It’s a Kind of Magic: Queen’s Wembley Shows to Be Expanded on DVD (UPDATED 1/23/2013)
UPDATE (1/23/2013): Whoa, remember this? It’s finally coming out to the U.S. on DVD from Eagle Rock on March 12. Pre-order it here.
Original post (8/3/2011): “They’re talking from here!” Freddie Mercury said, pointing to his behind and addressing rumors of Queen’s breakup before a capacity crowd at Wembley Stadium on July 12, 1986. “We’re gonna stay together until we fucking well die, I’m sure of it.”
Those chillingly prophetic words are just a moment in what may be not only Queen’s finest hour as a live spectacle, but one of the greatest rock shows in history. The band’s dual Wembley gigs on 1986’s Magic Tour were among the last live shows they’d ever play, with Freddie Mercury succumbing to AIDS just five years later. Portions from the shows have been released on CD no less than thrice: on the heavily-edited, unusually-disappointing Live Magic (1986) and on the far more entertaining Live at Wembley Stadium, released in 1992 and expanded in 2003. (This package featured the entire second show and a set of bonus cuts from the first.)
Now, with Queen’s last batch of U.K. reissues forthcoming, the band will release another iteration of Live at Wembley Stadium on DVD – a 25th anniversary set that includes both shows at the venue. The first show, recorded Friday, July 11, 1986, was literally dampened by rainfall, leaving Mercury, Brian May, John Deacon and Roger Taylor to play even harder to dry off the crowd’s spirits. (Saturday’s sunny forecast was aptly reflected in the triumphant performance.)
The double-disc set also includes a mix of old and new bonus material, retaining the interview with May and Taylor and the rehearsal footage from the 2003 DVD release and adding a newly-filmed interview with May and Taylor on the Magic Tour. The package will be available as both a standard two-disc set and a four-disc set including two CDs of unspecified content (but likely they will contain the July 12 show). Neither pre-order links nor details on a U.S. release have been revealed, but they will be posted if and when they are.
Check out the full lineup for the double-DVD set after the jump.
Live at Wembley Stadium: 25th Anniversary Edition (Universal Music Group Video (U.K.), 2011)
Disc 1: Saturday, July 12, 1986
- One Vision
- Tie Your Mother Down
- In the Lap of the Gods…Revisited
- Seven Seas of Rhye
- Tear It Up
- A Kind of Magic
- Under Pressure
- Another One Bites the Dust
- Who Wants to Live Forever
- I Want to Break Free
- Impromptu
- Brighton Rock Solo
- Now I’m Here
- Love of My Life
- Is This the World We Created?
- (You’re So Square) Baby I Don’t Care
- Hello Mary Lou
- Tutti Frutti
- Gimme Some Lovin’
- Bohemian Rhapsody
- Hammer to Fall
- Crazy Little Thing Called Love
- Big Spender
- Radio Ga Ga
- We Will Rock You
- Friends Will Be Friends
- We Are the Champions
- God Save the Queen
Disc 2: Friday, July 11, 1986 and bonus material
- One Vision
- Tie Your Mother Down
- In the Lap of the Gods…Revisited
- Seven Seas of Rhye
- Tear It Up
- A Kind of Magic
- Under Pressure
- Another One Bites the Dust
- Who Wants to Live Forever
- I Want to Break Free
- Impromptu
- Brighton Rock Solo
- Now I’m Here
- Love of My Life
- Is This the World We Created?
- (You’re So Square) Baby I Don’t Care
- Hello Mary Lou
- Tutti Frutti
- Bohemian Rhapsody
- Hammer to Fall
- Crazy Little Thing Called Love
- Radio Ga Ga
- We Will Rock You
- Friends Will Be Friends
- We Are the Champions
- God Save the Queen
- The Magic Tour (approx 12 min.): new interview filmed with Brian and Roger in 2011
- The Wembley Weekend (approx 25 min.): Brian and Roger describe what went into these legendary concerts filmed in 2003
- Rehearsal – Secretly filmed footage from the band’s rehearsal for the Magic Tour.
I can’t believe it. Again ?!?
There are so many things unavailable on CD or DVD: b-sides, extended mixes, the videos for Innuendo…
I really think that Brian and Roger will end in alienating even their stronger fan base.
It appears that the surviving group members would rather forget their 12″ single mixes. Only two of them will be offered in the group’s 2-CD expanded series.
When there’s tons of stuff in the Queen archive – see this interview with a member of the band’s entourage on Queen’s official website for all the material waiting to be released http://www.queenonline.com/en/features/queen-fan-contributor-gary-taylor-interview/ – I think it’s pretty lame for the band to be trotting out another version of the “Live At Wembley Stadium” DVD. Queen should focus on all the unreleased audio/video in their archives instead of releases like this one. BTW, the previous release had some of the footage from the July 11, 1986 show as a bonus and it’s pretty lame.
Now I’m just confused, I had no idea the Webmbley CDs had been reissued with the second night concert. Can someone post an Amazon link?
The 2-CD set always contained the second night’s performance. 5 bonus tracks(some from the Wembley first night performance) were added to a Hollywood Records U.S.A. reissue of the 2-CD set. This edition(with the 5 bonus tracks) is the one presently offered by U.S.A. dealers, such as Amazon.com
Is there any talk of a blu-ray release, or is it just on DVD? I can’t see me picking this up AGAIN on DVD. If it were on blu-ray, I might consider it…
This material was recorded in 1986 on 625-line standard definition UK videotape, recorded before HDTV existed. It is inherent that there can’t be a Bluray release. The source material cannot ever be high definition.
625 lines is better than the 480 lines of the North American DVD. So the 625 line version could be upscaled and released on BluRay. It won’t look any better to those in the UK who have had PAL DVDs, but it will be an upgrade to everyone in North America.
This is one of my favourite Queen concerts and my FIRST Queen concert that I ever saw. As a result of this my interest in Queen grew, to a point where now, I am in a Queen tribute band and I also run my own Queen Fan Site and YouTube channel. I regularly put this concert on and play alongon piano. The extended DVD is my favourite – so much extra to see on it.