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.
Do yourself a favor and try to catch the other Queensryche in concert...the band looks re-energized and sounds awesome...plus they are playing songs that have not been played in years, because Geoff no longer wanted to sing them!
ReplyDeleteIf you remember recent interviews with Geoff he was pretty clear about not doing those Dungeons and Dragons songs anymore. He also said most fans don't even remember Queen of the Reich nor want to hear it. Go see the Real Queensrcyhe with the other 3 and you will hear those songs and hear them done well. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI agree I saw the Todd fronted version, it was the 2nd best QR show Ive ever seen. (First being the original band in 1997, you cant beat Degarmo)
ReplyDeleteThey did 5 songs from the Warning. Tate cant touch that stuff anymore.
This is a joke and insult to QR's legacy.
I was at the show last night as well. The playing for the most part was pretty good. Tate did very well despite. At times the mix was not very good at Emos. There was about 400-500 people there, and that should be expected with 2 bands of the same name floating around, and a series of disappointing albums over the past 10 years. That said, I think the majority of the crowd enjoyed the show. I think most comments found on the blogs are people from the Love or Hate Tate camps, so you don't get very objective opinions. I will definitely see the other QR if they come by Austin and see how they fare.
ReplyDeleteRobert Sarzo can't play a guitar solo correctly to save his life. There are people on Youtube at least 20 years younger that play it perfectly. What does that say about you're so called 80's heroes?
ReplyDeleteDude, like bangin'. I used to sniff paint thinner to this band.
ReplyDeleteA bit of news I'll share with this Queensryche discussion...the bass player Rudy Sarzo will be on hiatus for the next few months and Geoff Tate has reached out to my friend John Moyer (Disturbed, Adrenaline Mob) to play bass for their shows for a bit.
ReplyDeleteits totally like the pink floyd split. I may do a blog about this, having read two books about pink floyd and most of the depositions with the queensryche split. its interesting stuff. Ill have it up soon, visit http://www.mattowarriormetalmadness.blogspot.com
ReplyDelete