STADIUM ROCK 

2 CD
Label: Wardour 028S   (Standard version)
Country: Japan
Released: December 2005
Recorded: Nishinomiya Stadium, Osaka, Japan  October 24th. 1982  
Sound: Very good & excellent audience recording.
Comments:  It's the first bootleg from this concert, which included the full show. "We Will Rock You" (slow)  has been missed on all early bootlegs. This 2cd is an release of the 'new' source. The recording is not taken from other bootlegs.  
 It's a nice show, with a improvisation version of "Spread Your Wings", and a version of Elton John's "Saturday Night's Alright..." is also played. Well it's actually a improvisation version, with the title line singing several times. 
There is also a 4 cd version of this 'Wardour' bootleg, which included the vinyl version on cd 3&4.
Roots: Original bootleg 2cd. Concert well booted, but this source is complete for first time. 
Time:  


Front cover
 Intro: Flash Gordon's Theme  (tape)
 The Hero
 We Will Rock You  (fast)
 Action This Day
 Somebody To Love
 Calling All Girls
 Medley: Now I'm Here
                Put Out The Fire
                Dragon Attack
                Now I'm Here (reprise)
 Love Of My Life
 Save Me
 Get Down Make Love
 Guitar Solo
  Body Language
 Under Pressure
 Fat Bottomed Girls
 Crazy Little Thing Called Love 
 Spread Your Wings (short improvisation)
 Saturday Nights Alright For Fighting
 Bohemian Rhapsody
 Tie Your Mother Down
 Another One Bites The Dust
 Jailhouse Rock
 Rock & Roll Medley
 We Will Rock You  (slow)
 We Are The Champions
 God Save The Queen.....

Note: Wardour label released 2 version of this bootleg, using different covers.
Thisone, and a 4cd set, including this tape source, and cd 3 & 4, including recording
taken from the vinyl disc. You can find info on that one in the index. Same title, but 4CD.











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Back cover


Inside front cover


 Inside back cover

 
 Review by Collectors music reviews
 
For Stadium Rock the Wardour label present a new tape source for the Osaka performance (discs one and two of the four disc set or standing alone).  It is paired with the older tape source previously released and available on the LP Get Down on Lora Records.  The tape source for the two disc set and the first half of the four-disc set is brand new, not even circulating with collectors.  It is excellent, very well balanced and detailed, one of the best from Queen's tour of Japan in 1982.  The only cut is a tape flip in "Body Language" which Wardour edited with the older source.  
On this tour Queen gave some of their most unique performances.  It seems they could never settle on which songs from the new LP they wanted to incorporate into the set list, so they changed the numbers all throughout the tour.  This show in Kobe has the welcome addition of a two-minute fragment of "Spread Your Wings".  Freddie plays a unique arrangement of the piece and sings the first verse and says, "I've forgotten the chords" before banging the piano for "Saturday Night's Alright".  The Elton John piece then segues directly into "Bohemian Rhapsody". 

Brian May plays the opening to "It's Late" as an introduction to one of the most unique versions of "Now I'm Here" on record.  Several of the Japan shows contain the Hot Space track "Put Out The Fire", but before they get into that they play some bars of "We Can Work It Out" by The Beatles and "Shake Rattle & Roll".   The encore consists of the first half of "Another One Bites The Dust", which segues directly into "Jailhouse Rock", "Brown Sugar" and other tunes including "Shake Rattle & Roll" (again) before Freddie tries two times to end it!  "We Will Rock You" is included in its entirely (some sources miss this tune).  Some say that "Teo Torriatte" was played, but there is no evidence to support that claim. 
The LP source on discs three and four is one of the best sounding audience tapes from the era.  The used an excellent vinyl source and declicked it making it sound very nice.  They also spliced in the first tape source for "We Will Rock You".  Wardour have corrected the speed problem.  The two-disc set is probably enough for most collectors although it is nice to have the two sources available.  It isn't superfluous as was the four-disc At Last Budokan release which presented to versions of the same tape, the second of which was unlistenable. (GS)