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The last concert Queen recorded with original frontman Freddie Mercury is getting dramatically restored for its 40th anniversary this fall, with presentations on multiple audio and video formats.

Queen Budapest – recorded at the Hungarian capital’s Népstadion in the summer of 1986 – will offer the legendary show with newly remastered footage (digitized by the country’s National Film Institute and restored at 4K high-definition by Peter Jackson’s Park Road Post team) and remixed audio from the original multitracks. The complete concert audio will be released on triple vinyl for the first time, with 2CD and digital editions arriving on October 30. The same day, the concert film will be released on 4K Ultra HD disc, Blu-ray and DVD – all of which follows a planned theatrical exhibition on October 7 that’ll see Queen Budapest screened in standard and IMAX theaters. In keeping with a billion-dollar deal inked in 2024, Sony Music and Legacy Recordings will handle international release of the audio and worldwide home release of the film (alongside Trafalgar Releasing and Sony Music Vision for the theatrical exhibition), while the audio will be released in America by Queen’s longtime label Hollywood Records.

Already assured as one of the planet’s top stadium-filling rock bands after Live Aid in 1985, Queen embarked on the Magic Tour a year later in support of 1986’s A Kind of Magic, a companion album to the action film Highlander. The ensuing trek took them to 26 shows across Europe, including two at Wembley Stadium earlier that July – but the Budapest set was a particular highlight for the band. As the first Western rock act to play a stadium gig behind the Iron Curtain, a meticulously-arranged plan was formulated by the band and the Hungarian government to capture the performance. A total of 17 cameras and all the available 35 millimeter film stock in the country was utilized to showcase Freddie Mercury, Brian May, John Deacon and Roger Taylor rocking Népstadion for some 80,000 ticketed attendees (and, according to legend, another 45,000 tailgating from outside the stadium walls). The set was remembered for its blazing energy, Mercury’s colorful costumes – notably the bright, strapped military jacket he donned on tour and the royal togs he donned at the set’s end – and a varied set that mixed classic hits, new tunes, and even a mini-set of classic rock and roll tunes. The group also stunned the audience with an acoustic rendition of the local traditional folk song “Tavaszi Szél Vizet Áraszt,” with Mercury having scrawled the lyrics on his hand.

While Mercury famously denied rumors of Queen’s plans to split during an earlier gig on the Magic Tour, the quartet only performed together five more times, including a homecoming closer at Knebworth Park weeks later which was recorded but not filmed. Plans to at least temporarily put touring on hold took on tragic truths when Mercury learned in 1987 he’d been diagnosed with AIDS. Queen recorded two more albums, The Miracle (1989) and Innuendo (1991), and Mercury stockpiled more usable vocals before his passing in 1991, which were used on 1995’s Heaven for Everyone. As such, Queen Budapest was the last footage of the band in performance – a worthy reason to revisit it four decades later.

Queen Budapest will be out October 30 and can be pre-ordered below. (As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.)

Queen Budapest (Hollywood (U.S.)/Columbia/Legacy (rest of world), 2026)

2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
4K UltraHD: Official Store
Blu-ray: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

* not on video versions

CD 1

1. One Vision
2. Tie Your Mother Down
3. In the Lap of the Gods… Revisited
4. Seven Seas of Rhye
5. Tear It Up
6. A Kind of Magic
7. Under Pressure
8. Another One Bites the Dust *
9. Who Wants to Live Forever
10. I Want to Break Free
11. Looks Like It’s Gonna Be a Good Night – Improv *
12. Guitar Solo
13. Now I’m Here

CD 2

1. Love of My Life
2. Tavaszi Szél Vizet Áraszt
3. Is This the World We Created…?
4. (You’re So Square) Baby I Don’t Care *
5. Hello Mary Lou (Goodbye Heart) *
6. Tutti Frutti
7. Bohemian Rhapsody
8. Hammer to Fall
9. Crazy Little Thing Called Love
10. Radio Ga Ga
11. We Will Rock You
12. Friends Will Be Friends
13. We Are the Champions
14. God Save the Queen

All tracks recorded live at Népstadion, Budapest, Hangary – 7/27/1986.

Portions previously released on VHS on Live in Budapest – Picture Music International MVN 991146 2 (U.K.), 1987 and on CD, DVD and Blu-ray as Hungarian Rhapsody (Live in Budapest) – Island 0602537183081 (U.K.)/Eagle Vision EVB334359 (U.S.), 2012. CD 1, Tracks 6-7 also released on Live Magic – EMI EMC 3519 (U.K.), 1986