Rock Montreal Imax & 4K Release

And now, as we all know the old trope of "milking the cash cow" will start.... Do you guys think that Queen Productions would be insane not to release it (once again, hey!) so this might pave way to BOTH nights finally being out there on CDs/SACDs/Vinyl as an accompanying package to the 4k digital / physical release?

Went to see it on Friday in Glasgow.

Dodgy camerawork aside and the fact it was heavily Freddie-centric, I loved it.

The audio mix was superb, the drums especially. I’ve said it many times but there’s so much focus on Freddie and Brian, that Roger’s contribution to the live show almost goes under the radar. His backing vocals especially are an absolute highlight for me.

Got surprisingly emotional at the beginning of the show, considering how many times I’ve seen this particular gig in all its variants over the years. Could actually feel myself fidgeting with excitement at the very start (I’m 60 in a couple of months FFS!!)

It was quite the experience seeing them in that environment. Absolutely magnificent!!

I've just returned from my local IMAX cinema and here are my thoughts:

The show has been IMHO certainly re-edited when it comes to both visuals and audio. I don't know how much of the full negative is in the archives of the band so take this with a pinch of a salt but there were many shots (especially shots of the audience) that I don't recall seeing on the 2007 release.

There were many moments where not everything was crystal clear. I don't know if it is due to the fact of implementing AI into "restoration" for the IMAX format or deliberate choice to focus and re-focus on different parts of the image but especially on the shots taken from the distance unclear/blurry image was a shock to me. The Blu-ray was crystal clear most of the time and when I'm checking it now on Chief Mouse's channel, the moment when the band enters the stage but is still filmed from the distance is clearer than what I saw in the IMAX theatre. "old" Intro here
As someone warned us here on the reddit forum that AI did a sloppy job I was paying a great deal of attention to the quality of the image and lo and behold there was one particular shot when John was standing in a cloud of steam and headlight was casting a light at him from behind and suddenly during that shot he was waxy, blurry, like an oily smudge on a painting contrasting with crystal-clearly visible Freddie sitting at the piano.

Audio:

Ladies and gentlemen, this is a NEW mix. Piano is more gentle, less dry to my ear than on the 2007 release. Guitar and drums are more powerful and vocals... vocals are a different story. Freddie boldly soars high and shatters above the loudest sound created by heavy action of guitar, drums and bass. In some places John's parts have been embellished in the mix.

Corrections / fixes/ modifications of the live vocal track: "building a remedy" [Killer Queen] seemed way more in key and overall nicer than what I recall from 2007 release. Again, thanks to Chief Mouse you can listen to it here: Killer Queen - 2007 Rock Montreal release
During Love of My Life, Freddie's remark "You don't know it" is lower in the mix. I knew that it is there and I was waiting for it but I couldn't catch it that good while Brian's "That's alright" is up there in its pristine condition as I remembered it.

The experience:

My heart was racing, the beginning was very very emotional for me. I felt as if Freddie returned from the dead and reminded all of us who were there at the cinema (and it was full house! Not one empty seat!) how damn good a singer he was and what kind of energy he brought to the space. There were moments - as many people have written here - as if I'm there with John, Roger, Freddie and Brian firing on all cylinders. At some point a very nostalgic thought came to me that he's gone and it is such a damn loss to the music and humanity (even though I think that he would hate the era of your whole life being out there on the social media). He is still dearly missed and it will only grow as this feeling has been growing since his death.

Everyone in the theatre were so good and nice, even those who bought popcorn were so immersed into the show that they were not eating it!

Still, there was a small break before Under Pressure and all lights were out and at this particular moment one person, who was sitting at the center row, took out her phone and started scrolling. It was as if friggin' lighthouse appeared - it was impossible not to see it. C'mon , if one decides to go to a concert and agrees with experiencing it in one sitting through 2 hrs then why.... eh... I don't understand such people. At the end some people gave but most were rushing to the exit.

He says that just before Under Pressure along with his "You can take all your clothes off".
During Jailhouse Rock he says "move it ya fuckers" 

The mix was fantastic and it did seem like there were a few more shots of the audience that in the previous release. The main audio difference I noticed was that you could hear a little vocal adlib from Freddie as he sat at the piano before Bohemian Rhapsody. I'd never heard that before.

This is pure speculation of course: assuming none of the raw/unused footage has been discovered since the Blu-ray was released, I guess there are a couple of ways they could “cheat” to create new shots where they wanted to re-edit sections.

1) Re-use shots from elsewhere in the film. I suppose this would be particularly easy with crowd shots. IIRC they did this a little on the Blu to hide some audio/video sync issues, or am I thinking of another concert?

2) Zoom in on existing shots, e.g. to turn a mid into a closeup. This could explain why some shots look softer or more obviously upscaled.

As I say, that’s just me guessing from what others have said upthread.

Has anyone intimately familiar with the original version seen this IMAX one, and could you comment on if you noticed any visual changes?

Yep, Freddie says that line

Really enjoyed it. Like others, I found it be quite an emotional experience at times. The image quality was incredible. The audio sounded good, too, although for my taste the volume in the cinema was too loud to be able to actually judge the mix. I find that music becomes a bit cacophonous when turned up past a certain level (much like being at an actual rock concert in person, to be fair) but it's probably an excellent mix. I hope they make it available in Dobly Atmos on Apple Music.

I'm so glad I went to see it. I'd welcome a new (4K) Blu-Ray, along with any other footage they have, ideally both nights in full. As the only available full Queen concert shot on film*, it deserves to be out there in its fullest form.

* Almost full: I'm not sure whether Flash and The Hero were actually filmed or whether the footage exists. And I still hope the Budapest rushes will be found some day.

I saw it on Thursday night in NYC and I'm so glad I went. The theater wasnt all that full but it was playing in several theaters here (living in NYC gives you that advantage) and it was a bitterly cold and snowy weekend for us (I imagine Friday and Saturday were busier). A few (elderly, no less!) people were dicking around on their phones for some or most of it, which baffles me... why pay for a ticket when youre not going to pay attention to the show?! I think everyone should have to lock their phones into lockers beforehand, but I digress.

It looked and sounded great. As a relatively new fan I'm not intimately familiar with every mix/version/etc of every concert, but I have watched this footage on youtube many times before and I heard a bunch of things I hadnt noticed before, to the point where I was a bit paranoid there was overdubbing. I'm also glad this was filmed before they brought on a keyboard player. That changes the whole feel of the concert for me.

Has someone come up with a word to describe when you're nostalgic for something you haven't actually experienced? Cuz that's what watching this did to me.

I got this images from TQD, what do you think overall of this thing?

That was one of my favorite moments of the show...Freddie was a bad ass back then.

It's just the original surround mix from 2007 

It was described as "12 channel" in one press released, which is quite specific - had we even got to 7.1 in 2007?

(I am aware QPL press releases do not constitute a reliable source)

Nopes, it was remixed last year.

A Dolby Atmos mix is 7.1.4 (Which adds up to 12 haha!)

7 = equals Front Left, Front Centre, Front Right, Mid Left, Mid Right, Rear Left, Rear Right
1 = Sub channel (which confusingly can be multiple subs)
4 = Height (or spot) channels. Used more for ambience with music. In movies you could have helicopters for instance.

So a new mix it is!! NOT just the previous 5.1 mix.

And yes.... I'm a massive nerd ;-)

Indeed eiricd ... in domestic set ups a 7.1.4 will downmix to 5.1