queen us tour 1978

This page is an overview of Queen's live career between 1977 and 1981. The tracks given for each tour reflect the standard setlist, but the actual songs performed varied from night to night. For a more comprehensive list, with exact setlists and details of live recordings, please see the Queen Concerts website.

1977 A Day At The Races North American Tour (40) 1977 A Day At The Races UK/European Tour (19) 1977 We Are The Champions Video Shoot (1) 1977 News Of The World North American Tour (26) 1978 News Of The World UK/European Tour (20) 1978 Jazz North American Tour (35) 1979 Live Killers European Tour (28) 1979 Live Killers Japanese Tour (15) 1979 German Saarbrucken Festival (1) 1979 UK Crazy Tour (20) 1980 The Game North American Tour (44) 1980 The Game UK/European Tour (17) 1981 The Game Japanese Tour (5) 1981 South America Bites The Dust Tour (7) 1981 South America Gluttons For Punishment Tour (6) 1981 Canadian 'We Will Rock You' Concerts (2)

28 October 1977 - sixth BBC session, recorded at Maida Vale Studio, London - We Will Rock You (slow) , We Will Rock You (fast) , Spread Your Wings , It's Late and My Melancholy Blues

Another European tour kicks off in April, lasting four weeks and ending with three nights at London's Empire Pool. The Crown lighting rig is still used with Freddie still wearing his leotards, a costume he first started wearing on the UK tour in 1976. By the time of the UK dates he changes his costume to a black jacket and matching trousers set in PVC vinyl, and when the USA tour commences in October, this costume is completed with the addition of a cap and dark shades.

Also for the U.S tour a new lighting rig is unveiled, in the shape of the 'Pizza Oven', a massive rig of hundreds of lights in blocks of red, green and white. Many songs are dropped from the set to make way for tracks from the new album Jazz .

For the first time, the band travel in their own private plane between cities on this tour. Criss-crossing the U.S and Canada in this way makes life more comfortable and convenient, and ensuring a more relaxed band. After the show in New Orleans, a huge party takes place for the world premier of the Jazz album. It is the very first event jointly organised by EMI and Elektra, and it includes an elaborate assortment of entertainment. This huge tour ends near Christmas with three nights at the Los Angeles Forum.

Text taken from the forthcoming revised and updated edition of Queen Live: A Concert Documentary

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The night on which the British quartet became an arena band in their own country.

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Queen roared through Europe In the spring of 1978 in support of their sixth studio album News Of The World . When they arrived back in London, they reached a new milestone. Their last dates in the capital had seen the band play two nights in June 1977 at Earls Court. But this time they were ready to make their Wembley Arena debut.

On May 11, a few weeks after their “We Are The Champions” anthem had gone platinum in America, Queen played their first of three consecutive nights at the venue, which was then in its final year of being known as the Empire Pool.

In February of that year, Queen had had their least successful single since they first made the UK charts in 1974. “Spread Your Wings,” the John Deacon composition from News Of The World , had reached only No.34. An edited version of “It’s Late” from the same LP was released as an American single and only managed No.74.

But the band’s credentials as a UK arena attraction were surely sealed by the earlier hits from the album, on one of the most powerful double A-side releases of the era. “We Are The Champions” and “We Will Rock You” have both gone down in history as cast-iron rock classics. They were released on the same seven-inch 45 in late 1977, when the single went to No.2 in Britain. The two crowd-pleasers were, of course, an integral part of the new set list.

As their international reputation reached new heights, Queen’s European tour of April 1978 played in Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Belgium, Holland, France, Switzerland and Austria. They returned to the UK for shows at Stafford’s Bingley Hall on May 6 and 7, before taking London by storm.

All the hits and Elvis too

The quartet took to the Wembley Arena stage with “We Will Rock You,” launching a two-hour set that included previous hits such as “Somebody To Love,” “Killer Queen,” “Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy,” “Now I’m Here,” and “Bohemian Rhapsody.” It also offered album favorites like “Millionaire Waltz,” “Stone Cold Crazy,” and “White Man.”

The main set ended with the rocking “Tie Your Mother Down” before an encore reprise of “We Will Rock You” led into “We Are The Champions” and more, including a cover of “Jailhouse Rock.” Champions indeed.

Listen to the best of Queen on Apple Music and Spotify. 

May 11, 2016 at 5:15 pm

I was lucky enough to get to all three nights, the place shook to all the stamping to We Will Rock You….

Neville Beech

May 11, 2017 at 11:37 pm

Saw them twice at Bingley hall in Stafford in the 70’s, what an absolute privilege to see some of the best gigs I have ever witnesed. The crowd sang you’ll never walk alone back to them at the end of the night, which apparently was the inspiration for ” we will Rock you “/ we are the champions “. Great memories.

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