Queen : Hammersmith Odeon 12/24/75 (A Night At The Odeon)

IF I'M NOT BACK AGAIN

THIS TIME TOMMOROW

CARRY ON, CARRY ON

AS IF NOTHING REALLY MATTERS

 A Night at the Odeon

 is a live album 

and video 

by the British

 Rock band

 Queen

The album is the 

first official release

 of the band's 

Christmas Eve

 performance

 at the 

Hammersmith Odeon

 in 1975,

 filmed by the BBC.

 The show was broadcast 

on BBC2

 and 

BBC Radio 1, 

and included one

 of the first 

live performances of 

"Bohemian Rhapsody".

 It is the band's

 most popular Bootleg.

Background

December, 24th 1975 

 Gig at the 

Hammersmith Odeon 

was the final date

 of Queen's UK tour

 in support of the album 

A Night At The Opera, 

which had been released

 a few weeks previously, 

and had already gone gold. 

The single 

"Bohemian Rhapsody" 

was in the middle 

of its 9-week run

 at number one

 in the UK charts

 at the time of the gig, 

which was one 

of the first times

 the song was played live.

 Queen had already 

played four shows

 at the Odeon 

earlier during

 the tour 

and received positive reviews

 in the press, 

with 

Sounds Magazine 

saying

 "everything about them says

 that they are more important

 than any other

 band you've heard".

The gig was advertised in 

Melody Maker

 as

 "Britain's most regal band 

awaits your presence ..." 

and all

 5,000 tickets sold out. 

Guitarist

 Brian May

 later recalled: 

"This concert was very special

 because it was the first time 

we ever played a

 whole show 

completely live on TV". 

Lead singer 

Freddie Mercury 

played a white

 Bechstein grand piano

 imported especially

 for the gig, 

and wore 

white and black catsuits, 

changing costume

 halfway through the show.

Though

A Night at the Opera 

was in the charts 

at the time of show,

 the band's setlist

 mainly drew from

earlier songs

 that worked well on stage,

 including

 May's solo guitar spot 

in the middle of the show, 

and a medley of old 

Rock' N' Roll songs

 towards the end.

 The band only played

 the ballad section of 

"Bohemian Rhapsody"

 as part of a medley

 with older material, 

and the only other Opera track was 

"God Save The Queen"

 played on tape

 at the very end 

of The Show

The show was broadcast on BBC2 

as part of the music programme

The Old Grey Whistle Test 

with the audio 

later broadcast on

 BBC Radio 1. 

Queen had appeared

 on the show 

several times previously

 when studio tracks 

were played alongside

 custom music videos. 

Whistle Test presenter

 Bob Harris 

introduced

 the band onstage

 and later recalled

 that Queen 

"were in party mood at the 

Hammersmith Odeon that night".

 Unfortunately,

 the cameras were packed away 

before the group's 

second encore, 

so only the audio of 

"Seven Seas of Rhye" 

and

 "See What a Fool I've Been"

were recorded

and nationwide television 

and radio broadcast, 

the gig has become

 the most popular 

bootleg recording 

of Queen. 

Many of the songs

 in the band's

 Hammersmith set 

were dropped on

 later tours, 

and did not appear 

on official 

live albums 

such as

 Live Killers 

and 

Live At Wembley '86.

The original

 multi-track tapes 

of the show 

were believed

 to be lost, 

before being recovered

 in 2009 

and restored by

Queen

TRACKLIST

Intro

Now I'm Here

Ogre Battle

White Queen (As It Began)

Bohemian Rhapsody

Killer Queen

The March of The Black Queen

Bohemian Rhapsody

 (Reprise)

Bring Back That Leroy Brown

Brighton Rock 

(w/Solo)

Son & Daughter

(Reprise)

Keep Yourself Alive

Liar

In The Lap of The Gods

 (Revisited)

Big Spender

Jailhouse Rock

Stupid Cupid

Be Bop Lula

Jailhouse Rock

 (Reprise)

Seven Seas of Rhye

See What A Fool I've Been

God Save The Queen

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