Queen, as everybody knows was and is a special band. They have a catalogue of material that is recognizable as your family members. What people tend to forget is what an entertaining and powerful live act the band is.Eagle Vision has recently released Live in Montreal, a DVD that was originally put out some years ago under the name of We Will Rock You. It was done by a company that the band was not entirely happy with and the whole concert was cleaned up and repackaged under the watchful eyes of Brian May and Roger Taylor.
The concert is from November 1981 and it is just an amazing show. As good as this DVD is however, it still fails to capture the magic of the band from the perspective of those who were there. I saw the same show the next night in Ottawa and it was one of the best shows that I've ever witnessed. I knew the band would be good. I didn't think they would be that good. This is no fault of the recording crew, however. It's just that their was an intangible magic that is hard to recreate on tape.
From the opening, a break-neck speed version of "We Will Rock You", the band displayed a show that was as tight as an elastic band, perfectly paced to wow you from beginning to end. Highlights included "Somebody to Love" which was just fantastic, as was "Play the Game". All the monster hits were as equally well received. The closer "We Are The Champions" was impressively royal-like and the "Killer Queen" / "I'm in Love With My Car" combo (the latter featuring Taylor on vocals) showed a great range of material.
This period was the start of a new look for Mercury. He now had the cropped hair and tight shorts. In Ottawa, he asked the crowd if they liked his new mustache, before adding, "Well, if you don't. I don't give a f**k", with a big smirk.
As far as live DVDs go, this is about as good as it gets. As a bonus, you can also watch the show with commentary from May and Taylor. This is a really interesting feature because they talk about how the band was actually pretty miffed with the producer and his camera-men which seemed to be always in the way. Mercury, in particular, was quite angry and the band was at odds with the producer and in fact, barred their manager from the dressing room at one point where they discussed the situation. Since they were also filming the following night, also in Montreal, Mercury changed his wardrobe for some of the songs which made it difficult in the editing process to combine footage of the same song from the two nights.
Fans would have welcomed a video interview from the pair also to augment this package, but that's a minor quibble. Queen was/is a legendary band and this is a fitting snapshot from the moment in time where they were at their most potent.
