Mike "The Mic" Millard Queen master(s)

Young Music Fan wrote:

Have any other recordings from artists been released yet? I'm guessing there will be more great shows still to come.

Also, is there any pattern on who they are releasing the concerts? e.g. Is it in chronological order?

It's just one tape every week or two until further notice.

Millard's tapes have been heard in one form or another since the 1980s, and plenty of first gen transfers have come out in recent years. But in this particular bunch there have already been about 20 other shows that I listed on page 1 of this thread.

The Queen show is a master to DAT tape. The only master clone so come out so far is Floyd in 75 - and it may well be the best audience tape ever made.

mrdata1968 wrote:

The muddy sound is because Millard was to late and not on the right spot.
It gets better during TYMD.

If true, then it's impressive that he sorted it out without making any noise that could be picked up by the mics.

Typically he'd have the mics attached to his hat so that he'd stand up when everyone else stood up, ensuring the mics were never blocked. So at most perhaps he just turned a couple knobs for the first few minutes.

I'd still attribute most of the improvement in sound to the front of house tech. Normally arena shows take a couple songs to get the mix right, even to this day. Soundcheck only gets you so far, as everything changes once 15,000 people are in the room. It's why Tom Petty stopped doing soundchecks for the last 20 years of his career.

Thanks to everyone who made it possible.

The Real Wizard wrote:

on my way up wrote:

Both Queen and Thin Lizzy being mentioned. I hope a complete LA 77 night was captured, both Thin Lizzy's and Queen's set.

Good eye. Looks like you may well be right.

This could be my favourite tape of music. Meanwhile I'm enjoying this fantastic tape. And what a story...

I need to ask one thing. This is for someone more oriented than me. Of course I know that Madison Square Garden is "THE" place to play on the east coast. Is the LA Forum its equivalent on the west coast? Or is there any other venue of the same status as these two to play in the States?

Chopin1995 wrote:

Thanks to everyone who made it possible.

The Real Wizard wrote:

on my way up wrote:

Both Queen and Thin Lizzy being mentioned. I hope a complete LA 77 night was captured, both Thin Lizzy's and Queen's set.

Good eye. Looks like you may well be right.

This could be my favourite tape of music. Meanwhile I'm enjoying this fantastic tape. And what a story...

I need to ask one thing. This is for someone more oriented than me. Of course I know that Madison Square Garden is "THE" place to play on the east coast. Is the LA Forum its equivalent on the west coast? Or is there any other venue of the same status as these two to play in the States?

Nope, you're bang on. To this day MSG and The Forum are the Meccas of American arenas.

A bit of info: the Thin Lizzy set from this date - 3/3/77 - was not recorded by Mike Millard.
So we won't be able to listen to the entire evening.
Of course, getting Queen's set is most important :-)

Great performance, great quality. How can this be topped?

The Real Wizard wrote:

Chopin1995 wrote:

Thanks to everyone who made it possible.

The Real Wizard wrote:

on my way up wrote:

Both Queen and Thin Lizzy being mentioned. I hope a complete LA 77 night was captured, both Thin Lizzy's and Queen's set.

Good eye. Looks like you may well be right.

This could be my favourite tape of music. Meanwhile I'm enjoying this fantastic tape. And what a story...

I need to ask one thing. This is for someone more oriented than me. Of course I know that Madison Square Garden is "THE" place to play on the east coast. Is the LA Forum its equivalent on the west coast? Or is there any other venue of the same status as these two to play in the States?

Nope, you're bang on. To this day MSG and The Forum are the Meccas of American arenas.

Good to have it confirmed.

I've sent you PM :)

You could say WInterlands in SF and the Oakland Coliseum were on a par with the LA Forum back in the 1960s and early 1970s. Smaller venues like the Hollywood Bowl were also prestigious -- the Beatles and Stones played there. Bill Graham's Fillmore (West) was also a "we've made it" venue.

Interestingly enough, all those venues are in California.

Yep - because California was the most cosmopolitan place in the country, as it still is today.

Chopin1995 wrote:

Interestingly enough, all those venues are in California.

Why is that surprising? That's where all the people are.

Young Music Fan wrote:

Great performance, great quality. How can this be topped?

A Mike Millard recording of the Christmas Inglewood show. This would be the holy grail of Queen recordings.

MemeOverlord69 wrote:

Young Music Fan wrote:

Great performance, great quality. How can this be topped?

A Mike Millard recording of the Christmas Inglewood show. This would be the holy grail of Queen recordings.

Yes it would. I'd even go to the extreme and say that would be the greatest of the greatest.

I'd say they it's always been true with Queen that the best quality concerts always have the best performances e.g. Boston '76.

Young Music Fan wrote:

I'd say they it's always been true with Queen that the best quality concerts always have the best performances e.g. Boston '76.

Eh, I'm not sure that's really a consistent enough trend. There are plenty of great sounding recordings of pretty bland shows, particularly from the latter half of 1982 and 1984.

And in contrast, many of their best shows are on pretty horrid recordings, like Glasgow 74, Sao Paulo 3/21/81, nearly all the Dutch shows queen played, etc, and those London 78 gigs (the first night's quality is dreadful).

MemeOverlord69 wrote:

Young Music Fan wrote:

I'd say they it's always been true with Queen that the best quality concerts always have the best performances e.g. Boston '76.

Eh, I'm not sure that's really a consistent enough trend. There are plenty of great sounding recordings of pretty bland shows, particularly from the latter half of 1982 and 1984.

And in contrast, many of their best shows are on pretty horrid recordings, like Glasgow 74, Sao Paulo 3/21/81, nearly all the Dutch shows queen played, etc, and those London 78 gigs (the first night's quality is dreadful).

Soz, I didn't make it very clear, I should've said several - it's been a long day!