Geoff Tate's "Operation: Mindcrime" (not Queensryche)

[wolfking]

Nice enough listen, but completely flat when it comes to being original, creative, or interesting vis-a-vis the songwriting.

You sound surprised.  You did notice the record label it's on right? 

[jingle.boy]

Nice enough listen, but completely flat when it comes to being original, creative, or interesting vis-a-vis the songwriting.

You sound surprised.  You did notice the record label it's on right? 

Word.  I wasn't surprised at all, since those were the comments coming out of the Frontiers thread.

[Samsara]

Concert went longer than expected... Eyes of a Stranger...

Good show, shook the entire bands hand as the left the stage include Tate who totally gave me a stare down that I hope to find on video tomorrow, but I had no idea Felix from Avantasia/EdGuy was on drums. So cool!

Hmm. Musically, except for the drummer getting lost about 45 seconds before the solo, it was better than when I saw this show a year ago. Tate sounded a bit off. I do miss the way he sang some of the lines in his prime. The whole "no happy ending like they've always promised" line is always a bummer. It's a fun line to sing, and while it requires some flexibility vocally, its not "hard" if you're a singer.

Overall, looked like the crowd had a really nice time. And glad you had a good time cram!

[cramx3]

Concert went longer than expected... Eyes of a Stranger...

Good show, shook the entire bands hand as the left the stage include Tate who totally gave me a stare down that I hope to find on video tomorrow, but I had no idea Felix from Avantasia/EdGuy was on drums. So cool!

Hmm. Musically, except for the drummer getting lost about 45 seconds before the solo, it was better than when I saw this show a year ago. Tate sounded a bit off. I do miss the way he sang some of the lines in his prime. The whole "no happy ending like they've always promised" line is always a bummer. It's a fun line to sing, and while it requires some flexibility vocally, its not "hard" if you're a singer.

Overall, looked like the crowd had a really nice time. And glad you had a good time cram!

Did they have a woman come out for Suite Sister Mary?  I got there in time to see the band before them, Till Death Do Us Part which weren't my thing overall but they had a female singer and she came out to do the singing for that song which was really cool. 

I'll have a full video late tonight when I work on it after work, but I thought Geoff mostly sounded good although sometimes it was like a slur with his singing and you couldn't totally make out the words, but that was fine.  The band wasn't 100% spot on as you noticed, but mostly sounded fine and definitely "good enough" to not be an issue.  The crowd wasn't bad, similar turn out as Skid Row I'd say.  Mostly all older couples, some smokin hot babes specifically two older foreign ladies in really nice dresses that were clearly looking for an older dude which as kind of funny as I watched her hit on a guy who's girl was laughing watching her    I think shaking Tate's hand after he was leaving the stage was the highlight of the night for me.  I was yelling at him good right before he got on stage too (you can see it in my video when it's done, i did go back and watch that clip already) and by yelling good I mean like encouragement and excitement yelling, not heckling.  And I was totally surprised to see Felix on drums.  I felt like it was an Avantasia reunion between Felix Geoff and myself from Worcester last month 

[Samsara]

The woman who sings the part of Suite Sister Mary now is the singer for Til Death Do Us Part -- Tate's daughter, Emily.

It was actually really weird to watch that, given the relationship of Nikki and Mary in the storyline. LOL. Here's a review I wrote from the show last year I saw, along with some videos I shot:

http://www.anybodylistening.net/gt-8-15-18-omc.html

How did they sound on the Empire material? That's key for me, for next year's tour.

[cramx3]

The woman who sings the part of Suite Sister Mary now is the singer for Til Death Do Us Part -- Tate's daughter, Emily.

Oh shit, had no idea that was his daughter  yea that is kind of odd and yet cool too.  She was in the merch booth selling merch for Geoff after the show and thought it was odd for the singer of the opener to be selling merch for the closer, but figured she was just trying to get exposure but now maybe it was family obligation

Just read your review too, I guess that seems spot on although I wouldn't be as harsh on the backing band but maybe they've improved a bit since then or I could just be more lenient with it as not being a hardcore fan.  Also, are those your youtube videos?

