Queen "Live at Wembley Stadium" DVD details (1 Viewer)

[Michael Allred]

Oh god, don't order it from the official Queen site, they're usually more expensive and they ship *from* England. Amazon.com and DVDempire.com both have the US DVD for pre-order, and Hollywood Records has confirmed a June 17th release date.

 

[TerryW]

Oh no of course not. I would never buy it direct. It would be something like $45.00! Amazon has it for $15! BTW, folks buying at Amazon, don't get the inferior Brazilian disc instead. Get the one that's scheduled for release on June 17, 2003. I simply provided the link to make people aware of its offical pre-order status and to see the complete details like:

Disc 2 - Road To Wembley: This section features

Brian & Roger 2003 interview (28 mins)

Gavin Taylor (Director) & Gerry Stickles (Tour Manager) interview (19 mins)

A Beautiful Day - Rudi Dolezal's backstage documentary about the whole day (30 mins)

Tribute To The Wembley Towers - including timelapse demolition footage set to 'These Are The Days...' (5 mins)

Unseen Magic Section:
Features 'Friday Concert Medley' - highlights package of the previous night's show (28 mins)
Rehearsals (10 mins)
Picture Gallery (5 mins)

 

[Aryn Leroux]

I like how Amazon lists the concert from 1992. freddie came back from the grave to perform i guess.

 

[Zack Scott]

Dave, you know, I'm afraid that the older shows may never be released on DVD. According to Jim Beach, the Houston '77 concert is in bad shape, and that's newer than the ones you mentioned. Makes me worry.....

yeah but look at the magic that was The Led Zeppelin DVD. I'm sure Brian May is watching that DVD right now and the wheels are starting to turn

 

[Michael Allred]

yeah but look at the magic that was The Led Zeppelin DVD. I'm sure Brian May is watching that DVD right now and the wheels are starting to turn

Not having seen the Zep DVD, I cannot comment on it, but I guess it all boils down to 1) What kind of condition the masters are in 2) How much money Queen is willing to spend on properly restoring them.

BTW, I found out that the Wembley DVD *will* be full screen. Glad to know it wasn't an error on the web site I mentioned in the first post.

 

[andrew markworthy]

Dave, you know, I'm afraid that the older shows may never be released on DVD. According to Jim Beach, the Houston '77 concert is in bad shape, and that's newer than the ones you mentioned. Makes me worry.....

Unlike Led Zep, who were v. camera shy, Queen positively revelled in videos of their shows. There's a shed-load of them and the odds are that at least a representative sample will be in reasonable condition. I can think of several VCDs of shows from across their career that are available from ebay and are in watchable and listenable condition. And that's before you get to the loads of audio tapes that must be languishing in the vaults ...

 

[Michael Allred]

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE: QUEEN LIVE AT WEMBLEY STADIUM DVD

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 9, 2003
QUEEN LIVE AT WEMBLEY STADIUM DVD
A Farewell to Queen
A Farewell To Wembley Stadium
Release: June 17

Images available on: www.queenonline.com/dvdpress

"The Wembley concerts in 1986 were the pinnacle for us," says Brian May. "We were at our height band-wise, and Freddie had developed this phenomenal way of dealing with stadium audiences. Being back home in London playing two sell-out nights was such a big, big occasion for us. None us realised that this would be almost the last time we played together"

Queen's 1986 Magic Tour had been their most successful to date. Regenerated and reinvigorated by their triumph at Live Aid almost exactly a year earlier, the band were on a 26-date tour of the UK and Europe and after a month out of the country returned home to London to play two defining concerts at the "place of champions", Wembley Stadium.

These were to be Queen's biggest dates ever, the biggest stage, the biggest lighting rig, the biggest screen that not only Queen had performed with, but also that Wembley Stadium had ever seen. For director Gavin Taylor, filming it involved the unprecedented use of no less than 15 cameras and a helicopter to capture the aerial shots.

For Freddie it was, according to personal assistant Peter Freestone, "the start of one very long party. Friends were flown in from New York and ferried from Garden Lodge to Wembley in special coaches. That must have been one of the proudest days of his life".

The Saturday show saw a previous wet day turn into one of the sunniest of the year. "It was a perfect day" says director Taylor. And the Wembley roar went up as Brian, Roger, John and Freddie arrived on stage to the synthesised opening chords on One Vision.

For the next 75 minutes Queen played what was undoubtedly one of their most potent concert performances. "There's no denying that by that time Queen were the best live band in the world," says Rod Stewart talking on the DVD, a view further expressed by another of the DVD's contributors, Elton John.

With maybe the exception of what was unexpectedly to turn out to be their last concert ever, a hastily added date a month later at Stevenage's Knebworth Park, their second Wembley concert was Queen's finest moment.

Having previously only been seen in an edited form, that entire concert is now available on Queen Live at Wembley Stadium, a 2-DVD release available from June 17th.

"There were things we took out because they were moments when we had tape changes," says director Taylor. "But we've put all that back, together with a lot of footage filmed the previous day and at rehearsals and backstage, which give a complete picture of that weekend."

Remixed and re-engineered in DTS 5.1 surround sound (disc 1) the DVD package also offers viewers the added bonus of a multi-angle feature which enables visual remixing of the concert. Says Taylor: "It means that every viewer can have their own unique experience of the concert."

Further bonuses include new interviews with Brian May and Roger Taylor, and there's even the band's own tribute to the legend of Wembley, with documentary footage showing the fall (and rise) of the famous twin towers.

"Wembley Stadium was such a special place," says Roger. "Having played it as part of Live Aid and to come back and play it again was such a blast."

