Queen to show Budapest concert film as “one-day-only, live-gig-style experience. “It’s going to be definitively the most real experience ever of us,Queen, in our glory days”
Queen have announced two special cinema screenings of their newly restored Budapest concert film at London's Roundhouse on 3 October, designed to recreate the atmosphere of a live show rather than a standard film showing. The event marks the latest step in bringing the band's historic 1986 Hungary performance to modern audiences, following last month's announcement of a wider cinema release for the film.
The screenings will feature the footage shown on a giant LED screen with surround sound and synchronised lighting, alongside a display of original Queen merchandise. The 1986 Budapest concert saw Queen become the first Western band to headline a stadium show behind the Iron Curtain. Guitarist Brian May said the presentation would be "definitively the most real experience ever of us, Queen, in our glory days," adding that he expects audiences to "get lost in it" and forget they are watching a film.
- Queen's restored 1986 Budapest concert film screens at London Roundhouse, 3 October
- Two live-gig-style screenings feature LED screen, surround sound, synchronised lighting
- Brian May calls it the most authentic experience of Queen's "glory days"
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Queen's 1986 concert in Budapest was a landmark event: it made them the first major Western rock band to headline a stadium show in a communist Eastern Bloc country, at a time when the Iron Curtain still divided Europe. Footage of that night has now been restored and is being brought back to audiences through cinema screenings, with the band's surviving members involved in shaping how it is presented.
The upcoming event at London's Roundhouse is part of a wider push to give the restored film a proper modern release, following an earlier announcement of broader cinema showings. Guitarist Brian May, one of the band's founding members, has been closely associated with promoting the project and has spoken about wanting audiences to feel as though they are experiencing the original concert live rather than simply watching archive footage.
Queen remain one of the best-known rock bands of the late 20th century, and interest in their history continues decades after their commercial peak, particularly around milestone performances such as this one. The Budapest concert is often cited by historians and fans as significant both musically and politically, given the context of the Cold War at the time.