie's new vocals)
Hot Space Europe (Freddie's funky vocals and energetic setlist)
A Day At The Races European Tour (Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee)
Sheer Heart Attack Europe (one word: Heavy)
Jazz USA (Freddie's new throat vocals are interesting)

LEAST FAVORITE
The Works World Tour (Freddie sucked and the drums are horrible)
Live Killers Japan (Freddie sucked)
Hot Space Japan (Band was dying to end the tour)
Hot Space USA (Freddie's thicker vocals are arising and interesting to hear his high notes)
Queen debut UK (Freddie is a sheep!)

Yara wrote:
[QUOTE]The GameTour from 1980 features some of the best versions of a couple of songs, "Let Me Entertain You" from Oklahoma being for sure one of them.[/QUOTE]

Oklahoma 80?  Have you heard something we haven't.. ?

I think she meant "Oakland 1980." LMFAO!

I always laugh when I listen to Freddie singing We Are The Champions in the Queen Rock Montreal album.  He sang like he was really tired and he just dragged and "fling" the lyrics around.  I think somewhere in the commentary Roger also laughed and he said he knew when Freddie was really tired by the way he sang the songs.

Best - UK Summer 1977 - variety across the band's career up to that point and great interplay between the band members.
Worst - Magic Tour start to finish - sterile boring set list, lack of variety and Spike Edney too high in the mix.