What can I say, they just don’t make ’em like this anymore. Amid a sea of Iron Maiden, Scorpions, and Blue Oÿster Cult t-shirts, I was able to catch a performance of the heavy metal band Queensrÿche, currently embarking on their Thirtieth Anniversary Tour with Ireland rock band The Voodoos.
This means, yes, Queensrÿche has been around since 1981. It also means, no, they don’t sound as good as they did in 1981. Granted, I did not hear them play in 1981. In fact, I was not even alive in 1981. So you may take this review with a grain of salt if you wish.
Now, there are a few things that Queensrÿche absolutely does right. First of all, they have four out of five original members still playing in their band! After thirty years, that is an amazing accomplishment and shows that this band is very dedicated to each other and their music.
And to this day they still tour very actively, as lead vocalist Geoff Tate mentioned that they see about fifty-two countries every year. Normally, when you come across a band that you need to cut open and count the rings to find out their age, they play a few big shows in Vegas or New York and that’s about it, so such a vigorous touring schedule is quite uncommon for a band like this.
Musically, their early albums still know how to kick ass; songs played off of albums like 1984’s The Warning, 1986’s Rage For Order and 1988’s Operation: Mindcrime all resonated with this metal fan, as they maintained that truely hard, fast, and shred-filled sound that all heavy metal should. Plus, you know you’re cool when Dio fills in as your vocalist, and he did that for Queensrÿche in 2006 . ‘Nuff said.
However, like jerry curl and acid wash jeans, some things were just meant to stay in the ’80s and don’t really translate in popular culture today. Flanking each side of the stage, for example, were two large television screens, flashing images of desert, flames, sunsets, highways and trains. In the ’80s this would have seemed like pretty epic, overblown imagery to accompany the guitar solos and low-to-high shrieks of a leather-clad lead singer. Today, those images mostly remind me of a Microsoft Windows screen saver.
Queensrÿche also displayed some images of bald eagles and camouflage up on their big screens when playing tracks from their 2009 album, American Soldier. On stage, Tate explained that for the making of this album, the band interviewed war veterans from World War II to the present, and drew inspiration from their stories to create the songs for this record. While this is an admirable attempt and was undoubtedly a lot of research as well as creative work for the band, it doesn’t necessarily seem right coming from a group that had a song on the soundtrack for The Decline of Western Civilization II: The Metal Years.
Arguably, any album before 1997, when Queensrÿche lost original guitarist Chris DeGarmo, would qualify as “classic” Queensrÿche; if you are a fan from those early days, seeing them live today would still be an epic event. Their energy and seemingly never-ending loyalty to flames and black leather promise a good time to all who wish to see it. But just like you may need to take this review with a grain of salt, you would need to take a performance from such a long-running band with a grain or two as well. Age, new members, and new creative directions are always going to move a band forward from their hey-dey in the past.
Photo Credit: Dave Barnhouser