[Samsara]

The woman who sings the part of Suite Sister Mary now is the singer for Til Death Do Us Part -- Tate's daughter, Emily.

Oh shit, had no idea that was his daughter  yea that is kind of odd and yet cool too.  She was in the merch booth selling merch for Geoff after the show and thought it was odd for the singer of the opener to be selling merch for the closer, but figured she was just trying to get exposure but now maybe it was family obligation

Just read your review too, I guess that seems spot on although I wouldn't be as harsh on the backing band but maybe they've improved a bit since then or I could just be more lenient with it as not being a hardcore fan.  Also, are those your youtube videos?

Based on your video of Eyes of a Stranger, the band has improved, and I'm not sure its the same drummer. Tate seems (again, based on your video) like he was a tick better at my show last year. Whenever I do a review, I always attempt to provide some level of criticism to balance things out. I was a journalist for the better part of 20 years, that's just how I write.

Yes, those are my vids. Not the greatest. I purposefully sat back in the venue (it was a 250-capacity small theater).

[cramx3]

That's cool, it seemed like you were a little less harsh here than that review but that wasn't meant to be a criticism on you or anything just my interpretation.  Also I subscribed, that's why I asked.

[Samsara]

That's cool, it seemed like you were a little less harsh here than that review but that wasn't meant to be a criticism on you or anything just my interpretation.  Also I subscribed, that's why I asked.

Thanks for subscribing! I try to take a few at each show I attend. I didn't at Dream Theater or at The Tea Party, but I do my best at most shows. Yeah, I did that review the night of the show, or the morning after. Admittedly, I went to that show after the previous year of seeing him acoustic, where his voice sounded super strong. And if I remember my timeline right, he had played that summer (summer 2018) a show in Brazil where his voice sounded absolutely incredible. I mean, to the point where he was as good or better than he sounded on the 2005 tour when Queensryche was opening for Judas Priest and played a ton of the old songs). So seeing him not near that level, and his band not being that strong was a bit of a letdown, and that's what came out in the review. I mean, to be fair, I did report how good Tate sounded the first half of the performance. But it went downhill after that, and like I said, his band appeared to play much tighter and better for you in comparison to what I saw.

I guess for me, if you are going to play Operation: Mindcrime from front to back, there's a certain amount of expectation that it will be performed exceptionally well. Its's a legendary record, and personally, my favorite album of all time. Given the history of how Queensryche played it flawlessly when recording LIVEcrime (absent a broken string and Tate flubbing a line of lyrics at one of the show), the expectation playing Mindcrime will always be there. And in my review, I sorta said that - its a no-win situation for Tate and his band playing something like that. And when the performance of the album is just "OK," it is a bit of bummer. I give more latitude when its a regular show, or something like that acoustic show (which was really enjoyable).

Tate is playing by me in October. Not the same venue. He's playing a very, very tiny night club. It says capacity of 250, but I think its more like 150 at most. On the fence about going. I saw this Mindcrime 30th tour. I think I may skip it and wait for the Empire 30th next year.

[cramx3]

Yup, you've got a whole different set of expectations than me just based on our different fandoms here which is cool. 

[Samsara]

Yup, you've got a whole different set of expectations than me just based on our different fandoms here which is cool.

Totally. And I am really glad you enjoyed yourself. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed myself too, and reading back on that review, I can see how it could be viewed negatively. But it wasn't. But those expectations I have sometimes make it difficult. I had way more fun going to the Tate acoustic show. Seeing some of those rarities performed again with that voice was really, really cool. Hoping on Tate's Empire 30th tour, he works in an encore of non-Mindcrime QR songs.

[Samsara]

Talking Metal does a short video review of the show from last night...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOkeYzL7TPI

[cramx3]

Talking Metal does a short video review of the show from last night...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOkeYzL7TPI

Watching it now, I guess this guy might be local never heard of this channel before.  I should keep my eye out for him at shows, I've been actually trying to be more keen on that too.  See who else from the youtube world is going to the same shows and is my "competition" in a way if you want to call it that (this guy is not competition since hes doing reviews) but I even met a few people last night who were photographers and they were trying to influence me onto their work.  I should be pushing them onto my videos or talk about collaborations!

