The event was to highlight the success of the group’s fourth album, “A Night At The Opera”, which was supported by a sold-out, 25-date UK tour while the set’s lead single, “Bohemian Rhapsody”, ruled the country’s single charts.
This milestone “A Night At The Odeon” show would provide Queen with its biggest audience to date. To be televised live on the UK’s BBC TV’s Old Grey Whistle Test and broadcast simultaneously on the national Radio 1, the show would take the band into millions of homes across the nation, crowning Queen as the biggest rock band in the UK.
“You know, we’ve taken our show around the world,” guitarist Brian May told the audience, “but we’ve never got to so many people all at once, and this felt really good. Thanks a lot for giving us a good year, we’d like to leave you ‘In The Lap Of The Gods.”
Following the legendary broadcast event, the original multi-track tapes of the show were subsequently believed to be lost, before being recovered in 2009 and restored by Queen sound engineers Justin Shirley-Smith, Kris Fredriksson and Joshua Macrae.
The re-mastered and restored show was shown at a special screening on October 8, 2015 at Olympic Studios in London where some of “A Night At The Opera” had been recorded.
See also:
Queen spotlight Roger Taylor hits in latest episode of The Greatest
Queen broke new ground with 1975 masterpiece Bohemian Rhapsody
Queen thrive under pressure to make 1975 classic A Night At The Opera
Queen revisit 1974 Sheer Heart Attack European tour
Search Queen at hennemusic
