Queen: Live at Wembley Stadium (DVD)

Queen: Live at Wembley Stadium (DVD) ... ... / DVD released 17 June, 2003 at Hollywood / Features of the DVD: Colour, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD-Video, Live, NTSC, Original recording remastered / A complete concert of one of the best bands live, Queen Live at Wembley Stadium is the record of one remarkable summer night in 1986. This really was history in the making: no-one, except possibly Freddie Mercury, could have guessed that the band would only ever play two more concerts in the UK and would never return to Wembley. Director Gavin Taylor's omnipresent cameras, including stunning aerial views, also remind us of the glories of the now-defunct stadium and its signature towers, such a perfect venue for Queen's epic staging, with their massive video screen and dazzling light show. The second night playing to a capacity crowd saw the band at the peak of their form, riding high on the popular success of their recent string of hits: "A Kind of Magic", "I Want to Break Free", "Radio Ga Ga" and "One Vision" all feature here alongside earlier favourites from "Seven Seas of Rhye" through "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "We Will Rock You" to "Another One Bites the Dust" and "Under Pressure". In short, a veritable greatest hits collection--all performed with larger-than-life gusto, boundless exuberance and impeccable musicianship. In a period when most new bands were content to mime along to weedy synthesised backing tracks, Queen were simply bigger, bolder and a whole lot more fun than anyone else. Freddie Mercury's extraordinary stage presence is likely to remain forever unsurpassed. On the DVD: Queen Live at Wembley Stadium is a superb memento of this memorable night. Disc 1 contains the entire Saturday gig (almost two hours) remastered in vivid DTS 5.1 or PCM Stereo. The second disc collects both contemporary and brand-new material, including new interviews with Brian May and Roger Taylor. "A Beautiful Day" is a good documentary made at the time. More exciting is the wealth of unseen footage, both from the Friday night show and the band in rehearsal. There are "Queen Cam" views of each band member, and a photo gallery. Most poignant is a time-lapse short, "Wembley Towers", showing the philistine destruction of these national monuments. It's a fitting epitaph for this great live band. --Mark Walker