[Samsara]

Cram, sorry bud. I know you said that video wasn't really your "competition," but I didn't realize you were actively trying to recruit people to your channel at shows, or more than just a fun hobby. So if I rained on your parade a little bit re-posting that clip, my bad. I was just trying to support your feelings on the show, since this guy basically agreed with your assessment.

[cramx3]

Cram, sorry bud. I know you said that video wasn't really your "competition," but I didn't realize you were actively trying to recruit people to your channel at shows, or more than just a fun hobby. So if I rained on your parade a little bit re-posting that clip, my bad. I was just trying to support your feelings on the show, since this guy basically agreed with your assessment.

Wait what? I'm not sure what you are apologizing for.  That was a cool share, I like knowing about who else is doing similar stuff to me, especially locally and it was totally related to what we are discussing.  I was mostly joking about calling anyone "competition" which is why I qouted it because I just don't know what to call other people doing the same thing. I don't really recruit people at shows, but I've been telling myself I should.  If anything, I will try to get someone to be my friend on instagram though which is more personal and then I don't feel like I am a sales person for my channel, from instagram you can easily get to my channel if you were to want to.  It just hit me a bit because literally two people were showing me all their photos last night and I should have done the same to them.  I did become friends with one on instagram, I just don't want to always be like "hey look at me" especially if I am just casually talking to someone I don't know.

[Samsara]

No worries. I got confused. Happens when you get old. TAC knows all about it. Ask him. 

[cramx3]

I actually subscribed to the guy, if he's local doing concert reviews to ones I go to, that's pretty cool to me and honestly someone I'd like to interact with.

There was a youtube channel, JimPowers, and this guy went to like every show locally and recorded all of the show and always had amazing video/sound.  It made me very jealous of course, but I understood there was no way to do this better than him.  He must have been retired and/or has a huge chunk of money (it always made me wonder if it was Jim Powers the former wrestler which would make him retired and potentially have some money).  Anyway, I knew of him for awhile because his videos would always out perform mine.  One day I got a notification he subscribed to me.  He had like 60k subscribers  I was like, that's really cool of him to hit me back so I subscribed and said to myself "if you can't beat em, join em" but moreso, all of us youtubers are in this together.  It's better to have friendly competition if there is competition at all and support each other.  The channel disappeared though.  I wonder if he got a copyright issue or if he just said fuck it, but I definitely was always looking for him at concerts (I have no idea what he looks like, but would look for anyone filming the entire show).

[Lethean]

Talking Metal does a short video review of the show from last night...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOkeYzL7TPI

I think his comments around the 1:50 mark pretty much sum up how a lot of people will see these shows - he didn't think the drums were quite there at the beginning, but once Geoff started singing he really didn't care about anything else.  This could be why that one guitar player (Scott, you said his name was) can be so unfaithful to the original material.   This isn't a not at all on anyone who thought the band or guitar players sounded fine.  I'm often that person myself - I've read people making comments about JP being a little sloppy and I certainly didn't notice and thought he was awesome.  If someone isn't playing a QR solo note for note but they're pretty close... I probably won't notice much in that case either.  But this guy just didn't seem to be on the same page to me, and I'm generally not a critical person at shows.

[cramx3]

I looked up the members of the band on wikipedia and it doesn't even list Felix as playing drums so I'm guessing he only started recently so maybe that explains why the drumming isn't quite there.

But I think you are right, people are going for the voice and if the voice is there (which it was) then the rest doesn't need to be perfect for most of the crowd.  I didn't see or hear any complaints last night.

[devieira73]

About the writing credits on the album, if you are interested, they are avaible song by song on Spotify.
I think it’s a good album, but I agree that it lacks the wow factor in some songs at least. I mean, there’s none of it in the entire album. By comparision, QR’s The Verdict is much better IMO.
Edit: Geoff Tate only wrote, with Mulanori, true colors and behind your eyes. The majority of the songs are by Mulanori/Filippo Martigano. It doesn't separate who wrote lyrics or the music.

