A_Day_at_the_Races_Tour

A Day at the Races Tour

1977 concert tour by Queen

The A Day at the Races Tour (also known as the World Tour '77, Summer Tour 1977 and the Jubilee Tour) was the fourth headlining concert tour by the British rock band Queen, supporting their late 1976 album A Day at the Races.

Quick Facts Associated album, Start date ...

A Day at the Races Tour
Queen concert chronology
World tour by Queen
Associated album	A Day at the Races
Start date	13 January 1977
End date	7 June 1977
Legs	2
No. of shows	40 in North America 19 in Europe 59 in total
Summer Gigs (1976) A Day at the Races Tour (1977) News of the World Tour (1977–1978)

Background

This tour was the first in which the band played "Somebody to Love" and many others. "Brighton Rock" and "Bohemian Rhapsody" were performed full-length for the first time. Also, singer Freddie Mercury performed a vocal canon between "White Man" and "The Prophet's Song".

"When people started singing along, we found it kind of annoying…" recalled Brian May. "Then there was an enormous realisation, at Bingley Hall in the Midlands. They sang every note of every song. Freddie and I looked at each other and went, 'Something's happening here. We've been fighting it, and we should be embracing it.' That's where 'We Will Rock You' and 'We Are the Champions' came from. It was an epoch-making moment."^[1]

The opening act for most of the North American concerts was Thin Lizzy. In New York City, the concert at Madison Square Garden sold out within moments of tickets going on sale.^[2]

The final two shows at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre were recorded, with the band using an expensive lighting rig in the shape of a crown for the first time.^[3] Both shows were also professionally recorded on video and the first can be found on many bootlegs.^{[citation needed]} Of one such release – Top Fax, Pix And Info – photographer Ross Halfin said: "It was a Silver Jubilee show. This had excellent soundboard quality. I actually shot this show as a much younger man."^[4]

Tour band

Freddie Mercury: Lead vocals, piano, tambourine.
Brian May: Guitar, backing vocals, banjo ("Bring Back That Leroy Brown").
Roger Taylor: Drums, backing vocals.
John Deacon: Bass guitar, additional vocals, triangle.

Opening acts

Thin Lizzy (North America, select dates)
Cheap Trick (Milwaukee, Madison)
Head East (Columbus, Indianapolis)
The Outlaws (Columbus)

Set list

This set list is representative of the 23 January 1977 performance in Richfield, Ohio. It does not represent all the set lists for the duration of the tour.

"A Day At The Races Overture"
"Tie Your Mother Down"
"Ogre Battle"
"White Queen"
"Somebody To Love"
"Killer Queen"
"The Millionaire Waltz"
"You're My Best Friend"
"Bring Back That Leroy Brown"
"Sweet Lady"
"Brighton Rock"
"'39"
"You Take My Breath Away"
"White Man"
"The Prophet's Song"
"Bohemian Rhapsody"
"Stone Cold Crazy"
"Keep Yourself Alive"
"Liar"
"In The Lap Of The Gods... Revisited"
"Now I'm Here"

Encore

"Big Spender"
"Jailhouse Rock"
"God Save The Queen"

Notes

A cover of Elton John's "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting" was performed on select dates.
"Sweet Lady" was not performed in Seattle and Stockholm.
"Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy" and "Death On Two Legs" were performed in Europe.
"In The Lap Of The Gods... Revisited" was not performed in Stockholm.
"Doing All Right" was added to the set list June 3.
During the second Liverpool show, Bo Diddley's "I'm a Man" was covered during the encore.
Starting on 6 June, "Procession" opened the concert and the band covered Little Richard's "Lucille" was performed during the encore.

Tour dates

More information Date, City ...

