Queensrÿche at House Of Blues (2010)

House Of Blues (Chicago, USA)

Queensrÿche

QUEENSRŸCHE fall in the category of those bands facing the grave criticism from the old-school […]

By Dimitris Kontogeorgakos

• October 29, 2010

QUEENSRŸCHE fall in the category of those bands facing the grave criticism from the old-school fan base that cannot see past the "Operation: Mindcrime" release (or even before that). It is true though, that the Washington based band has been exploring new territories after the aforementioned album bringing into the play non-Metal structures but on the other hand is this the definition of progressive band?

Anyway,QUEENSRŸCHE had the idea to produce the 'Cabaret Tour' embedding their music in go-go girls, dancers and other extremely new elements in a Metal oriented concert. I cannot say that I did not have second thoughts about this; but since I have not watched this band in decent conditions I made my way to the always nice House Of Blues of Chicago and found out that it was almost full. There was a +17 age limit and consequently the audience was older (maybe way older than the limit) and really excited for having QUEENSRŸCHE in town. As the light started fading out I made my way towards the photo pit and realized that there wasn't any. The show demanded more onstage space and hence the photo-pit was covered to provide additional access to the band.

And then Geoff Tate showed up lying on a lips-shaped couch with two beautiful girls on each side. He started singing along a clean guitar arpeggio an intro that after a while brought the rest of the band and "Hit The Black".I tell you this was a shock to my Metal perspective but it didn't long for QUEENSRŸCHE to all the skepticism out of my mind. The sound was amazing and Geoff was in a excellent singing condition making the songs sound way better than the album versions. Show-wise there was a lot of action on the stage with good looking dancers spicing up the atmosphere gathering in many occasions the looks and the attention of the male part of the audience. Now, the latter is an issue for the 'Cabaret Tour' since all the onstage festivities consumed part of the crowd's attention losing focus from the music.

I was expecting the time when QUEENSRŸCHE would touch the "Promised Land" album and that happened with the uptempo "I Am I". But the climax of the "Promised Land" suite happened with the self-title track with the killer saxophone tunes. The atmosphere was electric during that song enhanced by the perfect sound and the theatrical lights. To my surprise the US audience was not into this album and consequently remained kind of still during those tracks. On the other hand the US fans seemed and sounded totally connected with the tracks coming from all the post-"Empire" releases.

During the pauses Geoff showed another artistic face to us showing his theatrical skill during the short narrations between the tracks that seemed to be following an abstract story about looking for the ultimate love through an inner search. But that was not all; QUEENSRŸCHE's frontman used his humor and connected with the audience making short dialogues filling the breaks between the song giving the time for the rest of the crew to get prepared. "Lady Jane" is another song that deserves special commenting featuring Tate on the keyboards sitting on the side of the stage giving all the space need for the female ballet dancer who gave a passionate performance that in some strange way was in perfect synchronicity with the lyrics. Simply amazing! There is no point for me to describe the show since there will be a DVD release filmed in this tour so it is better to stay on the music. Even though, the band was give less space to move and everything had to follow a certain timetable guitarist Michael Wilton and drummer Scott Rockenfield did shine along with Tate performing their parts to the maximum. In particular, Wilton with a amazing sound nailed all the guitar leads and solos and did not seemed bothered all at all sharing the stage with some non-band members. It is not easy for a guitarist to keep in mind his space while being focused on this playing.

"The Right Side Of My Mind"was the last song of the regular set and judging by the crowd's enthusiastic response there was no way that there would not be an encore. Against my personal expectation and demand QUEENSRŸCHE returned with "Empire" instead of "Best I Can". But I did enjoy this one to the maximum.

To wrap it up, QUEENSRŸCHE continue to surprise everyone with their artistic moves and according to my standards serve the term progressive that is not always about playing difficult song structures or using a ridiculous amount of tempo changes. The setlist did not satisfy the older QUEENSRŸCHE fans but you have to keep in mind that in the past this band has given more time to "Operation…" albums and consequently can take a break from them. Will they bring the 'Cabaret Show" in Europe? Nah, I don't think the European fans can handle the non Metal perspective of this show.

QUEENSRŸCHE setlist: