Customer Reviews

Queen: Queen Rock Montreal

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Queen is easily one of the most well known groups in the history of rock & roll. Their songs "Another One Bites The Dust," "We Will Rock You," and "We Are Champions" are stadium classics. Eagle Vision has released a 95 minute Queen DVD titled "Queen Rock Montreal."

Fans of Queen may know that the group now tours with Paul Rodgers. This DVD features Queen with their original lead singer the late Freddie Mercury. The concert was filmed over two nights back in 1981. Queen was at the height of their early 80's success when they packed the house with over 18,000 fans.

The concert film was originally titled "We Will Rock You," when it was released in the United States back in 1984. Now titled, "Queen Rock Montreal," this concert film will make a great addition to one's Queen collection.

Songs performed include "We Will Rock You," "Under Pressure," "Crazy Little Thing Called Love," "Another One Bites The Dust," and "We Are Champions" among other classic Queen songs. Bonus features include a brand new audio commentary with Brian May and Roger Taylor.

This release does not include Queen's Live Aid performance. The Queen Rock Montreal & Live Aid is a separate release.

SPECTACULAR! For my money, this is the definitive Queen concert film, capturing the band at the peak of its musical powers. Its also a film (originally titled "We Will Rock You") with a long and storied history and with several previous releases - but if you've seen it before, you've never seen it like this! Queen was recently able to acquire the rights to this film and they have overseen its complete top-to-bottom overhaul. The original film elements, shot on 70mm film for the highest quality image, have been completely cleaned, color corrected and restored, re-edited, and the original 24 track audio has been completely remastered and remixed to the band's exacting standards. This means you get a film that has never looked better and never sounded better. The image is gorgeous and looked amazing on my 50" HD TV, with great detail, deep blacks and beautiful vivid color courtesy of the band's bold on stage lighting rig. You really have to see it to appreciate just how good the show looks. The audio is breathtaking, with every nuance captured, from Roger Taylor's relentless drums, to John Deacon's thundering bass, from Brian May's crystal clear guitar to Freddie Mercury's glorious, emotive vocals. And the performance is fantastic - fast, furious, energetic, dynamic - with unsurpassed performances of "Somebody to Love", "Save Me", "I'm in Love with My Car", Dragon Attack", and the first ever public performance of "Under Pressure". This is the real deal, folks. This is Queen at their absolute best.

I've listened to the Rock Montreal concert quite a few times now. I've noticed that they've cleaned up a few mistakes from the WWRY DTS version. Like the sour guitar note in Somebody to love during the "work till' I ache my bones" part, along with a couple of other odd sounds. Also, the video seems to match the sound this time around(two nights were shot for this recording and often one video was substituted for the others sound and vice versa creating sync issues). I also noticed the overall mix on Rock Montreal has less midrange than the prior WWRY and sounds slightly more clean and less angry/raw which is a good and bad thing. It definitely sounds cleaned up though.

However certain things didn't sound as good, like the "thunderstorm intro". I always used to stick the prior WWRY disc in to show off my sound system to friends, and the new version lacks the intensity of the sound of the prior release. It sounds so much more intense on the WWRY DTS version because that mix cleverly makes much more use of the rear surrounds which create this *big* atmosphere/ambiance for the bands grand entrance. Instead, they chose to mix the crowd noise in the rear surrounds. Try to A/B both disc if you have them and you will see what I mean. I guess this was done to be more realistic from a concert seat standpoint(band- front speakers, crowd- rear speakers). I should mention that the sequences done with delay(or echo) do make use of the surrounds.

I believe the drums are mixed a little bit louder on the newer release and they sound very good. The guitar is low at points like on the lead on the fast version of WWRY, but the fading of the guitar volume up and down found on the prior release seems more cleaned up on Rock Montreal. Less of a swishing sound.

I liked the commentary by Roger and Brian as well. It's not overly entertaining, but it's quite informative at times. Queen fans will enjoy it, but the average person would probably find it boring due to a few gaps in commentary.

This probably is my favorite live Queen dvd release though, especially since it lack the snyths found on the later releases, and doesn't have any additional players. I think more could have been done with the surround mix, but this is probably the best one out right now. If your looking to buy your first live Queen dvd, this one is probably the best. If you have the WWRY DTS, this isn't all that different and might want to rent it first. If you have the original VHS or DVD(not DTS), you will enjoy this one much more. Plus this one has the bonuses of Brian/Roger commentary which is not found on DTS. The DTS version has commentary by Saul Swimmer who directed the original film.

I rented this first since I already own the WWRY DTS, but the bonus Brian/Roger commentary along with the cleaned up audio make this one worth buying.

Keep in mind, there is also a Queen Rock Montreal DVD which contains the bonus of the band's '85 Live Aid performance for about $4 more. It's definitely worth it considering the show they put on.

Man I cant remember how often Ive seen Queen in Concert starting with the We Will Rock you tour. Their performance was manic and Freddie was his usual adrenalined self. Richard Deacon outid himself on the drums playing at a wild frantic pace, while Roger Deacon was having fun bouncing around while playing his Bass and Bryan May of course paying attention to his guitar notes to keep everything in time.

The only bummer was the audience, who sat their like it was some classical musical recital where you have to shush. Maybe a couple dozen fans were up and jumping and moving to the music. The other kept their seats like they were sitting on crazy glue. At one point Freddie noticing this came to the front of the stage and told people they could move their azzes if they wanted, they could take off their shirts, take off their clothes. Vintage Mercury humor lost on a sad bunch of Canadians and insulting to a band that was working hard to entertain them, you could see the disappointment in Roger Mays face and the overall decline in the bands energy, not from performing but from performing for a bunch of dolts who paid money to sit and stare.

Anyplace else in the world the audience cheers Queen on and jumps up standing half the time and giving them a rounding applause after every number, something the Canuks didnt. Is it bothering? Yes cause Queen makes it a point to connect to their audience who at least when Ive been, love that aspect of Queen and makes the show even more intense.

Queen Rocks you, I wonder if they ever came back that way. No wonder Freddie started the concert with "Long time no see" I guess he found it why it was a long time no see for these Canadian yokels. Things were the same I imagine since they were last there. What a bunch a Canuk Losers. God Save The Queen.

This is one of their best concerts. I've watched it a lot of times. Their best concert was the one at Wembley, July 1986. That was Freddie at his very best!

I wasn't a Queen fan until I watched this video! Now I would give anything to see them all live again in concert. Freddie M. is such a gifted performer. It blows me away to think of how creative and talented this man was with this band. It's quite the show and quite the spectacle! It's entertaining and funny to watch all at the same time and my favorite concert video. Not only the talent, but the shear audacity of Freddie is mind boggling. My 21 year old neice and her boyfriend sat mesmerized throughout the video with grins on their faces the entire time. They couldn't believe it either! There's nothing else out there that comes even close to this entertaining, as a concert video, that I've seen, to date.

So very pleased with this video...Freddie was amazing. Queen is the best ever rock n roll band. Have now done a lot of research on Freddie and his band since viewing this video. He lived an amazing life. So sad to have lost such a great talent as He....You're service and speedy delivery was greatly appreciated. Have now also ordered a book and 2 other videos from you. Will recommend you to all I know..Many thanks...A new and very happy customer...

I had to stop what I was doing and watch this performance by Queen. It is over the top and timeless.

Queen was one of the greatest rock bands of its era, but to watch Freddie Mercury and the band perform live is a treat. Even if you aren't a big Queen fan, this concert is amazing and the DVD captures it beautifully. Mercury was one of the most talented musicians in rock and to see him at the height of his career is breathtaking.