This is a truly great film of one of the biggest and best live acts of our time at their peak. Part of the tour that turned out to be their last, this concert by the band contains immaculate performances of their biggest hits and serves as a reminder to just what a live outfit they were. Interspersed with rare (if a little uninteresting) footage of the band in and around Budapest, the film concentrates on great cinematography of the concert and showing Freddie (three costume changes and all) and the band in full swagger. A great companion piece to the more well-know Wembley Stadium film from the end of the tour. This is a must for any Queen fan.
5 Reviews
Wonderful, with some reservations
bougheyfamily22 April 2014
Warning: Spoilers
As a lifelong fan of the band, I am bound to be biased in my review, but I was very excited to see a concert from the last tour in '86 (as a complete band) on Blu-Ray. Whereas I liked Montreal, my favorite has always been the Wembley set - which is almost identical here. The picture is as clear as I have ever seen footage of the band, and the sound was crisp.
I wasn't particularly fond of the inter cutting scenes on each band member wondering around Budapest, having a "moment". I would have rather this had been an optional feature on the disc, not played in the middle of a song, but that's just me. With regard to the Wembley concert Queen: Live at Wembley Stadium I live in hope that this will be given the restoration treatment and put onto Blu Ray - I'm sure it would certainly sell well. Comparing that concert to this is not difficult, but for me the audience are flatter here, whether it's the camera work (which is great of the band) focusing on the band members more, and the crowd participation and reactions less I can't tell, but Wembley feels more immersive.
Another minor gripe, I don't know why Another One Bites the dust was left off the Blu Ray, or why Crazy little thing called love was heavily trimmed in the edit?? The impromptu bits, Brian's solo, and the very touching Hungarian song Freddie sings, are going to change depending on the location, obviously - but as for the song set, can't we have it all and complete?
Shelling out for this set will also give you two CD's of the gig, the less said about the crappy cardboard gate-fold sleeve the better.
Obviously a must for fans, for people new to Queen's music, I would recommend Wembley over this.
I wasn't particularly fond of the inter cutting scenes on each band member wondering around Budapest, having a "moment". I would have rather this had been an optional feature on the disc, not played in the middle of a song, but that's just me. With regard to the Wembley concert Queen: Live at Wembley Stadium I live in hope that this will be given the restoration treatment and put onto Blu Ray - I'm sure it would certainly sell well. Comparing that concert to this is not difficult, but for me the audience are flatter here, whether it's the camera work (which is great of the band) focusing on the band members more, and the crowd participation and reactions less I can't tell, but Wembley feels more immersive.
Another minor gripe, I don't know why Another One Bites the dust was left off the Blu Ray, or why Crazy little thing called love was heavily trimmed in the edit?? The impromptu bits, Brian's solo, and the very touching Hungarian song Freddie sings, are going to change depending on the location, obviously - but as for the song set, can't we have it all and complete?
Shelling out for this set will also give you two CD's of the gig, the less said about the crappy cardboard gate-fold sleeve the better.
Obviously a must for fans, for people new to Queen's music, I would recommend Wembley over this.
Live Queen
Prismark102 August 2013
This concert film is less known. It is the continuation of their 1986 world tour, a year after their great Live Aid performance and the release of the 'It's a kind of Magic' album.
It's Queen with their best hits and you get to see Freddie Mercury in his pomp, driving the audience crazy straight off the bat.
There are some overlong snippets with the band in Budapest and you also have to remind yourself that Hungary was still a communist state at that time, so you might expect things to be more sedate.
Also the costumes now look rather 1980s. It may not be as good as the Wembley shows which had extra fizzle with the band in front of its home crowd but this is still a great show with classic songs.
It's Queen with their best hits and you get to see Freddie Mercury in his pomp, driving the audience crazy straight off the bat.
There are some overlong snippets with the band in Budapest and you also have to remind yourself that Hungary was still a communist state at that time, so you might expect things to be more sedate.
Also the costumes now look rather 1980s. It may not be as good as the Wembley shows which had extra fizzle with the band in front of its home crowd but this is still a great show with classic songs.
For Queen completists.
amazon-1432613 August 2022
Not super impressed with the quality of this supposed remaster or the artistic direction of the film. The wanderings about town should have been left out to the extras, more audience video would have been nice, lighting was pretty bad, the songs choices around the middle were poor, May guitar solo put me to sleep. For Queen completists.
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