Live at Wembley '86 (1992)
Disc One
1. One Vision
2. Tie Your Mother Down
3. In the Lap of the Gods
4. Seven Seas of Rhye
5. Tear it Up
6. A Kind of Magic
7. Under Pressure
8. Another One Bites the Dust
9. Who Wants to Live Forever
10.I Want to Break Free
11.Impromptu
12.Brighton Rock
13.Now I'm Here
Disc Two
1. Love of My Life
2. Is This the World We Created?
3. (You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care
4. Hello Mary Lou (Goodbye Heart)
5. Tutti Frutti
6. Gimme Some Lovin'
7. Bohemian Rhapsody
8. Hammer to Fall
9. Crazy Little Thing Called Love
10.Big Spender
11.Radio Ga Ga
12.We Will Rock You
13.Friends Will Be Friends
14.We Are the Champions
15.God Save the Queen
Although no one realized it at the time, Queen’s 1986 tour supporting A Kind of Magic would be their last with Freddie Mercury. In the UK and much of the rest of the world, Queen was still a massive concert draw — so much so that they could pack Wembley Stadium with ease. Fortunately, the full show was recorded and released as Live at Wembley '86, giving fans a chance to relive one of the band’s most iconic live moments.
Now, there’s a lot to appreciate here. The band was still firing on all cylinders, and Mercury was still commanding the stage like no one else in the business. But with all that said, this set doesn’t quite hit the same high marks as their earlier live release Live Killers from 1979. Where that one felt raw and urgent, Live at Wembley '86 often comes across as a bit too polished — and maybe even a little too theatrical.
The main issue here is one that plagues many full-show releases: the attempt to recreate the in-person experience on record doesn’t always translate. There’s a lot of in-between chatter, sing-along moments, and quick snippets of songs that were probably charming live, but feel like filler here. Impromptu is passable as a bit of live improvisation, but Big Spender? That one’s a real head-scratcher. It's hard not to wonder what they were thinking.
The setlist leans heavily on the band’s '80s output — and while it made sense for the time, some of those songs just don’t carry the same weight on stage. Who Wants to Live Forever, for example, is a beautiful and moving piece in the studio, but the sweeping orchestral elements are lost a bit in the stadium setting. Even a dependable classic like Another One Bites the Dust doesn’t quite land with the same authority.
Still, there’s something undeniably special about hearing the band in front of 70,000 people. Mercury’s command of the crowd is reason enough to hit “play,” and Brian May, Roger Taylor, and John Deacon are still a formidable live unit. The full-show approach might wear thin after a while, but it’s better than feeling shortchanged by a truncated setlist.
As a side note, fans in the UK had access to a different live album from this same tour — Live Magic, released in 1986 — but it wouldn’t see a U.S. release until a decade later. While Live at Wembley '86 might not be the definitive Queen live experience, it still stands as a vital document of their final run with Mercury at the helm. And for many fans, that alone makes it worth revisiting.
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