A Day at the Races Tour



The A Day at the Races Tour was a concert tour by the British rock band Queen, supporting their late 1976 album A Day at the Races.

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. "There 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."

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.

The final two shows at Earls Court were recorded, with the band using an expensive lighting rig in the shape of a crown for the first time. Both shows were also professionally filmed on video and the first can be found on many bootlegs. 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."

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.