“Long time no see,” Freddie Mercury teases viewers in the larger-than-life Queen Rock Montreal, coming to select IMAX screens around the world for one weekend only on Thursday, January 18th. Recorded at the Montreal Forum over two nights in 1981, Mercury was somewhat joking with the local crowd, as Queen had been to The City of Saints three times prior, including an earlier stop on this same tour in support of the album The Game. Over 40 years later, with Freddie Mercury having passed away three decades ago, the line feels more like a time capsule. It has been a long time, and seeing Queen’s most iconic quartet performing together again is the kind of experience not even Taylor Swift can match. Freddie Mercury, John Deacon, Brian May, and Roger Taylor are back together again, only on the big screen.
Filmed in a high-quality 35mm format, Queen Rock Montreal (initially released as We Will Rock You) has been painstakingly re-mastered for IMAX, filling the full floor-to-ceiling screen. The image is mostly clear and crisp, with incredible details, including a tear leaking down Freddie Mercury’s cheek. The only times the source material shows its age is on wider establishing shots of the stage, which is often filled with smoke, and shots from behind the band looking out at the audience.
Brian May and Roger Taylor oversaw the 12-channel surround sound mix, which immerses audiences in the concert experience. Cheers, applause, and audience sing-along moments tend to fill the side speakers, while the band’s instruments and vocals tend to hit your ears from the front. But there are a few echo moments in the show, in which the mix delights in bouncing the repetitions around the theater. For example, Mercury’s echoed vocals on “Now I’m Here” dance around the room.
The Game Tour marked the end of an era for Queen as a touring entity of only four members. Here, anytime a piano is needed, Freddie takes a seat to twinkle the keys. But with future albums incorporating more decade-defining synthesized sounds, they would forevermore tour with a defacto fifth member on a keyboard. And the band’s touring career as we knew it would end not long after, with Freddie Mercury bowing out of touring in 1986 and John Deacon backing out without the band’s frontman. While it wasn’t the end of their recording career, Queen Rock Montreal represents the band at the height of their career.
The setlist includes some of the band’s biggest hits, including “We Will Rock You” (twice), “We Are the Champions,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Killer Queen,” “Somebody to Love,” “Under Pressure,” “Crazy Little Thing Called Love," “Another One Bites the Dust,” and “Play the Game.” It also features one of Freddie Mercury’s favorite covers, Elvis’ “Jailhouse Rock.” Known for flashy spectacle, Queen employed a then state-of-the-art lighting rig that could change colors and pivot, creating some dazzling moments when mixed with fog machines. But at its essence, Queen Rock Montreal offers a glimpse into how true magic was made. On IMAX, it’s the next best thing to getting in a time machine and actually being there.
Queen Rock Montreal kicks off its four-day IMAX release on Thursday, January 18th. Visit imax.com/queen to find the nearest theater.