Bohemian Bootlegs's video: Queen- Live in Himeji 3 24 1976

The (in) famous Japan 1976 tour continues. This is a recording of the show at the Kosei Nenkin Hall in Himeji. The quality is EXCELLENT, and could pass for an official release, and it's complete! The performances are as usual quite good, but Freddie's voice is NOT! Along with the Fukuoka 3/26 show, these two concerts represent his worst shows on the tour. Pretty much anything above F is strained, cracked, or flat, and many performances can rank among the worst. Despite this, he STILL manages some good vocals (What a man). So now it's time to go through them. The rock section of "Bohemian Rhapsody" sounds bad as Freddie cracks several times and does bad phrasing, plus Brian hits a bum note at the beginning, "Ogre Battle" is one of the worst versions ever as pretty much every G4 or above note is strained, cracked, flat, or dodged, "Sweet Lady" is poor with Freddie hitting NONE of the A4s, "White Queen" is decent, despite some rough spots (Freddie cracks on "She can not SEE"- twice, and the A4), "Flick Of The Wrist" doesn't sound too hot as Freddie cracks in several spots and sings some chorus parts on E4, the verses of "Bohemian Rhapsody" are a mixed bag as Freddie does unique conservative phrasing, which ranges from good sounding to awkward, "Killer Queen" also has some bad phrasing in spots, but sounds fine on the whole, "The March Of The Black Queen" is bad with Freddie falling flat on all 3 A4s and Brian messing up the intro, the reprise of "Bohemian Rhapsody" thankfully is still great, and "Bring Back That Leroy Brown" is pretty good. "Brighton Rock" has some intonation issues but sounds pretty good overall, plus the guitar solo is as always tops, "Son And Daughter" is one of the worst versions ever as Freddie does very awkward phrasing throughout, "The Prophet's Song" is also one of the worst ever as Freddie strains on much of the higher notes, (The improv section sounds very creative, however), "Stone Cold Crazy" is still great, "Doing All Right" is the worst version ever as Freddie dodges pretty much all the G and speaks some parts, "Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon" sounds good with Freddie doing nice alternate phrasing to get around some of the higher notes, "Keep Yourself Alive" has some rough spots (A few flat notes, and cracks the key-change A4) but sounds decent overall, plus he still manages to embellish in the final choruses (The musicianship is tops as well), "Liar" is the worst version ever as Freddie cracks numerous times, sometimes on third octave notes, though the musicianship is tops, "In The Lap Of The Gods...Revisited" is also the worst ever as Freddie has numerous cracks, stops singing at times, and forgets the words, "Now I'm Here" is one of the worst on the tour as Freddie dodges the A4s, has several cracks, and does odd phrasing throughout, "Big Spender" is decent albiet with Freddie cracking the A4, and "Jailhouse Rock" has a few rough spots but sounds pretty good overall! ENJOY!