Top 20 Best Audio Quality Unofficial Gigs

I'm interested in what people feel are the Top 20 Unofficial gigs in terms of AUDIO QUALITY, and i was curious as to if we can all come to agreement as what would be the Top 20?

Unfortunately my depth of knowledge regarding the bootlegs is quite shallow, however the ones i imagine would be up there would be:

Hammersmith 75
Boston 76
Earls Court 77
Houston 77
Tokyo 79
Hammersmith 79
Sun City 84

Yeah, that's a great start.

Check out my Top 10 list @ www.queenlive.ca.

Mannheim 86 is one of the best in terms of quality

1973 - Golders Green Hippodrome
1974 - Rainbow Theatre (all 3 shows)
1975 - Hammersmith Odeon (the Christmas show), the last Japan show is great and has pretty good quality
1976 - Boston second night, one of the best if not THE best sounding audience recordings
1977 - Earls Court, Houston
1978 - Montreal
1979 - hard to say, maybe again the Christmas show from Hammersmith Odeon?
1980 - hard to choose, probably Rosemont
1981 - some of the Japanese shows, or Buenos Aires
1982 - Milton Keynes of course, but there are great recordings from various Japanese shows too
1984 - Stuttgart, Sun City
1985 - Osaka
1986 - Mannheim, Knebworth, and of course Wembley

Chicago 78 has gotta be right up there, killer quality on that one...

considering the circumstances and the period so far I think Portland 28 april 1974 (when they were supporting Mott the Hoople) it's a good quality recording

seattle 77?

Yup, Seattle 77 is essential listening, as it's got both Queen and Thin Lizzy's sets.

The Tokyo 81 shows are worth a listen too, as they've got the longer Flash medley.

The Vienna 82 shows are criminally underrated. Check them out too.

It's a bit a shame to stick on audio quality only. Most of the very best recordings are from the 80ies whereas some 70ies recordings, while marginally worse sounding, are much more enjoyable to my ears.

[QUOTE] [b]little foetus wrote:[/b]

It's a bit a shame to stick on audio quality only. Most of the very best recordings are from the 80ies whereas some 70ies recordings, while marginally worse sounding, are much more enjoyable to my ears. [/QUOTE]


Case in point: the 75 Tokyo show......good quality but not quite the best, but damn thats a good show :D

[QUOTE] [b]little foetus wrote:[/b]

It's a bit a shame to stick on audio quality only. Most of the very best recordings are from the 80ies whereas some 70ies recordings, while marginally worse sounding, are much more enjoyable to my ears. [/QUOTE]

Which of course makes sense, because it got easier to smuggle in better recording gear as technology improved.

And if someone is just starting out listening to these recordings, they have to develop their "bootleg ears". Some of those 74-75 shows are fantastic but the tapes sound pretty bad. So you should probably start them off with the ones that are listenable if they're going to ever appreciate any of it.

Even I have only listened to most Queen shows once or twice. There are about a dozen that I keep coming back to, and they're the better sounding ones.

think i also heard an excellent milwaukee tape - but can't remember if it was the 75 or 76 tho

Probably the 1975 one, the 1976 recording is nice but not as good.

Well about a top 20, if many 70ies recordings are from awful to very average, it is hard to choose the best recordings from the 80ies as so many sound great. Wonder if a list with "recordings you have to avoid unless you re a die hard collector" wouldn t be more useful to newbies...

it depends really what you call "quality" - whether it's 70s or 80s you can't argue with the quality if these were sourced direct from a broadcast or a soundboard tape

however, some of the 80s audience recordings seem a little "lacking event-experience" - the use of noise reduction has removed a bit of the "soul" of the recording.
on the other hand - even the sh*ttiest quality 70s audience recordings retain a charm and authenticity that adds an "intangible quality"

the biggest pity in all of this? when you listen to those 70s gigs one thing strikes me
the gigs were fantastic - a hungry band that were seizing the moment to show the world how great they were...it's a pity that the "home recordings" of queen gigs were nowhere near as good as the fan recordings at zep/floyd and other big 70s bands at that time....weird huh?

[QUOTE] [b]brENsKi wrote:[/b]
.it's a pity that the "home recordings" of queen gigs were nowhere near as good as the fan recordings at zep/floyd and other big 70s bands at that time[/QUOTE]

Zep/Floyd are famous for not record their shows officially. At least Queen recorded a bunch of shows (if they were the correct shows is another matter)