Review & photos by Chad Alexander
August 23rd 2014, Talking Stick Resort, Scottsdale AZ: On their ‘farewell’ tour before they change their name to Operation Mindcrime with the exclusive rights to perform the two Mindcrime albums under the agreement reached between the two bands that called themselves Queensrÿche during the last couple of years which have been nothing short of confusing and strange for fans, singer Geoff Tate’s version of Queensrÿche played a sold-out show here at the Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona, and came out like a band on a mission.
Tate’s QR band boasts of some well known hard rock veterans Robert Sarzo and Kelly Gray on guitar, bassist Rudy Sarzo (Quiet Riot, Ozzy Osbourne, Whitesnake, Dio, Blue Öyster Cult) on bass, Simon Wright (AC/DC, Dio) on drums and Randy Gane, who played in Myth with Geoff before he left to join Queensryche in 1982, on keyboards. Concentrating on ‘Mindcrime’ and later material, they opened the set with ‘Best I Can’ off of Empire and included ‘Cold’ off the 2013 Cleopatra Records release ‘F.U. (Frequency Unknown)’. With the talent in this group, they know how to excite and work the crowd, moving about the stage side to side engaging the crowd to return the energy that they are giving to them.
Twice during the night I could hear the crowd chanting “Rudy”, “Rudy”, “Rudy”. I’ve always enjoyed Queensryche’s music, but there’s always been something about ‘Mindcrime’ songs performed live that kicks my ass. Tonight’s five selections from the album were ‘Operation Mindcrime’, ‘The Needle Lies’, ‘Breaking The Silence’ and ‘I Don’t Believe In Love’. They closed the night with “Eyes Of A Stranger”, and other surprises in the set were the rarely performed ‘I Am I’ and the Empire tune ‘Della Brown’.
All in all, it was an incredible show and I would recommend you to go check it out if it’s hitting your city in the remainder of its itinerary.
Check out a gallery of 14 photos from the show below, and view them here for their downloadable versions and/or if you’re on a non-Flash device:
Geoff Tate links: website | facebook | twitter
Set List:
01. Best I Can
02. Breakdown
03. Another Rainy Night (Without You)
04. Cold
05. Real World
06. I Am I
07. The Needle Lies
08. Della Brown
09. The Thin Line
10. Breaking the Silence
11. I Don’t Believe in Love
Encore:
12. Silent Lucidity
13. Jet City Woman
14. Empire
15. Eyes of a Stranger
Remaining tour dates:
08/26 – The Depot – Salt Lake City UT
08/28 – The Cotillion – Wichita KS
08/30 – Tailgaters – Bolingbrook IL