It's perhaps no surprise that Queen's hit musical, We Will Rock You, sees the show's heroes end up at Wembley Stadium, "the place of living rock? for the storming finale where the roots of rock are rediscovered and the rebellious bohemians find their way to recreating the music of the Mighty Queen.
Towards the end of Queen's performance at Wembley Stadium on Queen Live At Wembley Stadium, Freddie Mercury addresses the audience:
There've been some rumours we're splitting. They're talking through their *****," Freddie says, pointing to his backside. "We'll be together forever."

"And in a way," say Brian, "I guess we were. We might not have been a touring band much longer, but we were together as a band right until the end."

"I don't think anyone expected the Magic tour to be the band's last dates; things had gone so well and we were already planning the next one," says Gerry Stickells, Queen's tour manager. "There was no sense of anything coming to an end."

But as things turned out, Queen only ever played 2 further UK concerts, in Manchester on July 16 and that final concert at Knebworth on August 9.
But if ever a reminder was needed of why Queen earned themselves the mantle of best stadium rock group in history, then you only have to turn to this DVD to see Queen live, uncut, and at their ferocious, majestic, best.

Queen, Live At Wembley Stadium. The Complete Concert with bonus footage.
Part of the Queen DVD Collection. Available from June 17, 2003

 

[Brandon]

For the next 75 minutes Queen played what was undoubtedly one of their most potent concert performances.

Isn't the show 110 minutes?

 

[Brandon]

I got a look at the disc tonight a few days before release, and I have to say this my new favorite Queen DVD. This was a great performance from the band and the DVD finally reflects how good Queen was live.

The best parts are those not include on previous releases, like the Friday night songs or the Oldies Medley. It's cool to see the band enjoying themselves as they perform. I have watched parts of the interviews, and they are really interesting but I doubt casual fans will watch them over and over again like I will.

This is the Queen DVD to get your friends.

 

[Aryn Leroux]

Brandon: sounds good.. is the dts track pretty good ?

I am jealous, can't wait to get my hands on this. Looks like dvdempire hasn't received there copies of this yet. If they did it would have shipped today. I cancelled to take my chances with amazon.

 

[Brandon]

The DTS track sounds pretty good, though I don't claim to be the best audiophile out there. It does sound better than the Freddie Tribute concert, if that helps to compare. My suggestion is to just play it loud and you'll be happy with it.

What I really like about this DVD is the two discs. The first disc is a terrific concert which should attract the casual fan, and the second disc has enough interesting material to make the hard-core fan go nuts.

 

[Michael Allred]

I got my copy yesterday but was so sick, I couldn't watch anything. I'm still recovering but was well enough to watch it today.

Picture quality was fairly good, not perfect of course, some pixelation here and there, but it's more than adequate. Can't speak of the DTS since I cannot listen to it, but the PCM track works very well. It was nice to have the entire concert finally.

Disc 2 was a bit better than I had expected. The Brian/Roger interviews were done extremely well, with all that behind-the-scenes footage cut in, it looked more like a documentary. The Torpedo Twins doc was pretty much the same o' same ol', if you've seen "The Magic Years", you've seen this. The Wembley Towers tribute was a bit of a waste, I was expecting to see the actual stadium being imploded or something.

The Queen cams were a good idea, the highlights of the Friday show was a kick, and the rehearsal footage was interesting (I wonder which collector they got it from and why Queen didn't have a tape of this themselves?)

Also the menus were designed better. What I mean is, they're faster. On the previous DVD's, each time you highlighted something from the menu, it had to access the disc *each time*. Thankfully that's no longer the case here. I'm also generally pleased Queen stopped with the unnecessary widescreen, I never understood why they did it in the first place.

I'll agree with Brandon, this is a Queen DVD you can get (or recommend) to a casual or non-fan, they'll enjoy it. I know I did. Can't wait for "Video Hits 2"!

 

[Aryn Leroux]

I got my set last night, I decided i would cancel my online order and get it locally since it didn't ship yet. went to 4 places before i found it and of all places it was a music store that had it "Strawberries" for $16.99.

The sound is outstanding i listened with the dts track. I also noticed some pixelation that appeared mainly when roger taylor was on screen. I assume this was meant to be there and not because of a faulty dvd ? other than that the picture for the concert on disc 1 is very good nothing that will knock your socks off but it get's the job done. Glad it turned out to be full-frame after all. If you are considering buying this don't hesitate it is as good as everyone is saying!!



Edit: to correct spelling

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Also the menus were designed better. What I mean is, they're faster. On the previous DVD's, each time you highlighted something from the menu, it had to access the disc *each time*. Thankfully that's no longer the case here. I'm also generally pleased Queen stopped with the unnecessary widescreen, I never understood why they did it in the first place.

Because UK is becoming widescreen land, Nigel Sixpack wants to fill those 16:9 TVs!

 

[Tim Hoover]

Nigel Sixpack...that's just great

 

[Yee-Ming]

Nigel Sixpack wants to fill those 16:9 TVs

I thought the Brit fellow was called Joe Bloggs?

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Can't claim to be the originator of Nigel, wish I could. I don't remember who to credit it to tho

 

[Dan Rudolph]

I was one of the early adopters, but I don't think I used it first. Look through the threads about buffy OAR. It started there.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

No Dan, it was earlier than that, more than a year that i first saw it.

 

[Dave Mack]

Well, it came this morning. Postwoman woke me up... (late nite, I know. Trek OS eps. till the wee hours with the fellas)
VERY happy. Looks a MILLION times better than the Freddie tribute concert which looked TERRIBLE IMHO due to to the tilt and scan 16x9 and the WAY overstaurated pic.
Considering Wembley is from '86 it looks GREAT. Good sound mix too, (at least in PCM, I'm DTS challenged) Freddie's voice is much more prominent in the mix than either the old VHS or the cd.
Props to Queen Productions for releasing it OAR. Hope that will continue for future releases.

D