Queen's musical peak was in the early 1970s. As a live act, the Royal Quartet was at its best more than ten years later. The DVDs Rock In Rio, Live Aid and Live At Wembley Stadium provide sufficient proof of this. A new highlight can now be added to this impressive series: Hungarian Rhapsody. In the 1980s, Queen tried to conquer new areas such as South America, South Africa and the Eastern Bloc.
The band was not very grateful for this for political reasons, but it did result in interesting concerts. Like in Budapest where thousands of people from all kinds of Soviet countries saw a Western band perform for the first time. The Hungarian director János Szombolyai shot the concert on 35mm film, which makes the quality of the DVD sublime. He also follows the band members separately in Hungary. We see Freddie Mercury buying art, Roger Taylor karting and Brian May in a hot air balloon. And John Deacon? He waddles bluntly through the streets of Budapest on his own. There is no more intimate, stranger and more complete portrait of Queen. (JE)more
