By James Garvin
I’ve seen Geoff Tate five times since 2012, and at least three times with Queensrÿche before 2012, including on the Operation Mindcrime tour back in the day. Tate is currently billing this tour as the final chapter of Operation Mindcrime, and is playing venues which allow a larger production, which Mindcrime certainly deserves.
Tate brought the Mindcrime production to TempleLive in Columbus, Ohio on April 16th. TempleLive is an historic venue in what looks like a Masonic temple with an open floor and seating along the sides of the floor. Opening is Tomas McCarthy, whom Tate apparently met in Ireland on one of his Backstage Pass vacation tours, and was impressed with McCarthy’s songwriting, and so Tate invited him to open the tour.
Talk about being in the right place at the right time. McCarthy is accompanied by his wife Clodagh and James Keegan. Their music is acoustic, but don’t be misled. With McCarthy’s bluesy baritone vocal style this was not a polite form of acoustic music. Taking the stage promptly at 8:00 PM, they played seven songs in a 50 minute set, ending with a Leadbelly cover and included a traditional Irish song on which Clodagh took lead vocals.
After a 25 minute break the lights dim, and “I Remember Now” comes over the speakers, leading into “Anarchy X,” and then we were off. The band, which is new, on stage for the intro into “Revolution Calling,” and then Geoff Tate appears, wearing a black cowboy type hat, and we are soon treated to The Voice which begins to sing. Operation Mindcrime does not need a play-by-play. It is, without much doubt, one of metal’s most classic records, and is damn near perfect. Geoff Tate sounded phenomenal, as he has every time I’ve seen him live.
After “Eyes Of A Stranger” brings the conclusion of Operation Mindcrime, Tate tells us he was just getting started. I avoid looking up set lists prior to a show, so I didn’t know whether he was going to perform Operation Mindcrime II in its entirety. Instead the second portion of the show was a combination of Operation Mindcrime II and Empire.
Operation Mindcrime II is lesser known, and I don’t recall him ever performing material from that release in prior shows; I think he wisely rotated selections from Operation Mindcrime II with more familiar selections from Empire. “I’m American” and “The Chase” from OM II began the second set, followed by “Jet City Woman” from Empire, followed by “Murderer” and “If Could Change it All” from OM II, continued with “Empire,” then “Junkies Blues,” and concluding with “Silent Lucidity.”
The band leaves the stage, reemerges, then Tate asks if we want to hear something really old. Um, duh. The audience screaming “Take Hold Of The Flame,” and we were there. Tate still sounds incredible. There are a handful of vocalists who have (had) both the vocal chops and the charisma on stage, and Tate clearly still has both. The band had a blast on stage joking with each other, and Tate gives them a lot of room to express themselves. They have their own personalities.
I hope, like Ozzy’s No More Tours and that infamous Mötley Crüe retirement “agreement,” that Tate reconsiders playing Mindcrime in its entirety again after this tour. Geoff, I won’t feel used. I promise.
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