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1976

In January, Queen fly to New York for rehearsals ahead of their third American tour - and their second as a headlining act. The thirty-three-date A Night At The Opera tour begins in Connecticut and concludes six weeks later with four shows in Los Angeles and one in San Diego, on March 12th.

The same tour arrives in Japan on March 22nd as the band begin their second tour there, and then continues with their first proper tour of Australia; an eleven day visit with eight concerts at five different venues to play. The band has performed there only once before (at the Sunbury Music Festival in Melbourne two years earlier), but that unhappy experience leaves them apprehensive about this return trip. They needn't of worried as all eight concerts are sold out, and the album and single reached number 1 in the charts.

After recording sessions begin for a new Queen album in the summer of 1976, the band also start rehearsals for a handful of concerts in the UK. In September they play two shows in Scotland, one open air show in Wales and a massive free concert in London's Hyde Park. Due to the drought of 1976 and the poor condition of the park as a result of it, the show comes perilously close to being cancelled. It does get the go-ahead, however, and between 150,000 and 200,000 people are estimated to be in attendance at one of Queen’s single best concerts. This show, one of the many milestones in Queen's touring life, was filmed in it's entirety, but has yet to be released officially.

Text taken from the forthcoming revised and updated edition of Queen Live: A Concert Documentary