33 years ago today, Queen were rockin' the Caird Hall... and a gig I was at.
Bohemian Rhapsody was at #1 in the charts at the time and that was the song they opened the show with. The Caird Hall lights were turned off, and out of the darkness a loud mystery voice was heard announcing..."Ladies & gentleman, welcome to a night at the opera"... then out blasted the middle operatic sequence from Bohemian Rhapsody. It was still pitch dark as we listened to the familiar song without the band being present, then as the song progressed it eventually reached the famous guitar riff segment, and out burst Queen onto stage, complete with exploding flash bombs. Quite an intro!
Needless to say they kept these kind of theatrics going throughout the rest of the show.
The items above are the original ticket stub and music paper ad from back then.
Below is a recording from this very concert. 2 tracks in fact with Dundee getting a couple of shout-outs during the chat to the audience.
Great post. This blog just gets better and better. Any idea where the audio came from? What were people using to bootleg 33 years ago? I'm guessing it wasn't an Edirol R-09.
ReplyDeleteNo idea who captured it but they managed to catch the full show. In the mid 70s it would have been done using a portable cassette recorder with a blank c120 tape, 1 hour on each side. Girls could sneak them in their handbag!
ReplyDeleteShug had an itt cassette player in his dufflebag microphone under the chair c120 loaded no problem
DeleteI was there as well, my mate heard they were staying at the Angus hotel, so we stood outside there in the cold, just trying to get a glimpse of them..........no chance
ReplyDeleteI was at this gig at the end Freddie was throwing roses into the crowd I'd climbed onto the backs of the chairs and managed to catch one! Jubilation!!and put the stem in my mouth this girl then jumped up onto the chairs and bit the head off and disappeared into the melee of bodies below. biatch you know who you are!
ReplyDeletePS my old man an AA patrolman at the time repaired their tour bus which broke down said they were stingy tippers though.
i remember being in dundee when this gig was due to take place and walking past the caird hall heard bohemian whether it was them rehearsing or a recording am unsure but was able to hear every word as the volume was turned up.
ReplyDeleteSmall link here to the stuff about Pegasus - I was there with Gordon mcquiilan and rab the roadie - the end was mayhem,rab got on stage and managed to nick Freddies mike -it was a shure - ended up as cozys drum mike!
ReplyDeleteI didn't think you were meant to tip the AA. That's a new one on me. The recording of this gig is actually a "genuine" bootleg known as A Night at Dundee Opera. Great.
ReplyDeleteJust watched the channel 5 Queen shows thx for the memories. Yup a great night indeed. Me and Jim tosh were there right at the front. A sensational showman. What show tough call between that night and led zeppelins wee show in 1973!
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