“It was November 4th . . . it seemed our time would last forever.”
So sings Geoff Tate on the 1986 Rage For Order song “London.” Last Friday night at the Aztec Theatre, the original voice of Queensryche was only off by 24 hours. November 5 was a day fans of the singer and his renowned, yet former, band will remember, well, perhaps forever. Because Tate graced the Aztec last weekend and San Antonio, the third city Queensryche ever played upon the release of its 1983 self-titled EP, by doing something he had never done: perform Rage For Order and 1990’s Empire in their entirety.
And the two-song encore wasn’t half bad either.
Tate’s prior two visits to the Aztec consisted of 1988’s Operation: Mindcrime in its entirety. So if you went to this show simply knowing Tate was in town but not aware of what he had in store, or expecting to hear “I Don’t Believe In Love” again, you may have left the venue a bit underwhelmed. But truly, Queensryche’s first four albums plus the EP, a span covering 1983-90, is what Tate will always be known for. His latest stop meant he has covered three of those records entirely stretching across his last three trips here that just happened to be sandwiched around a global pandemic (see 54-photo slideshow below).
Friday’s performance marked the third time the Rage/Empire coupling was supposed to be performed here, and it definitely was the charm. While there will always be Queensryche fans drawn to “Jet City Woman” and “Silent Lucidity,” Tate’s exhibition gave diehards the chance to hear rarely and never played tracks from those albums such as “Surgical Strike” and the aforementioned “London” plus Empire’s “Resistance,” “Hand On Heart” and “One and Only” (click the links for ATM’s Facebook Live footage).
Supported by opening act Kurt Deimer and backed by Scottish guitarist Kieran Robertson, guitarist Alex Hart, bassist Darren Milsom and drummer Daniel Laverde, Tate played both albums in sequence — the way they were originally meant to be heard 35 and 31 years ago, respectively, and the way albums are supposed to be performed. He didn’t play them in reverse order (talking to you, Metallica, with the black album) or open with the second song on the record so that the opening track could be played last (that means you, Sebastian Bach, with Slave to the Grind).
Tate has performed several of these songs in the past in San Antonio with Queensryche but never as part of the album all the way through. In 2005, on the night the Spurs were celebrating their third NBA championship with a River Walk parade, Queensryche opened for Judas Priest at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in support of 2003’s Tribe but comprised roughly half of its set with Rage For Order songs. In 2009 during the American Soldier tour at Sunken Gardens Theater, Queensryche broke its headlining set into three parts: Rage, the new album, and Empire tracks.
And on Thanksgiving Eve 2012 in the parking lot at Backstage Live, Tate made a solo stop that saw him play several Queensryche deep cuts. Some of them, such as “Until There Was You” — a reissue bonus track from 1999’s Q2K — were so deep, many fans walked out of the show thinking Tate was solely concentrating on his solo career and abandoning his Queensryche past. In fact, it was during a Rage For Order track, “The Killing Words,” that fans were still exiting, causing Tate to address the departing as “pussies” for not recognizing a song not only as a Queensryche offering but a tune that came from one of its popular albums.
But Tate’s undertaking for this tour and show made this visit a little extra special. Check out ATM footage below of “Screaming In Digital” and the rarely played soothing ballad and Rage closer “I Will Remember” as well as Empire closer “Anybody Listening?”
The day after this latest show, Tate revealed on social media that Laverde nearly didn’t make it to San Antonio in time: “Yesterday, our drummer, Danny, had a delayed flight and none of the band or crew knew if he would make it to the show. After several flight changes and a lot of stress, he walked in minutes to show time. He had changed into stage clothes on the plane. Queensryche music is hard on drummers, and we couldn’t substitute just anyone. Danny is one of the best drummers I’ve had the pleasure of playing with. Never have I been so happy to see this young man than before last night’s show. Here’s to Danny and my entire band and crew for handling a very stressful situation and putting on such a fantastic show.” That may have explained why Laverde played a kit resembling an electronic ensemble an aspiring drummer would receive under the Christmas tree. But he made it work through two albums and the encores — not an easy feat under normal circumstances.
Ah yes, the encores. Tate threw a curve ball (surprising unless you like to examine the set list prior to the show, which means you probably like to know what your Christmas gifts are before opening them or how a movie ends prior to buttering your popcorn). He pulled out of his archives the 1990 “Adventures of Ford Fairlane” track “Last Time In Paris” before providing a dose of 1984 full-length debut The Warning with “Take Hold of the Flame” (see ATM footage of both below). The finale was the only track Tate sang at a slightly lower octave than he did on vinyl 37 years ago, and he omitted the introductory part many would argue is the whole purpose of performing the song at all which is punctuated by his patented “Nahhhhhhhh!”
Tate’s selection of “Take Hold of the Flame” was all the more curious given seven years earlier during our interview at the Aztec, he mocked fans who harken for such songs, saying “The past is over” and that he had moved on as an artist and didn’t find himself in a headspace wanting to play those classics anymore (watch here). Last Friday night, Tate sang a different tune, literally and figuratively, telling the audience one of the reasons he pulled out Rage For Order and Empire for this tour was “because I wanted to.”
While the unveiling of both albums played live should not have been unexpected by anyone sporting a ticket, one surprise was the inclusion of opening act Kurt Deimer. Even the Aztec Theatre’s website and event page on Facebook the day of the concert listed Till Death Do Us Part, the band fronted by Tate’s daughter Emily that also includes her boyfriend on guitar, the aforementioned Robertson. Emily played the role of Suite Sister Mary during her father’s previous visit to the Aztec and her band opened that show, so Deimer’s participation this time was something fresh and new.
Deimer didn’t exactly have an easy task warming things up for a crowd hungry for Queensryche classics, let alone given that many didn’t know who he was or that he’d be on the bill. But if the vocalist and his band were nervous about that, they didn’t show it. Deimer also won some fans over by thanking first responders and military members in the crowd as his way of concluding “Big Toe” and introducing “Whatcha Sayin’ '“ (ATM footage of both below).
While the Aztec is one of the few San Antonio venues requiring proof of Covid-19 vaccination or a negative test within 72 hours of the event, the fact it is able to resume hosting live acts such as Tate and Deimer was another sign of life returning to normal even if society is not 100 percent there yet.
So, the balcony was closed for the first time involving a Tate show at the Aztec, and yes, Accept was playing at Shrine Auditorium. But whether it would’ve been the performance of new songs or, in this case, a 31- and 35-year trip down Memory Lane — even the ability to hear Tate’s vocals on the Avantasia song “Seduction of Decay” via the Aztec’s loudspeakers between acts — the sheer opportunity to enjoy live music again with your buddies or significant other, with or without $15 beers in hand, was a victory in and of itself.
Now that Tate seemingly has exhausted the performance of Queensryche’s three most well-known albums, it will be more than interesting to see what he has up his sleeve for his next visit. Some of us can hardly wait.
Bring it on.
