Queen - Play The Game (Live in San Diego, California, USA) [July 5, 1980]

After coming off of the Crazy Tour six months earlier which is regarded as the best for Freddie's voice, he continues the momentum into the US leg of the Game Tour where he sounds just as good! San Diego now takes over Phoenix as the earliest recording from the tour, and boy oh boy, what a show! One of my new favourites for sure. Huge thank you to John Purlia for recording and graciously sharing this gem, and everyone else who made this possible!

Unearthed with this new recording is what is now the earliest version of Play The Game in circulation. I've been a huge fan of the Phoenix version because of the less forced vocals, but it's safe to say this San Diego performance trumps it. Perhaps even more effortless vocals and softer tone, and a much tighter and energetic band! Not only is it my new personal favourite version, but it definitely ranks up there as one of the all-time best!

This tour is widely known for being a transitional period for Freddie's voice. By the 2nd leg of the US tour, he starts to develop a deeper tone (otherwise known as macho voice) with more forceful singing, particularly on the higher notes. It's speculated whether this was a stylistic choice to go with his newly introduced moustache, or rather a side effect from smoking. However, the 1st leg of the tour shows very minimal signs of the changes. This show is further proof for the tour that the earlier the gig, the closer Freddie's tone is to the glorious Crazy Tour. While he's more daring with his voice on other shows from the 1st leg such as Oakland, the high notes here sound effortless and not forced in the slightest.

NOTE: This video does not come from the same night as the audio. They have been synced together to give us an idea of how the actual performance would have looked if it were filmed.

The visuals are from the Montreal 1981 show (huge thanks to Chief Mouse for the re-grade) and the audio is from the best-sounding audience recording available.

You are more than welcome to take these videos for personal use (in compliance with copyright laws), but if you do, please give credit as finding the best possible video & audio sources, syncing them together in-time and rendering takes a lot of time.

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