Live at the Rainbow '74A little backgroundA young and hungry band at the time, Queen longed to play the legendary Rainbow Theatre. At the time that was the height of their ambition. As well all know they went much further than that! BUT in 1974 they did three gigs at this legendary theater. One on March 31st which was at the end of the UK leg of the Queen II tour. Then they came back for what was scheduled as a one time stop on November 19th which sold out so quickly they added a second night. This was during the Sheer Heart Attack tour. Even in 8 months you see how the band has evolved.
The March show was filmed and recorded for a proposed third album to give the band time in the studio before their next album. For whatever reason, it was shelved not to be heard from again for 40 years. The November gigs were also filmed and this time there was some use...Edited down to about...half the gig (and severely edited on that) the film was played in theaters before Led Zeppelin's famous film The Song Remains The Same. This same edit was put on VHS tape and released in The Box Of Tricks.
NOW though finally after forty years, a complete box set is released. This is the full audio of the March gig. A highlight of this is the inclusion of The Fairy Feller's Master-stroke. Before this release it was thought the band had most likely never performed this track live as it never had been on any bootleg. It had been made mention of during Greg Brooks' live documentary book but there had been several mistakes in the book so it was discounted. Unfortunately the visual portion of the March show was mostly lost and only ten minutes remained in the Queen archive and was included as bonus material on the blu ray. The November concerts were put in one gig (a compilation of two nights) and a full filmed version was also released.
Included in the deluxe set is a 64 page book full of interesting pictures and liner notes including some reviews of shows at the times. There are also reproductions of posters, tickets, and other curios. All in all a phenomenal release. Simply phenomenal. My favorite release since Made In Heaven.
Track Listing (Audio)
Disc 1: March
1. Procession (May)
2. Father To Son (May)
3. Ogre Battle (Mercury)
4. Son And Daughter (May)
5. Guitar Solo (May)
6. Son And Daughter (Reprise) (May)
7. White Queen (As It Began) (May)
8. Great King Rat (Mercury)
9. The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke (Mercury)
10. Keep Yourself Alive (May)
11. Drum Solo (Taylor)
12. Keep Yourself Alive (Reprise) (May)
13. Seven Seas Of Rhye (Mercury)
14. Modern Times Rock N Roll (Taylor)
15. Jailhouse Rock/Stupid Cupid/Be Bop A Lula (Leiber/Stoller/Greenfield/Sedaka/Vincent/Graves/Davis)
16. Liar (Mercury)
17. See What A Fool I've Been (May)
Disc 2: November
1. Procession (May)
2. Now I'm Here (May)
3. Ogre Battle (Mercury)
4. Father To Son (May)
5. White Queen (As It Began) (May)
6. Flick Of The Wrist (Mercury)
7. In The Lap Of The Gods (Mercury)
8. Killer Queen (Mercury)
9. The March Of The Black Queen (Mercury)
10. Bring Back That Leroy Brown (Mercury)
11. Son And Daughter (May)
12. Guitar Solo (May)
13. Son And Daughter (Reprise) (May)
14. Keep Yourself Alive (May)
15. Drum Solo (Taylor)
16. Keep Yourself Alive (Reprise) (May)
17. Seven Seas Of Rhye (Mercury)
18. Stone Cold Crazy (Mercury/May/Taylor/Deacon)
19. Liar (Mercury)
20. In The Lap Of The Gods...Revisited (Mercury)
21. Big Spender (Coleman/Fields)
22. Modern Times Rock N Roll (Taylor)
23. Jailhouse Rock (Lieber/Stoller)
24. God Save The Queen (arr. May)