Queen 1978-10-28 Dallas County Convention Center Arena Dallas, TX

Queen
Dallas, TX 10/28/78
Dallas County Convention Center Arena
“Premier Jazz”
Disc 1 from first generation copy
01. We Will Rock You (fast)
02. Let Me Entertain You
03. If You Can’t Beat Them
04. Somebody To Love
05. Medley: Death On Two Legs/
06. Killer Queen/
07. Bicycle Race/
08. I'm In Love With My Car
09. Get Down Make Love
10. You're My Best Friend
11. Now I'm Here
12. Spread Your Wings
13. Dreamer's Ball
14. Love Of My Life
15. '39
16. It's Late
17. Brighton Rock
Disc 2 from Master Tape
1. Fat Bottomed Girls
2. Sheer Heart Attack/
3. Keep Yourself Alive
4. Bohemian Rhapsody
Encore 1
5. Tie Your Mother Down
Encore 2
6. We Will Rock You
7. We Are The Champions
    God Save The Queen(faded per moderators)

Taper’s Notes:
This is the first recording by V4TX.  It was recorded using a $20 GE cassette recorder with the external microphone that came with it.  I was sitting in the lower part of the balcony.  I am making this tape available to the community due to the fact that all research I have done indicates that this show does not circulate in a complete form.  This tape contains the complete performance.  It is not a great recording by any stretch of the imagination, but it is far from awful.  Even though I was in the balcony, the concert was loud, and there is very little audience interference, most interference is during the encores.  I would say this is a cut above “for completists only.” All instruments and vocals are present.  It’s clear, but not high fidelity.  The historical significance of this tape is it is the first show of the Jazz tour, I believe played before the album was released.  This tape was traded a bit around the time it was recorded, but never in this quality.  So I wouldn’t call this uncirculated, just undercirculated.  

Transfer Notes:
The tape was originally made on 2 Ampex 90 minute normal bias tapes.  Unfortunately time was not kind to either tapes.  However, soon after the concert, if I remember, that weekend, I transferred the show to another set of cassettes.  That turned out to be a good thing.  What is on CD 1 is from that first generation copy.  What I did was take only the right channel from that tape and split it.  The left channel had a lower signal and much more hiss.  Believe me, with the rig that was used, the tape was a mono recording, so nothing is missing by dropping the left channel.  I then played it directly to a Sony CDR-W33.  I did equalize it a bit  There was no use of the Limiter, or any attempt to reduce hiss.  I know some purists will cringe at this, but I did the transfer for my ears, and I believe it makes the recording better.  The change is minimal.  Another thing about the first disc.  There is a break after “Now I’m Here,” for a tape flip, unfortunately there is also a brief break after “Spread Your Wings.”  This is due to the fact that as a 16 year old, when I made the transfer, I decided to fill the tape up as much as possible and moved that song from the beginning of side 2 to the end of side 1.  But as I said, if I didn’t make the transfer we wouldn’t have this show at all.  Who knew 27 years later people would still want a copy.  At least I hope they do.  I didn’t try to fix the break, I wanted to leave the tape as close to how I have it.  There is nothing missing, just a brief cut.  CD 2 however is taken from the master.  For some reason this tape didn’t fall apart as much as the first tape.  The same method of transfer was used for it as with CD 1.  The encores are what seem to be missing from the other source of this show, and unfortunately this is where most of the crowd interference happens.  They do not ruin the tape, just make it a bit annoying.  I hope the Queen community likes this tape.  Again, I’m not sharing it as a great document, but a unique one of the first Jazz show.  

One other Note:  This was the night “Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park,” originally aired, and in the pre-VCR days the group that went to this concert were somewhat bummed they were missing that show.  However, by the end of the concert, and after reading reviews of the Kiss program, we knew we made the right call.

 

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