It's a testament to a great band when the demand is always there for numerous live CDs and DVDs/Blu-rays, documenting any in-concert performances that might happen to be available from that groups career. Once such band is Queen, who have seen a slew of excellent video releases in recent years from Eagle Vision, who know full well that the popularity of this legendary act has not slowed down one bit even 20 years after the passing of their charismatic frontman Freddie Mercury. Hungarian Rhapsody-Queen Live in Budapest is Queen at their best, filmed behind the Iron Curtain in Budapest in 1986 towards the end of the tour for the Kind of Magic album. While from a setlist perspective, this concert doesn't differ all that much from the Live at Wembley release (also recorded that same tour), there are enough little nuances & variables to warrant any fan to pick this one up, and the band was on fire in front of a huge, loving audience in an outdoor stadium who most likely didn't get to see many rock shows of that magnitude.
As this review is for the Blu-ray/CD release, I can easily say the picture quality is spectacular, as the original film has been remastered in high-definition and 5.1 surround sound, so be prepared to get rid of any old VHS or bootleg DVD copy because this new version is really amazing. Due to the limitations of the source film, there are a few omissions on the Blu-ray, such as the entire "Another One Bites the Dust", which was unavailable (though the audio is included on the CD), parts of "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and a few other short segments, but thankfully the entire show is included on the 2CD set that comes in the box. Much of the concert is pretty damn rocking, with the band cranking out kick ass renditions of classics like "Tie Your Mother Down", "In the Lap of the Gods...Revisited", "Seven Seas of Rye", "One Vision", "Now I'm Here", "Tear It Up", and "Hammer to Fall". It wouldn't be a Queen show without some of the tender ballads, like "Love of My Life", "Who Wants to Live Forever", and "Is This the World We Created", and Brian May & Freddie Mercury even learned an old Hungarian song "Tavaszi Szel Vizet Araszt" especially for this audience. Toss in crowd favorites like "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Radio Gaga", "Under Pressure", "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions", among many others (including a wild Brian May guitar solo) and you have an epic, exciting concert from one of the greatest live bands of all time. Through it all, Mercury is the perfect frontman, his voice delivering every line exactly as you would expect, and holding the audience in the palm of his hand. The greatest rock star ever? Quite possibly.
With a large amount of cameras working the night of the concert, every angle was shot and the end results are pretty damn spectacular. Comparisons of course will be made to the Wembley video, but I'll leave it up to you to decide which one you like better; both are stellar to be honest. Short interview segments of each member of the band are mixed into the concert at various spots, as they talk about their time spent in Budapest, and there's a great 30 minute documentary included in the Bonus Features that looks at the year for Queen following their landmark performance at 1985s Live Aid. Toss in a slick booklet with color photos and info, a nice digibook package that houses the 2 CDs & Blu-ray, and you have another wonderful Eagle Vision video release that you'll need to have in your collection.
Track Listing
01. One Vision
02. Tie Your Mother Down
03. In the Lap of the Gods. . .Revisited
04. Seven Seas of Rhye
05. Tear It Up
06. A Kind of Magic
07. Under Pressure
08. Who Wants to Live Forever
09. I Want to Break Free
10. Guitar Solo
11. Now I'm Here
12. Love of My Life
13. Tavaszi Szet Vizet Araszt
14. Is This the World We Created. . .?
15. Tutti Frutti
16. Bohemian Rhapsody
17. Hammer to Fall
18. Crazy Little Thing Called Love
19. Radio Ga Ga
20. We Will Rock You
21. Friends Will Be Friends
22. We Are the Champions
23. God Save the Queen
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