In the early 70’s, many rock bands’ road to stardom was paved by live performances. As good as studio albums could be, somehow, that all-powerful rock energy translated best when captured live. Bootleg recordings became massively popular and bands like The Who and Deep Purple achieved real boosts in popularity by releasing their albums Live At Leeds and Made In Japan.

1974 will always be remembered as the year Queen ascended to the throne. Key to their meteoric rise was their March 31st show at London’s legendary Rainbow Theatre. The band, after 4 years of slugging it out in UK clubs and fresh off a tour as openers for Mott The Hoople, sold out THE major venue, The Rainbow Theatre. Selling out the 3,500 seat Rainbow, counterpart to L.A.’s Palladium or New York’s Fillmore East was a signature achievement. In an extraordinarily short period of time a respected club act became a massive hitmaking headliner!

That electrifying show was recorded by Roy Thomas Baker (engineer and co-producer of Queen’s first four studio albums) and slated to be the band’s third album, their “Live At Leeds”, a recording that captured the magic of Queen firing on all cylinders and really coming into their own.