Date	City	Country	Venue
North America
13 January 1977	Milwaukee	United States	Milwaukee Auditorium
14 January 1977	Madison		Dane County Memorial Coliseum
15 January 1977	Columbus		St. John Arena
16 January 1977	Indianapolis		Indiana Convention Exposition Center
18 January 1977	Detroit		Cobo Arena
20 January 1977	Saginaw		Saginaw Civic Center
21 January 1977	Louisville		Louisville Gardens
22 January 1977	Kalamazoo		Wings Stadium
23 January 1977	Richfield		The Coliseum at Richfield
25 January 1977	Ottawa	Canada	Ottawa Civic Centre
26 January 1977	Montreal	Canada	Montreal Forum
28 January 1977	Chicago	United States	Chicago Stadium
30 January 1977	Toledo	United States	Toledo Sports Arena
1 February 1977	Toronto	Canada	Maple Leaf Gardens
3 February 1977	Springfield	United States	Springfield Civic Center
4 February 1977	College Park		Cole Field House
5 February 1977	New York City		Madison Square Garden
6 February 1977	Uniondale		Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
8 February 1977	Syracuse		Onondaga County War Memorial Auditorium
9 February 1977	Boston		Boston Garden
10 February 1977	Providence		Providence Civic Center
11 February 1977	Philadelphia		Philadelphia Civic Center
19 February 1977	Pembroke Pines		Hollywood Sportatorium
20 February 1977	Lakeland		Lakeland Civic Center
21 February 1977	Atlanta		Omni Coliseum
22 February 1977	Birmingham		Boutwell Memorial Auditorium
23 February 1977	St. Louis		Kiel Auditorium
25 February 1977	Dallas		Moody Coliseum
26 February 1977	Houston		Sam Houston Coliseum
1 March 1977	Phoenix		Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum
2 March 1977	Inglewood		The Forum
3 March 1977	Inglewood		The Forum
5 March 1977	San Diego		San Diego Sports Arena
6 March 1977^{[lower-alpha 1]}	San Francisco		Winterland Ballroom
11 March 1977	Vancouver	Canada	Pacific Coliseum
12 March 1977	Portland	United States	Paramount Theatre
13 March 1977	Seattle	United States	Seattle Center Arena
16 March 1977	Calgary	Canada	Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
17 March 1977	Calgary		Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
18 March 1977	Edmonton		Northlands Coliseum
Europe
8 May 1977	Stockholm	Sweden	Johanneshovs Isstadion
10 May 1977	Gothenburg	Sweden	Scandinavium
12 May 1977	Brøndby	Denmark	Brøndbyhallen
13 May 1977	Hamburg	West Germany	CCH Saal 1
14 May 1977^{[lower-alpha 2]}	Frankfurt		Festhalle
16 May 1977	Düsseldorf		Philipshalle
17 May 1977	Rotterdam	Netherlands	Rotterdam Ahoy Sportpaleis
19 May 1977	Münchenstein	Switzerland	St. Jakobshalle
23 May 1977	Bristol	England	Bristol Hippodrome
24 May 1977	Bristol		Bristol Hippodrome
26 May 1977	Southampton		Gaumont Theatre
27 May 1977	Southampton		Gaumont Theatre
29 May 1977	Stafford		Bingley Hall
30 May 1977	Glasgow	Scotland	The Apollo
31 May 1977	Glasgow	Scotland	The Apollo
2 June 1977	Liverpool	England	Liverpool Empire Theatre
3 June 1977	Liverpool		Liverpool Empire Theatre
6 June 1977^{[lower-alpha 3]}	London		Earls Court Exhibition Centre
7 June 1977	London		Earls Court Exhibition Centre

Box office score data

More information Date (1977), City ...

List of box office score data with date, city, venue, attendance, gross, references
Date (1977)	City	Venue	Attendance	Gross	Ref(s)
18 January	Detroit, United States	Cobo Arena	11,041 / 11,041	$79,281	^[5]
20 January	Saginaw, United States	Saginaw Civic Center	7,200 / 7,200	$42,637	^[5]
28 January	Chicago, United States	Chicago Stadium	13,000 / 13,000	$101,465	^[6]
5 February	New York City, United States	Madison Square Garden	19,600 / 19,600	$145,000	^[7]
23 February	St. Louis, United States	Kiel Auditorium	8,152	$52,754	^[8]
5 March	San Diego, United States	San Diego Sports Arena	9,518	$66,206	^[9]

Cancelled shows

More information Date, City ...

Date	City	Venue	Reason
29 January 1977	Trotwood, Ohio	Hara Arena	—
8 March 1977	Sacramento, California	Sacramento Memorial Auditorium
9 March 1977	Fresno, California	Selland Arena

External links

North American Dates
European Dates

Notes

Originally scheduled on 5 March 1977.
Originally scheduled at Jahrhunderthalle.
Originally scheduled on 5 June 1977.

References

[1]
"Queen: Living Legends 2015", Classic Rock #217, December 2015, p15
[2]
Tiven, Jon (1977). "Queen's Live Act Stuns City". Circus. Archived from the original on 15 July 2011. Retrieved 10 April 2009.
[3]
Hilburn, Robert (20 December 1978). "Pop Music Review: Putting Queen in Audio Seat Queen for a Night". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 20 October 2012. Retrieved 5 July 2017.
[4]
Halfin, Ross (May 2015). "Who's Who". Classic Rock #209. p. 69.
[5]
"Top Box Office" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 89, no. 5. 5 February 1977. p. 38. ISSN 0006-2510.
[6]
"Top Box Office" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 89, no. 6. 12 February 1977. p. 41. ISSN 0006-2510.
[7]
"Top Box Office" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 89, no. 7. 19 February 1977. p. 35. ISSN 0006-2510.
[8]
"Top Box Office" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 89, no. 10. 12 March 1977. p. 88. ISSN 0006-2510.
[9]
"Top Box Office" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 89, no. 11. 19 March 1977. p. 40. ISSN 0006-2510.

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