Queen Rock Montreal & Live Aid Review

Release Date: October 30, 2007
The content of this Queen DVD, isn't bad at all, the set is slightly Greatest Hits-ish, but that's only to be expected really.

Sound:	8
Content:	9
Production:	9
Impression:	8
Overall rating:	8.5
Users rating:	9.6
Comments:	5

overall: 7.3

Featured review by: GiantSpider, on january 08, 2008

Sound: Ok, so it's 1981, Queen have just released their Greatest Hits album worldwide to massive sucess. Their last studio album was The Game, a world wide chart topper spawning such number ones as Another One Bites the Dust & Crazy Little Thing Called Love. Their recent tour of South America had set attendence records. Queen were definetly aband in top form. So they decided tostage two separate gigs in Montreal, Canada for the purpose of recording a film. Yet this DVD doesn't seem to capture it. The audience just don't get into it, now many excuses has made made for the two gigs this DVD is compiled from, but that is the top and bottom of it. Love of My Life is a perfect example of this, the audiences in South America sang this word perfect, in english, and yet the Montreal crowd, just doesn't. The band don't get into it at all, they seem annoyed, something which has since been blamed on the director. The tracks from The Game also miss the synthesizers that were used to create them. The sound itself however isn't bad at all, Queen spend a lot of time making sure these things go out with the highest quality. 2.0 PCM Stereo and 5.1 DTS come with this. The Live Aid performance is of course a different matter, it is widely accepted to be the greatest live performance ever, and you'd be hard pushed to find someone to disagree. Sound wise though, it's not as good as the concert proper, although it too comes with the same sound options. // 6

Content: Now as ever, the content of this Queen DVD, isn't bad at all, the set is slightly Greatest Hits-ish, but that's only to be expected really.

01. We Will Rock You (fast) (May)
02. Let Me Entertain You (Mercury)
03. Play The Game (Mercury)
04. Somebody To Love (Mercury)
05. Killer Queen (Mercury)
06. I'm In Love With My Car (Taylor)
07. Get Down, Make Love (Mercury)
08. Save Me (May)
09. Now I'm Here (May)
10. Dragon Attack (May)
11. Now I'm Here (reprise) (May)
12. Love Of My Life (Mercury)
13. Under Pressure (Queen/Bowie)
14. Keep Yourself Alive (with impromptu jam before the song) (May)
15. Drum Solo/Tympani Solo (Queen/Taylor)
16. Guitar Solo/Guitar and Drum Duel (May)
17. Crazy Little Thing Called Love (Mercury)
18. Jailhouse Rock (Lieber, Stoller)
19. Bohemian Rhapsody (Mercury)
20. Tie Your Mother Down (May)
21. Another One Bites The Dust (Deacon)
22. Sheer Heart Attack (Taylor)
23. We Will Rock You (May)
24. We Are The Champions (Mercury)
25. God Save The Queen (tape) (arr. May)

Jailhouse Rock is rather bizarrely in the wrong place on the DVD, something which is justified by continuity apparently. The audio commentary. The concert is cut aswell, missing out Flash & The Hero, the visuals being left on the cutting room floor apparently. This is the first live performance of Under Pressure, and it doesn't really show. A audio commentary from both Brian May & Roger Taylor is available for the first disc, and although lacks anything new, is generally funny to listen to two best friends watching themselves on screen. The Live Aid disc comes with the entire set aswell as Is This The World We Created which Brian & Freddie did later on. It comes with a news clip featuring rehersals for it. Brian messing around on Hammer To Fall is good. And a bizarre North American feature aswell. // 8

Production Quality: This was the first full length concert to be filmed in 35mm. And it shows. The original negatives have been put through a machine at NASA, which has cleaned off any dirt and what not you might have expected to see. It also leaves it with a rather dry matt look to it. I already know it's not to some peoples tastes, but I really like it. The quality is much better than anything they have ever released before. The camera work and the edit however aren't so good, the director didn't know the show, and the camera are a bit aimless. The worst part of the previous releases (this is at least the 3rd release of this gig), was the obvious parts where the footage was from one night & the audio from the other. This has been fixed in this relase, or at least it isn't so obvious. The lighting rig is good here, and you get some good shots of it as well. Moving heads being used, although they are actually being controlled by someone. The Live Aid footage suffers from being old tape, Betamax, and being in 4:3, but that doesn't take much away from the great performance. // 8

Impression: Queen have high standards, I've already said in other reviews, that Live At Wembley is perhaps the best live release many will ever see, and in such illustrious company, Queen Rocks Montreal doesn't really stand up to them. It proves however you can film concerts on actual film, something which they did again, and AC/DC would do. And the quality of the footage and audio are the two savings graces for a perhaps above average performance. If I lost this version of the concert I probably wouldn't buy it again. But I bet the newly released high definition versions will be a different prospect. // 7

overall: 9.8

Reviewed by: bluesman6885, on december 12, 2008

Sound: This DVD documents a concert from The Forum, in Montreal Canada. It was a period when Queen peaked in it's popularity in North America, and they were without question at the top of their game, & had no peer to contend with them in the Arena Rock scene. It is Queen Productions' first venture into a Blu-Ray Release, and they went through a very extensive process to get the film; as well as restore the negative, and remaster the audio in DTS 5.1 Surround Sound.

