Queen | The 1977 Summer Tour program, signed by the band

Queen

Queen Summer Tour 1977. Np, [1977]

Square folio (285 x 285 mm). Caption title, numerous photographic prints of live performances, many of which full-page; mild browning at foot of text leaves, a few minor creases, two marks in pen to list of tour dates. Side-stapled in original printed wrappers, signed by Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor, and John Deacon on the front cover; old vertical fold, light foxing and stray soiling to wrappers.

The tour program for the European leg of the "A Day at the Races" tour, signed by the band. The summer 1977 tour was a pivotal moment for Queen. It was on this tour that "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "Brighton Beach" were performed at full-length for the first time in their career, and it was where the live debut of "Somebody to Love." It was during the European leg of the tour that the band recognized the massive success they had achieved, when they heard first heard their fans singing along to every word of their songs; according to Brian May, the experience of this tour inspired the songs "We Are the Champions" and "We Will Rock You."

Though the program lists seventeen performances, there were in fact nineteen on the tour; absent from the program are the 19 May show in Switzerland and the final 7 June show in London.