This weekend (until January 21 2024), Queen fans around the world will be able to experience rare footage of the band’s November 1981 Montreal Forum concert on selected immersive IMAX cinema screens… and Q has an exclusive clip. Scroll down to watch.
The 1981 Montreal show captures the band at a pivotal moment in their history. The 18,000 seater concert came in the immediate aftermath of their global smash single “Under Pressure” and album The Game, which topped the charts in both the U.S. and U.K. and included the Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 singles “Another One Bites the Dust” and “Crazy Little Thing Called Love.”
In Q’s exclusive excerpt from the concert, the band perform “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”, with Freddie Mercury strumming the song’s iconic riff on a 12-string guitar alone at first, before the rest of the band join in. The result is a thrilling snapshot of Queen – and especially of Mercury – at the peak of their powers.
The Montreal concerts on November 24 and 25, 1981 were arranged specifically to be filmed: after a decade of touring the band were keen to document the passion and energy of their live shows and commissioned state of the art sound recording and filming to capture their full performance. That footage has now been digitally re-mastered for the first time into IMAX quality, including 12-channel surround sound, crystal-clear images, and IMAX’s customized theater geometry.
Although it would be their 20-minute set four years later at Live Aid that is now cited as among the most definitive live footage ever recorded, “Queen Rock Montreal” marks the band’s first full-length concert preserved on film, and features a wealth of songs that have since become classics, including “We Will Rock You”, “Somebody to Love”, “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “We Are The Champions.”
Freddie Mercury's stage presence and showmanship made Queen concerts unforgettable experiences.
Speaking of the remastered footage, guitarist Brian May said: “I don’t think we quite realized it at the time, but this film has preserved one of the highest peaks in Queen’s touring life, on stage in the old glory days. The director was very much focused on Freddie, and this now stands as probably the most precious intimate capture ever of Mr. Mercury at his full awesome power.” Drummer Roger Taylor added, simply, “Enjoy. We were young!”
The legendary concert was arranged specifically to be recorded for posterity.
Following the global success of The Game, Queen would hit the U.K. No. 1 again with each of their final four albums, including 1986’s A Kind of Magic, which spent nearly 16 months in the British album charts. A Kind of Magic was also the final album backed by live shows, after Mercury was diagnosed with AIDS the following year.
“Queen Rock Montreal” will be shown in over 450 IMAX Cinemas for four days only, ending on January 21; the territories include the United States and the U.K., as well as selected European locations, South Africa, Australia, Brazil and Mexico. For a full list of participating theaters and to purchase tickets, click here.
