We Will Rock You (video)

We Will Rock You is a concert film by English band Queen. It was filmed in Montreal, Quebec, Canada at the Montreal Forum on 24 and 25 November 1981.

This article is about the 1981 version of the concert film. For the 2007 concert film/live album of the same concert, see Queen Rock Montreal.
We Will Rock You
Directed bySaul Swimmer
Produced bySaul Swimmer, Jim Beach
StarringFreddie Mercury
Brian May
Roger Taylor
John Deacon
Music byQueen

A new official release of the concert (retitled Queen Rock Montreal) digitally restored and remastered by Queen was released on 29 October 2007 on DVD (by Eaglevision) double CD (by Hollywood Records for the US and Canada and by Parlophone Records for Europe and EMI for the rest of the world) and triple vinyl LP.

A special double DVD Queen Rock Montreal & Live Aid included Queen's performance at Live Aid as well as never before seen interviews and rehearsal footage. HD-DVD and Blu-ray versions were released on 4 December 2007.

List of songs
  1. "We Will Rock You" (fast) (May)
  2. "Let Me Entertain You" (Mercury)
  3. "Play the Game" (Mercury)
  4. "Somebody to Love" (Mercury)
  5. "Killer Queen" (Mercury)
  6. "I'm in Love with My Car" (Taylor)
  7. "Get Down, Make Love" (Mercury)
  8. "Save Me" (May)
  9. "Now I'm Here" (May)
  10. "Dragon Attack" (May)
  11. "Now I'm Here" (reprise) (May)
  12. "Love of My Life" (Mercury)
  13. "Under Pressure" (Queen/Bowie) - First live performance of the song
  14. "Keep Yourself Alive" (with impromptu jam before the song) (May)
  15. Drum Solo/Tympani Solo (Queen/Taylor)
  16. Guitar Solo/Guitar and Drum Duel (May)
  17. "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" (Mercury)
  18. "Jailhouse Rock" (Leiber, Stoller)
  19. "Bohemian Rhapsody" (Mercury)
  20. "Tie Your Mother Down" (May)
  21. "Another One Bites the Dust" (Deacon)
  22. "Sheer Heart Attack" (Taylor)
  23. "We Will Rock You" (May)
  24. "We Are the Champions" (Mercury)
  25. "God Save the Queen" (tape) (arr. May)

The tracks "Flash" and "The Hero" (both written by May) were also performed at these concerts but were deleted from the film. However, the tracks do appear on the CD and vinyl issues of Queen Rock Montreal. A commentary by Roger Taylor and Brian May is an optional feature of Queen Rock Montreal whereas a commentary by Saul Swimmer (the director/producer) was an optional feature of the DVD re-release of We Will Rock You.

Track listing (Double disc Live Aid footage)

Live Aid
  1. "Bohemian Rhapsody"
  2. "Radio Ga Ga"
  3. "Hammer To Fall"
  4. "Crazy Little Thing Called Love"
  5. "We Will Rock You"
  6. "We Are The Champions"
  7. "Is This The World We Created"
  • all tracks recorded live at Wembley Stadium, 13 July 1985.

Commentaries

Director Saul Swimmer recorded a commentary for the original laserdisc release of the concert. In it, he describes the process by which he and the band went about organising and recording the concerts which eventually became this film. He is complimentary of the band and spoke positively about the experience. Specifically, he talked about the lengths he went to convince the band to make the film at the end of their then-current tour. Swimmer said the deciding moment came when he took Freddie Mercury to the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. and showed him the three-storey IMAX screen, and told him to imagine himself five stories tall. Having convinced Mercury, the rest of the band followed suit.

When Queen eventually acquired the rights to the film, Brian May and Roger Taylor recorded a new commentary track, on which they discuss their feelings about the original process of making the concert film. May describes Swimmer's behaviour in trying to get the band to agree to the project in very negative terms. He says the director effectively hounded them and that when they relented, he was not easy to work with during the actual two nights of filming. Unlike Swimmer's earlier commentary track, which paints a generous picture of the relationship between himself and the band, May and Taylor's commentary track indicates very directly that this was not the case. In particular, May was irked by Swimmer's camera direction and raised this point every time he wasn't in shot during a guitar solo.

Production

Material from both nights has been used in the final version. In a number of instances, the footage is a mixture of camera shots from one night and audio recordings from the other night. It was finally released in 2007 this time with permission of the band. The title was also changed. Queen Rock Montreal was chosen as the new official title. The video contains the first public performance of Under Pressure.

Video releases

The concert was filmed in high quality 35mm format, but the 1984 VHS release which was re-released in 2001 was highly degregated version of the original version including notable syncing issues. Because the original film rights were 100% controlled by the production company there was little the band could do to prevent the various releases; it wasn't until (c)2007 that the Queen has regained the rights which they proceeded to having remastered.

Charts and certifications

References
  1. "The ARIA Report (Issue 924)" (PDF). Pandora Archive. Australian Recording Industry Association. p. 25. Retrieved 1 August 2011.
  2. "Austria Top 40 – Musik-DVD Top 10" (ASP). Austrian Charts (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 1 August 2011.
  3. "Ultratop 10 Muziek-DVD" (ASP). Ultratop (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 1 August 2011.
  4. "Ultratop 10 Musicaux" (ASP). Ultratop (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 1 August 2011.
  5. "Musik DVD Top-10: Uge 52 – 2007" (ASP). Hitlisten (in Danish). IFPI Denmark. Retrieved 1 August 2011.
  6. "Suomen virallinen lista – Musiikki DVD:t 45/2007" [Finland's Official List – Music DVDs 45/2007]. Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland (in Finnish). Retrieved 1 August 2011.
  7. "Archivio: DVD Musicali: Settimana 45, 2007" [Archive: Music DVDs: Week 45, 2007] (PHP). Federation of the Italian Music Industry (in Italian). Retrieved 1 August 2011.
  8. "Top 10 Music DVDs" (ASP). Recording Industry Association of New Zealand. Retrieved 1 August 2011.
  9. "Top 30 DVDs Musicais – Semana 45 De 2007" (PHP). Associação Fonográfica Portuguesa (in Portuguese). Retrieved 1 August 2011.
  10. "Sverigetopplistan". Sverigetopplistan (in Swedish). Search for Queen and click Sök.
  11. "Topp 10 DVD Audio: 2008 – Uke 48". VG-lista (in Norwegian). Retrieved 1 August 2011.
  12. "Argentinian video certifications – Queen – Rocks Montreal". Argentine Chamber of Phonograms and Videograms Producers.
  13. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2007 DVDs". Australian Recording Industry Association.
  14. "Canadian video certifications – Queen – Queen Rock Montreal & Live Aid". Music Canada.
  15. "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Queen; 'Rock Montreal & Live Aid')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie.
  16. "Latest Gold / Platinum Albums". Radioscope. 17 July 2011. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011.
  17. "Polish video certifications – Queen – Rock Montreal & Live Aid" (in Polish). Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry.
  18. "Portuguese video certifications – Queen – Rock Montreal & Live Aid" (in Portuguese). Associação Fonográfica Portuguesa.
  19. "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards (Queen; 'Rock Montreal & Live Aid')". IFPI Switzerland. Hung Medien.
  20. "British video certifications – Queen – Rock Montreal". British Phonographic Industry. Select videos in the Format field. Select Platinum in the Certification field. Type Rock Montreal in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  21. "American video certifications – Queen – We Will Rock You". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Video Longform, then click SEARCH. 
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