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In a homecoming concert spectacular, Leslie Mandoki and his band of global musical luminaries, the Mandoki Soulmates, is returning to Budapest on August 21, 2025 at 7pm to celebrate fifty years of Mandoki’s life and artistry in freedom on the national stage of his birthland.The performance will feature iconic Mandoki Soulmates songs, global hits made famous by members of his all-star band, and new material from their latest album, including We Stay Loud, Blood in the Water, and Devil’s Encyclopedia. Mandoki says “we invite everyone who believes in the power of music as both an act of profound artistic expression as well as a mode of liberation.”
The extraordinary venue is Budapest’s icon of icons, Szentháromság Tér atop the Buda Castle hill, a fitting crescendo in Mandoki’s performing life, which began in the then-notorious “Bem Club,” the locus of artistic rebels and rebellion in the oppressive 1970s Budapest. The concert promises surprises both evoking Mandoki and The Soulmates’ musical journey, as well as the band’s latest album, A Memory Of Our Future, a resounding international success, recently honored at The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The Backstory
Over 50 years ago, the young Leslie Mandoki and his band, JAM, started making the scene at the infamous Bem Club, a so-called “cultural center” in communist-era Budapest that was quickly becoming a hotbed of the underground counter-culture for young people. After experiencing unrelenting artistic and personal repression, Leslie and two like-minded friends summoned the courage to make their way, by any means necessary, to the West. Compelled by this longing for freedom, his friends, the young animator Gábor Csupó (now known worldwide for The Simpsons, Rugrats, Duckman, and Aaahh!!! Real Monsters), and musical blood brother László made a dramatic escape through the Karawanken Tunnel to Germany in 1975—50 years ago!
Perhaps Leslie himself expressed the roots of his personal and artistic odyssey best: “The Bem Club was the place where music became the battlefield of inner revolution and the fight for freedom. It was there that I first understood that behind every sound, there are ideas—and that every melody rises from the depths of the soul. I learned that music is not just storytelling, but a kind of world-building: creating new realities from sounds, thoughts, and shared dreams. The stage is a space where there is both a mirror and a gateway, to ourselves and to one another. The friendships forged there were not fleeting moments, but encounters of destinies attuned to one another. All of this shaped not only my artistic path but also the way I’ve seen life, freedom, and human dignity ever since.”
This crucible of Leslie’s westward journey and new life eventually led to the founding of the Mandoki Soulmates band. The group shared an artistic creed based on the spiritual and musical foundations for what has become the broader Soulmates collective. Now more than just a band, this is a creative fellowship, a cultural atelier, a bridge connecting generations and civilizations, a cry for freedom echoing across the world’s grandest stages, and one that will be celebrated with this concert.
The Band
In 2025, the Mandoki Soulmates, and their founder Leslie Mandoki, with a legacy spanning over thirty years, were recently honored at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, paying tribute to the international acclaim and artistic weight of their latest album, A Memory Of Our Future.
“Even though many of us have been playing together for over 30 years, these guys always manage to impress both me and the audience with their musical fireworks when we're on stage,” said a proud and invigorated Leslie Mandoki after last summer’s concerts with his Soulmates.
Solo Work and Artistic Philosophy
Leslie Mandoki’s individual achievements as a producer are today represented by the 72 gold records lining the walls of Red Rock Studio, which now boasts more than 40 years of outstanding global success.
As Mikhail Gorbachev expressed in the Longing for Freedom Mandoki documentary: “Progressive rock was the music of free-thinking people during the time of communist dictatorships, the voice of resistance, the symbol of freedom.” His words continue to resonate deeply with all those who found refuge, identity, and hope through music in an oppressive world.
Progressive rock, and within it, Leslie Mandoki’s musical legacy, is not merely a style or “sound.” It is a form of intellectual resistance, the artistic manifestation of freedom of thought. His life’s journey stands as a testament to how music can be lived not merely as art, but as a higher calling.
Says Mandoki, “We stay loud for music, because melodies are the language of our souls. For humanity, because there are no true victories without one another. And for the future, because freedom is not a legacy, but a mission we must defend every single day.”
Mandoki Soulmates Mega Concert—50 Years in Freedom
August 21, 2025, 7pm
Szentháromság Tér, Buda Castle, Budapest
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Szentháromság tér, Budapest 1014, Magyarország, Tourinform Budavár, Szentháromság tér, Budapest 1014, Magyarország, Budapest, Hungary