Most fans will recognize the look ans setlist from an older release entitled 'QUEEN - We Will Rock You' But take my word for it, this DVD is well worth the money. Not only is the concert fully restored, but there's commentary (Brian May & Roger Taylor), a segment from music T.V. programme (Early 80's), the famous Live Aid footage where they stole the show at Wembley Stadium, as well as Live Aid rehearsal footage and an interview segment (BBC? ) predating the concert. Queen Rock Montreal was one of the first full-length rock concerts shot with 35mm film.

Mobilevision, and the director had legal disputes with Queen over the rights & royalties to the film... they wanted the footage, but it would only be sacrificed at a lucrative amount. So eventually after tensions cooled and the opposing party "shuffled off," Queen Productions acquired the original films and the rights to it and planned a re-release... and it was a well thought out ohe too... // 10

Content: Here is a repeat of the content found on the DVD.

- 25 Songs Filmed on November 24 & 25, 1981 in Montreal Canada at the Forum (A little trivia for you Queen fans some of this stuff has been shot 10 years to the day before Freddie's death. Creepy.) Tracklisting:

01. We Will Rock You (fast) (May)
02. Let Me Entertain You (Mercury)
03. Play the Game (Mercury)
04. Somebody to Love (Mercury)
05. Killer Queen (Mercury)
06. I'm in Love With My Car (Taylor)
07. Get Down, Make Love (Mercury)
08. Save Me (May)
09. Now I'm Here (May)
10. Dragon Attack (May)
11. Now I'm Here (reprise) (May)
12. Love of My Life (Mercury)
13. Under Pressure (Queen/Bowie)
14. Keep Yourself Alive (with impromptu jam before the song) (May)
15. Drum Solo/Tympani Solo (Queen/Taylor)
16. Guitar Solo/Guitar and Drum Duel (May)
17. Crazy Little Thing Called Love (Mercury)
18. Jailhouse Rock (Lieber, Stoller)
19. Bohemian Rhapsody (Mercury)
20. Tie Your Mother Down (May)
21. Another One Bites the Dust (Deacon)
22. Sheer Heart Attack (Taylor)
23. We Will Rock You (May)
24. We Are the Champions (Mercury)
25. God Save the Queen (tape) (arr. May)

- The full Queen set from the famous LIVE AID Concert @ Wembley Stadium in 1985. Tracklisting:

01. Bohemian Rhapsody (Mercury)
02. Radio Ga Ga (Taylor)
03. Hammer To Fall (May)
04. Crazy Little Thing Called Love (Mercury)
05. We Will Rock You (May)
06. We Are The Champions (Mercury)
07. Is This The World We Created (May, Mercury)

- Interview Segment from American Music Program (1982? )
-(BBC? ) Footage of Live Aid Rehearsal followed by interview w/ the band.

Any Queen fan, Hell... any Rock fan would appreciate owning this tiny piece of rock history. If I could sum up the content of this DVD... I would call this: A piece of rock history that shows Queen in it's 'Arena Rock' prime, and also the moment where they stole the show and conquered 'Stadium Rock.' As I said before... this is history. // 10

Production Quality: The production quality of this DVD is superior... which is something that one comes to expect out of those that are familiar with Queen's releases. They went so far as to hire a guy to create a process so that they could digitally restore the film so they could release in true Blu-Ray HD (Whatever you call it), that was a very extensive project... as well as the hours spent at the console re-mixing and remastering everything, to give it the life and punch it was denied in it's previous incarnation. Out of all their other live DVD's... I'd venture to say that they took the most care and time into this project, and it shows. // 10

Impression: This DVD clearly shows that Queen clearly made their own unique place in the rock world. They stand alone and have no peer to what they've accomplished and contributed. Just like The Stones, The Beatles, Hendrix, Clapton, you name them. The most impressive thing about this DVD is that it's rock history captured on film. Frankly it's haunting and kinda creepy that some of the songs in the main concert were shot exactly 10 years before he died. The only think I don't like about this is that, apart from the extra goodies... this isn't anything I haven't seen before. I already owned the Montreal concert, even though in comparison the quality of the old version sucks ass to this new version. And I also don't really like that the Live Aid stuff was never remastered or anything... if it was truly digitally restored, Bob Geldof's boys must've done it because it's not the same technology as used on the Montreal concert. This will forever be a part of my collection... I gave the old version of the concert away. And now the new is in it's place. // 9

Comments

[nmlyons24]

7.3 for a Queen concert? Give me a break. Better concert than half the shit out there today.

[b-rock34]

+1

[b-rock34]

Dude, Queen were AMAZING at Live Aid! They absolutely stole the show. Keep in mind this was a concert where Led Zeppelin reunited. The build-up and anticipation for Led Zep was the story, but the performance was a little sloppy (don't flame...they are my favorite band of all time - them and The Floyd). But, Queen's performance was magical!

[Rakatung]

Queen became too pop-ish in the 80'es i think, not even Live Aid seems to be able to top the old concerts from the 70'es

[TwistedLogic]

Dude, I live in Montreal and you obviously have no idea how strong the relationship between the city and Queen was. The band, like many other prog rock/hard rock bands, were embraced by the city during their infancy and the band in recipricated by putting on fantastic performances when the came to play here. I respectfully disagree with your assessment of the montreal crowds reaction to the bands performance. Queen rocks and the fans in Montreal know a class act when they see it.