THE 40th ANNIVERSARY OF THE FIRST WESTERN STADIUM ROCK SHOW BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN & THE FINAL FILMED QUEEN LIVE PERFORMANCE RESTORED IN 4K
“AS CLOSE AS WE COULD HOPE TO GET TO SEEING QUEEN LIVE” – FORBES
AUDIO AVAILABLE NOVEMBER 6 ON 3LP, 2CD AND DIGITAL VIA COLUMBIA/LEGACY RECORDINGS INTERNATIONALLY AND HOLLYWOOD RECORDS IN NORTH AMERICA, DVD AND BLU-RAY EDITIONS ALSO ARRIVE NOVEMBER 6 VIA COLUMBIA/LEGACY RECORDINGS PRE-ORDER HERE
NEW YORK, NY – October 7 2026 – Sony Music Vision presents Queen Budapest, the first Western stadium rock show to take place behind the Iron Curtain, and the final filmed Queen live performance. Queen Budapest will be released globally in cinemas and IMAX from today for a limited time only, in partnership with Trafalgar Releasing. For tickets, see QueenBudapest.com for further information.
The latest track to be taken from Queen Budapest is Crazy Little Thing Called Love, which can be seen & heard here. Initially released in the Autumn of 1979, Crazy Little Thing Called Love was Queen’s first US Billboard #1 hit, where it stayed for a month, and it also reached the top spot in Australia, the Netherlands and Canada. Composed by Freddie Mercury in just ten minutes and also recorded at breakneck speed, the song has gone on to become one of the band’s most beloved tracks and was famously part of the band’s set for the 1985 Live Aid performance. It’s since been covered by artists as diverse as Michael Bublé, Diana Ross and Maroon 5.
Filmed on July 27, 1986, at Budapest’s Népstadion during the band’s ‘The Magic Tour’, Queen Budapest captures the band’s final filmed performance with Freddie Mercury at their live peak, just five shows before their final show. The film features hits such as We Will Rock You, We Are the Champions, Under Pressure and Bohemian Rhapsody, along with an acoustic take on the traditional Hungarian folk song Tavaszi Szél Vizet Áraszt. The concert was a groundbreaking moment, as Queen became the first Western rock band to perform a stadium show behind the Iron Curtain during a period of profound cultural and political change. In addition to 80,000 tickets selling out, an estimated 45,000 people listened to the group outside, with some fans having travelled from as far away as Russia and Poland. The show was filmed on 35 mm film by Hungary’s best cameramen using 17 cameras and 25 miles of film. The Hungarian government approved the entire operation, which was a first for a Communist State.
Queen Budapest will be released to mark the 40th anniversary of this pivotal moment in the band’s history, and the film has been meticulously restored in 4K from the original filmed 35mm footage by Sir Peter Jackson’s Park Road Post Production facility in New Zealand, with newly remixed audio from the original multitrack recordings. Queen Budapest will also be released as a multi-format audio package via Legacy Recordings, the catalogue division of Sony Music, internationally, and Hollywood Records in the U.S. and Canada on November 6. The soundtrack, newly remixed from the original multitrack by Queen’s studio team, will be released alongside the Blu-Ray, DVD, CD & Digital editions as a 3LP vinyl set for the very first time. Pre-order here.
Queen Budapest is directed by János Zsombolyai. Sony Music Vision is the distributor.
