Queensryche Battle Royal Part I........

[SteveSly]

In the next 3 weeks I am going to be seeing both versions of Queensryche. Last night I saw the Geoff Tate version at The Intersection in Grand Rapids MI. Personally I come down on the side of other guys with the right to use the name, and with Tate calling this his “ Queensryche" farewell tour” it looks like he is going to give up using it after this tour is over………maybe…..

Anyway………I was debating about going to this one, but in the end decided to take the plunge, since this would probably be my last chance to see “Operation Mindcrime” performed in it’s entirety. I have seen Queensryche about a dozen times over the years and they have always been one of my fave’s. Tate’s version of the band is pretty much an all-star project. The only musicians with previous ties to Queensryche are guitarist Kelly Gray (who is a former member) and the keyboard player (can’t remember his name off the top of my head), who has played on some Queensryche albums in the past. The rest of the band consists of Rudy Sarzo on bass (Whitesnake, Blue Oyster Cult, Quiet Riot), Simon Wright on drums (AC / DC), Robert Sarzo (Hurricane – who opened the show), and Sass Jordan on female vocals.

I have to admit that I was surprised at how strong Tate’s vocals were. The last few times I have seen him he has struggled at times, but last night he was really on his game. He can’t hit the really really high notes anymore, but I would say that he still has about 85% of his vocal range left. As a front man he is still very good at working a crowd. I honestly think it was the best I have seen him in at least the last 10 years or so. The band are all pros, so the playing was top notch all night. They basically came out and did “Operation Mindcrime” front to back as their main set. For an encore they did about half of the “Empire” album. Nothing was played from the Tate version of the band’s latest album “Frequency Unknown” which I found a bit strange. In fact nothing was played from any album other than “Mindcrime” and “Empire”. I would say the club was maybe a little over half full (I think it holds around 1000) which is quite a bit less than the last time the band played this venue on the “American Soldier” tour when it was pretty packed. The crowd that were there seemed to be really into it though.

All in all I really enjoyed it more than I expected I would. I will seeing the “other” Queensryche in about 3 weeks for comparison.

Here is the setlist from last night:

MAIN SET:
OPERATION MINDCRIME
ENCORE:
SILENT LUCIDITY
BEST I CAN
ANOTHER RAINY NIGHT
JET CITY WOMAN
EMPIRE

[progeezer's ghost]

I saw them (the original band) play both Mindcrime albums back in '06. To this day it's one of the best live shows I've seen, as well as one of my all-time favorite albums (the first one, that is). That being said, I likely would've passed on seeing Geoff & Co. perform it. Not necessarily because of his antics of recent years; it would just seem too much to me like settling (not to demean any of his chums, as I'm only familiar with Kelly Gray and Rudy Sarzo, and they're passable). But no Scott Rockenfield would've been a deal breaker for me.

[Supersonic Scientist]

Thanks for the review...I've never seen Queensryche and I LOVE OM so going to see this is a no-brainer for me. It might not be top-notch as you posted but I'll really have nothing else to compare it to so I'm sure I'll enjoy it very much. Pretty sure I saw that they're coming to Atlanta soon.

[Wounded Land]

I saw them (the original band) play both Mindcrime albums back in '06. To this day it's one of the best live shows I've seen, as well as one of my all-time favorite albums (the first one, that is).

Well, obviously! (I can't conceive of a world in which O:MII is anyone's all-time favorite.)

The original is one my faves as well. It seems to get stronger every time I hear it, even after all these years. Great, great writing and playing. The fact that the real Queensryche gave to Tate the rights to perform it exclusively is interesting, but seems a fair trade-off, all things considered. It's like Roger Waters with The Wall, I suppose.

NP: Perfect Beings s/t

[SteveSly]

I saw them (the original band) play both Mindcrime albums back in '06. To this day it's one of the best live shows I've seen, as well as one of my all-time favorite albums (the first one, that is). That being said, I likely would've passed on seeing Geoff & Co. perform it. Not necessarily because of his antics of recent years; it would just seem too much to me like settling (not to demean any of his chums, as I'm only familiar with Kelly Gray and Rudy Sarzo, and they're passable). But no Scott Rockenfield would've been a deal breaker for me.

Simon Wright was actually quite impressive. I had seen him before with AC / DC, but that type of music did not really give him a lot to work with. He was all over the Mindcrime material even doing a short solo.

[SteveSly]

Well, obviously! (I can't conceive of a world in which O:MII is anyone's all-time favorite.)

The original is one my faves as well. It seems to get stronger every time I hear it, even after all these years. Great, great writing and playing. The fact that the real Queensryche gave to Tate the rights to perform it exclusively is interesting, but seems a fair trade-off, all things considered. It's like Roger Waters with The Wall, I suppose.


NP: Perfect Beings s/t

I think it ended up being a good compromise. Like Waters, Tate was the main creative force behind both "Mindcrime" albums so it is kind of his baby. The other guys can still perform individual tracks from it, and I doubt they have any desire to do the whole thing anyway, since they seem to like performing a lot of the band's real early stuff (along with new material).

[Frumious B]

I saw them open for Metallica when they were touring Mindcrime and saw them again headlining behind Empire, a set that included the complete Mindcrime. It was killer, but I don't think I need a live QR experience beyond that.

[TheLoony]

I've seen QR a dozen or so times, when they were good and when they were bad. I'll pass on both QR and Tateryche. They have fallen so far in my eyes, I just can't see them ruin their legacy any more. I was in the front row for the Empire tour with the entire Mindcrime played, I've seen them do a private show for fans at the Very Large Array in New Mexico, I saw the killer Promised Land show and they have somewhat sullied all those good memories by being lame for so long.

The new album(QR, not Tateryche) is ok, but nowhere near the quality of music as in earlier days(seems they did their best with DeGarmo around) and just not enough to justify spending money to see has beens.