When most of the people think of Queen playing live, they imagine the Wembley Stadium, thanks in part for the Live Aid show watched by millions of people in 1985, and the two shows of 1986 re-released over the years by Queen.
But Queen "only" played there these three times. The venue where they played most shows in their history is the Nippon Budokan, in Tokyo. A venue created for the 1964 Olympics but turned into a magnet for music artists.
They played there 17 times between 1975 and 1985. Surprisingly, they never released a "Live in Budokan" album or film. Is not clear how many of the shows in the Budokan were multitracked or filmed. Using the bootlegs as a basis, most of Queen shows there were really excellent, save for some of the '79 ones, in where Freddie's voice was destroyed. But the early shows in '75 and '76 are among the best in their career, and the warm up shows of the 1981 for the stadium tour in South America were top notch.
These are the dates (thanks to queenlive.ca)
April 19, 1975
May 1, 1975
March 22, 1976
March 31, 1976
April 1, 1976
April 13, 1979
April 14, 1979
April 23, 1979
April 24, 1979
April 25, 1979
February 12, 1981
February 13, 1981
February 16, 1981
February 17, 1981
February 18, 1981
May 8, 1985
May 9, 1985
...thoughts?
MercurialFreddie · Member since
I wonder if those 81' shows were multitracked. It'd be logical for the band to record them even to hear their own performance and make some minor changes for the stadium tour.
Sue Dounim · Member since
Queen also played Wembley 3 times in 1980.
As far as the Budokan, we all know at least 30 minutes of 1975/05/01 were filmed. Whether it was multitracked is another question. Pretty sure they didn't record anything in '76 aside from maybe soundboards. In 1979 the last night at the Budokan was completely filmed. I'm not sure if it was multitracked but in any case of all the japanese shows in 1979 the worst one ended up being the one filmed. It's a shame they didn't film the Osaka shows instead. I've never heard anything about the '81 shows being properly recorded in any kind of way, but it's nice to think they were. I know they didn't play the Budokan in '82 but I think either a full release of Tokorozawa or a soundboard of Nishinomiya would be excellent. I'm pretty sure neither of '85 Budokan shows were recorded and we're stuck with 5/11 instead which sucks because 5/9 was a much better show.
thomasquinn 32989 · Member since
[QUOTE] [b]Sue Dounim wrote:[/b]
Queen also played Wembley 3 times in 1980.
[/QUOTE]
Wembley Stadium =/= Wembley Arena
AlexRocks · Member since
Four times for Wembley Stadium. You forgot to include "A Concert For Life".
Sue Dounim · Member since
[QUOTE] [b]thomasquinn 32989 wrote:[/b]
[QUOTE] [b]Sue Dounim wrote:[/b]
Queen also played Wembley 3 times in 1980.
[/QUOTE]
Wembley Stadium =/= Wembley Arena[/QUOTE]
sorry I've never been to either so :P
Barry Durex · Member since
[QUOTE] [b]AlexRocks wrote:[/b]
Four times for Wembley Stadium. You forgot to include "A Concert For Life".[/QUOTE]
Queen-1
A tribute
The Op did not forget, they rightly chose to exclude it.
Doga · Member since
Queen played three more times in the Wembley Arena (known by then as Empire Pool) in 1978, and four more times in 1984.
I saw some pictures of the venue and is beautiful, i also read negative reviews about the acoustic. Anybody can clarify this? (And i know, is offtopic)
KevoM · Member since
I went to a Wembley Arena gig in 84 but can hardly remember the gig or acoustics (doubt anybody can)
Barry Durex · Member since
[QUOTE] [b]KevoM wrote:[/b]
I went to a Wembley Arena gig in 84 but can hardly remember the gig or acoustics (doubt anybody can)[/QUOTE]
I was at the empire pool show,in may 78, great sound and very loud.
Ditto with ELO, a month or so later.
cmsdrums · Member since
Wembley Arena is a separate venue to the Stadium; I wouldn't classify them 'as one' simply on the town they are in....that's like adding The Marquee/Astoria/Dominion together simply because they are all near each other.
The sound in the Arena has always been (in my own experience) mostly terrible from anywhere from about a third of the way back, regardless of which band is playing.
master marathon runner · Member since
/ We were literally, leaning on the front barrier that night. What an experience. In the lap of the gods.
The King Of Rhye · Member since
I've said it about a million times now, but I'd love it if that 5-1-75 show eventually gets an official release, at some point!
Somehow, when I listen to one of those earlier Japanese shows on a bootleg, I always picture the audience being all young girls in school uniforms. :P
Doga · Member since
You're not alone on that. Let's cross fingers and wait for the press release.
