Incredible and so missed.
My older brother's best friend in high school, (and a frequent house guest), was a guitarist. I recall him saying that Queen were going to be huge. This was in 1974, possibly before their second album was released.
I saw the
A Day at the Races tour in January, 1977, when they were, (arguably), at their peak creatively. They were great live, but the opening act, (Thin Lizzy), was better.
$7.50 to see those two bands, and some tickets still on sale the day of the show.