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Queen Rock Montreal presents Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon at their most excitingand exhilarating. As Brian May puts it, this is Queen “live and dangerous.” Queen were on all-conquering form when they returned to Montreal, Canada for the fourth time in November 1981 to play two hugeconcerts at the 18,000-seat Forum. This pair of Montreal concerts marked an historic moment for Queen. After their massive success in the 1970s, the band entered the 80s bigger than ever, with the hugely successful The Game album producing their two biggest ever US singles in Another One Bites The Dust and Crazy Little Thing Called Love (both Billboard No.1’s), followed by theUK No.1 single Under Pressure. Queen’s return to Montreal came afteralmost two years of touring, including their very firsttours of South and Central America, which saw the band playing two nights at Sao Paulo’s Morumbi Stadiumtomore than 150,000 devoted fans. As a result, when the band arrived in Canada in November 1981 they were in electrifying form. “Montreal is one of our favourite cities, it’s a great audience there, very full of energy,” says Brian May. “We’d played this particular venue, The Forum, several times before, and it was always full of really enthusiastic people giving us a lot of energy back.”

The original concerts,which took place on November 24 and 25, 1981, were truly ground-breaking. They were arranged specifically to be filmed for a full-length concert film to document their live show. Director Saul Swimmer planned to shoot them using state-of-the-art Double Anamorphic 35mm footage, which allowed it to be projected on a gigantic, five-storey high screen.Backstage tensions between the members of Queen and Swimmer could have caused problems, but instead they propelled the band to new heights.

“We were very, very hyped up, some of the tempos are really fast, there’s a lot of really incisive, angry playing,” says May.

Queen Rock Montreal features a rawer version of the band who had released Bohemian Rhapsodyhalf a decade earlier, showcasingtheirunparalleled musicianship, soaring vocal powerand unstoppable live energy.“There’s no one on the stage apart from us,” says May.

Says Taylor: “It's fascinating to now realize how free we were on stage in 1981. It's a four piece, just the four of us in Queen, and to see Freddie. It's like being on stage with the band because the cameras are very high quality for the time. I've never seen anything that makes you feel quite so involved with the performance.”

From Freddie Mercury’s opening cry of “Hello Montreal… long time no see. You wanna get crazy?” through to the thrilling climactic one-two of We Will Rock You and We Are The Champions, the energy rarely lets up – and even then only for signature ballad Love Of My Life. The powerful vocal acrobatics of Mercury, May’s dazzling six-string pyrotechnics, Deacon’s rock solid heartbeat bass, Taylor’s unstoppable rhythmic display, and not to mention the unique combination of all four voices – Queen Rock Montreal shows the total cohesion and individual strengths of four musicians who were, as Brian May says, “at the top of our game”.

TRACK LISTING

2CD

CD1
1. Intro
2. We Will Rock You (Fast)
3. Let Me Entertain You
4. Play The Game
5. Somebody To Love
6. Killer Queen
7. I'm In Love With My Car
8. Get Down, Make Love
9. Save Me
10. Now I'm Here
11. Dragon Attack
12. Now I'm Here (Reprise)
13. Love Of My Life


CD2
1. Under Pressure
2. Keep Yourself Alive
3. Drum And Tympani Solo
4. Guitar Solo
5. Flash
6. The Hero
7. Crazy Little Thing Called Love
8. Jailhouse Rock
9. Bohemian Rhapsody
10. Tie Your Mother Down
11. Another One Bites The Dust
12. Sheer Heart Attack
13. We Will Rock You

3LP

SIDE A
1. Intro
2. We Will Rock You (Fast)
3. Let Me Entertain You
4. Play The Game
5. Somebody To Love

SIDE B
1. Killer Queen
2. I'm In Love With My Car
3. Get Down, Make Love
4. Save Me

SIDE C
1. Now I'm Here
2. Dragon Attack
3. Now I'm Here (Reprise)
4. Love Of My Life
5. Under Pressure

SIDE D
1. Keep Yourself Alive
2. Drum And Tympani Solo
3. Guitar Solo
4. Flash
5. The Hero

SIDE E
1. Crazy Little Thing Called Love
2. Jailhouse Rock
3. Bohemian Rhapsody
4. Tie Your Mother Down

SIDE F
1. Another One Bites The Dust
2. Sheer Heart Attack
3. We Will Rock You
4. We Are The Champions
5. God Save The Queen