Queen Rock Montreal & Live Aid Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		5.0

Queen Rock Montreal & Live Aid Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 15, 2024

This two disc set offers a glut of live performance and rehearsal footage that should certainly entice any fan of Queen. Back when the rebranded Mercury Studios was still Eagle Rock Entertainment, they released a previous 1080 version of Queen Rock Montreal & Live Aid which is so dated at this point that both its video codec (VC-1) and surround audio codec (DTS-HD HR 5.1) may well be largely unknown to some. The Montreal concert was filmed live at the city's Forum, which evidently seats 18,000 people. As some liner notes on this release allude to in passing, that 18,000 may seem positively miniscule when contextualized by an audience of 131,000 who say the band play in Sao Paolo Brasil's Morumbi stadium.

If the Montreal concert is described here as one the "very last concerts of Queen 'raw'" (whatever that may mean), the Live Aid performance has entered the annals of history as one of the most legendary live concerts of all time. Unfortunately, this particular effort was not filmed in 35mm and it, along with some rehearsal footage, may not offer the most compelling video quality (in either 1080 or 4K UHD).

Rock Montreal Track Listing:

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
14. Under Pressure
15. Keep Yourself Alive
16. Drum & Timpani Solo
17. Guitar Solo
18. Crazy Little Thing Called Love
19. Jailhouse Rock
20. Bohemian Rhapsody
21. Tie Your Mother Down
22. Another One Bites The Dust
23. Sheer Heart Attack
24. We Will Rock You
25. We Are The Champions
26. God Save The Queen

Live Aid Track Listing

1. Intro
2. Bohemian Rhapsody
3. Radio Ga Ga
4. Ay-Oh
5. Hammer to Fall
6. Crazy Little Thing Called Love
7. We Will Rock You
8. We Are the Champions
9. Is This the World We Created. . ?

Queen Rock Montreal & Live Aid Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Queen: Rock Montreal + Live Aid is (are?) presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Mercury Studios with AVC encoded 1080p transfers in a variety of aspect ratios. Rock Montreal is offered in 1.85:1 on Disc Two and 1.33:1 on Disc One, while the Live Aid video is upscaled and in 1.33:1. Disc One screenshots can be seen in positions 1 through 11 (excepting 10), with Rock Montreal seen in screenshots 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11 and Live Aid seen in screenshots 2, 4, 6, and 8. Disc Two screenshots are in positions 10, and 12 through 18. The 1.85:1 version of Rock Montreal can be seen in screenshots 10, 12, 14, 16, and 18 while the Live Aid rehearsal footage can be seen in screenshots 13, 15 and 17. Screenshots 19 and 20 show the two disc menus. There are additional screenshots of the 1.85:1 version of the Montreal concert in my Queen Rock Montreal & Live Aid 4K Blu- ray review. Both aspect ratio versions of Rock Montreal look stellar for the most part, with really nice clarity and some generally great detail levels, though the band is so darned active most of the time it can be hard to actually be able to focus on fine detail since the players are moving about so much. But in relatively reserved moments, like when Freddie sits at the piano, fine detail is abundant. The palette is very nicely suffused and some of the evocative lightings choices add some nice moodiness to the proceedings. Grain is a bit transitory on the Montreal concert, with some moments looking pretty gritty, and others looking a bit more like digital video, which may suggest some "grain management" or similar techniques. The upscaled video offerings look pretty much like you'd expect, meaning ragged quite a bit of the time, with any number of video artifacts including quite a bit noise, some pretty significant ghosting at times and just a less than optimal blurry, undetailed quality. I'm splitting the difference in my "general" score above, but I'd rate Rock Montreal in the 4.5 to 5.0 category and the upscaled features down around 3.0 (and maybe not even quite there, frankly). The disc comes with some "technical viewing suggestions", as follows:

To view this Blu-ray as intended it is recommended turning off any settings on your TV that may add extra sharpening, motion compensation or picture enhancement.

Queen Rock Montreal & Live Aid Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Queen: Rock Montreal + Live Aid feature Dolby Atmos, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 audio options, and you can't really go wrong with any of them, though those wanting a huge difference between the Atmos and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks may notice a lack of clear verticality other than the overwhelming crowd noises at times. Both surround tracks offer really good immersion, again stemming at least in part from the waves of audience reactions, but also with appealing spaciousness in terms of the actual music. There's some surprising dynamic range given the energy of both performances. Rock Montreal may arguably offer just a bit better overall recording quality than Live Aid, probably due to the exigencies of those performance venues. The LPCM 2.0 track is very appealing one way or the other, and as I so often do, I actually preferred its forward mixing of the vocals, which perhaps offers a somewhat more focused offering of tunes like Bohemian Rhapsody. Optional subtitles in a variety of languages are available.

Queen Rock Montreal & Live Aid Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Montreal Commentary with Brian May and Roger Taylor is accessible under the Audio Options Menu on both Discs.

Additionally, a nicely appointed insert booklet contains a ton of pictures, credits and technical information. I will say Mercury did not design the packaging very well. A rather flimsy cardboard sleeve encloses both discs, which are supposedly slipped inside little "chevron" slits on the inside. Unsurprisingly, both my 4K and 1080 review copies arrived with neither disc still in its appointed place.

Queen Rock Montreal & Live Aid Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Queen continues to be "relevant" to this day, despite the vagaries of the rock and/or pop music machines, and the concerts seen here offer abundant proof as to why. While I found some noticeable improvement in Mercury's 4K UHD release of this package, especially vis a vis HDR, those with "only" 1080 systems won't have much to complain about here. With allowances made for upscaled video, technical merits are solid. Highly recommended.