Queensrÿche at Emo's in Austin

When I think of Queensrÿche, I think of 1990-1992.  I was in my early 20’s, and I hadn’t even married my first wife yet.  I loved this band.  It was the only band whose fan club I ever joined.  While many consider their hard rock/metal classic Operation: Mindcrime (1988) to be the pinnacle of their success, I didn’t really become a fan until I heard Empire (1990).  Empire was the album that hooked me and drew me in.  From there, I then purchased the aforementioned Mindcrime, followed by every other album in their catalogue: Rage for Order, The Warning, and the self titled EP.  I was even one of the lucky few to attend the MTV Unplugged taping in Los Angeles in April of 1992 (thankfully the show was shortly before the LA riots.)  Queensrÿche were at the peak of their powers then.  They could do no wrong.  Geoff Tate’s voice soared, never hitting a bad note.  Chris DeGarmo’s melodic guitar style blending perfectly with the rest of the band.  So what went wrong?  Promised Land came in 1994, and while it wasn’t nearly as good as Empire, it did have quite a few strong songs on it (Damaged, Bridge, and Out of Mind were my personal favorites.)  Then came Hear in the Now Frontier (1997) and the quality dropped even further.  DeGarmo, who wrote most of the great melodies for the group, and has sole credit for its biggest hit, “Silent Lucidity,” left the band following that album.  The albums that came after that (Q2K, Tribe, Operation Mindcrime II, American Soldier, Dedicated to Chaos, and Frequency Unknown) are barely even worth mentioning.  You can possibly find one decent song on each of those albums.  Had Queensrÿche retired after DeGarmo left in 1997, they would have left behind a fantastic legacy.  Yet…they carried on.

I’ve never been so disappointed in a band I once loved as I am by Queensrÿche.  Their first five albums showed such great potential, and even the final two with DeGarmo are classics compared to what would come later.  Now the band has split up into two completely different camps.  One is fronted by lead singer Geoff Tate and a group of hired musicians.  The other camp features the original band members (minus DeGarmo) with new lead singer Todd La Torre.  Both are calling themselves Queensrÿche.  Yes, there are TWO Queensrÿches out there making albums and touring.  Some have compared it to the Roger Waters/Pink Floyd split in the 80’s.  However, even though Waters wrote most of the Pink Floyd material, he never wanted to call himself Pink Floyd.  He simply wanted to retire the name and not let the other band members tarnish the band’s reputation.  David Gilmour (with Rick Wright and Nick Mason), though, had every right to continue as Pink Floyd because he actually co-wrote and sang most of Floyd’s earlier material.  There is only one singer in Queensrÿche, and that singer is, in my opinion, irreplaceable.  Geoff Tate has one of the most unique and powerful voices in rock.  Unfortunately, according to his bandmates, he also seems to be a tyrannical, arrogant asshole. 

So who is the real Queensrÿche? Do people even care anymore?  I haven’t been to a Queensrÿche concert since the late 90’s, so I didn’t particularly care.  Then I noticed that Geoff Tate’s version of the band was playing close to home, at Emo’s in Austin.  Emo’s is a pretty small venue, and since I had only previously seen Queensrÿche in large arenas (with the exception of the MTV Unplugged taping), and since tickets were only a mere $24 (a great bargain these days), I decided to check them out.

(Emo's in Austin, TX)

As I waited in line to go in, I overheard one security guard mention that only 400 tickets had been sold.  This was a band that once played three nights in a row at the Long Beach Arena (which holds over 13,000 people), so hearing this was a bit disheartening.  Once I walked inside, I noticed that the back half of the venue was blocked off by a huge net, so I was assuming Emo's only expected about 50% capacity for the show.  Well, it was a Wednesday night, and people have jobs, so maybe this was to be expected.

The doors opened at 8, and the opening band didn't take the stage until 9pm.  The Voodoos were okay, but not particularly memorable.  Maybe they were just out of place for what seemed like a much older audience (most of the people there looked like they were 40+)

(The Voodoos)

Queensrÿche took the stage at 10pm, playing the Operation: Mindcrime album in its entirety.  I have to admit, I was really worried that this was going to be a train wreck of a show.  Earlier YouTube videos were not very impressive, nor were the solo Geoff Tate videos where he is constantly drinking wine and telling jokes.  However, to be honest, this show just wasn't that bad.  Tate seemed to be in pretty good voice, with a few notable exceptions (see the video for "Speak" above this review.)  It seems a little unfair to hear constant attacks from people about his current vocal abilities.  To give the guy a little credit, he is now 54 years old, and there is no way he's going to be able to sing like he did when he was 29.  Mindcrime is a demanding album for any vocalist, and Tate is out there singing this thing night after night.  Was it a perfect, flawless performance?  Absolutely not.  Kelley Gray is no Chris DeGarmo, and Rudy Sarzo (while very energetic) is no Eddie Jackson.  When the bass-riff for "Jet City Woman" started, I couldn't even tell what it was at first.  Sarzo is a great bass player, but seems out of place in Queensrÿche.   Also, Pamela Moore was definitely needed during the performance of "Suite Sister Mary."  The woman they are currently using seemed a little bored and not particularly energetic with her delivery.

The four songs from "Empire" that closed the show were nice.  However, "I'm American" from Operation: Mindcrime II should be cut from the set-list and replaced with something else.  Perhaps "Take Hold of the Flame" or "Queen of the Reich."  I was there to hear the classic Ryche songs, and that song took me out of the nostalgia and just reminded me why I started to lose interest in them in the first place.

I'm curious to hear the new Queensrÿche album without Tate, just to see if they can capture the old sound I used to love, but I think they have a big hill to climb.  I've rarely been one to embrace new singers to established bands (Journey and Foreigner being good examples), so I hope they surprise me.