[wolfking]

About the writing credits on the album, if you are interested, they are avaible song by song on Spotify.
I think it’s a good album, but I agree that it lacks the wow factor in some songs at least. I mean, there’s none of it in the entire album. By comparision, QR’s The Verdict is much better IMO.
Edit: Geoff Tate only wrote, with Mulanori, true colors and behind your eyes. The majority of the songs are by Mulanori/Filippo Martigano. It doesn't separate who wrote lyrics or the music.

Thanks for the info re the credits mate.

[devieira73]

 

[cramx3]

My full video from the Geoff Tate Operation Mindcrime show if anyone is interested, my favorite parts are at 4:00 for when Geoff goes on stage and 32:00 for when the band goes off stage 

[Samsara]

About the writing credits on the album, if you are interested, they are avaible song by song on Spotify.
I think it’s a good album, but I agree that it lacks the wow factor in some songs at least. I mean, there’s none of it in the entire album. By comparision, QR’s The Verdict is much better IMO.
Edit: Geoff Tate only wrote, with Mulanori, true colors and behind your eyes. The majority of the songs are by Mulanori/Filippo Martigano. It doesn't separate who wrote lyrics or the music.

Thank you for that. I don't use Spotify, so I would have never have known.

Who is Filippo Martigano?

[bl5150]

Who is Filippo Martigano?

I think you'll find it's Filippo Martignano  - played keys on the Lione/Conti album from 2018.

[devieira73]

Yes, that’s him. I spelled wrong. Complete writing credits:

True colors - Tate/Mulanori
Sweet oblivion /A recess from my fate - Luigi Sanese/Mulanori
Behind your eyes - Davide Mora/Tate/Mulanori
Hide away/ My last story/The deceiver/Seek the light - Martignano/Sanese/Mulanori
Transition/Disconnect- Martignano/Mulanori

[Lethean]

Isn't it also Mularoni, not Mulanori?

[devieira73]

Edited 

[devieira73]

 

[Samsara]

Cram, watched the majority of your video. Your energy is infectious! ha ha. Awesome!

Tate sounded pretty good. Better overall for you in comparison to the show I saw last year. Although that note going into the solo of The Needle Lies was crazy high and good at my gig, and he couldn't quite get there at yours. LOL. I hate it when that happens. As a singer, when you go for something, and you fall off key or crack...it is so embarrassing. 

Anyway, Tate sounded pretty damn good overall. I was not at all impressed with the drummer. He may need some more time to get dialed in. He was pretty off, although, to be fair, he is trying to replicate Rockenfield. That's a tall order on Mindcrime in particular. The guitars were much better at your show as well.

Generally, I liked what I heard. Looking forward to Empire 2020. I am still on the fence about seeing him in October. Its the same show I saw in 2018, so I don't really need to see it again. But nice to see Tate's voice is getting stronger.

[cramx3]

Cram, watched the majority of your video. Your energy is infectious! ha ha. Awesome!

Thanks for watching again, and yea you either love my energy or you hate it.  I get a lot of negative comments about it, but that's part of my channel.  You get my reactions and stupidity.  I'm fairly mad at myself though, I was halfway there and realized I didn't even bring my dedicated camera  so I feel like I could have had better quality video/sound but my phone (galaxy s9) works well enough. 

[RodrigoAltaf]

I interviewed Geoff Tate TODAY about Sweet Oblivion and other topics, and it's already published. Check it out!!!

https://www.sonicperspectives.com/interviews/interview-with-geoff-tate/?fbclid=IwAR2Ys4TLzfuH2DAlUnYnfuAjX312PwTJOfMEtt2B5DycQnyI_4nT60L3Akg

[TAC]

@ Cram..your video came up on my feed so I watched a lot of it. You crack me up, bro.



Tate played 2 nights here in New Bedford. I contemplated going. I think if I was single and shit, yeah, I might go, but I can't help feeling how pathetic this is. I'm not anti Tate in anyway. I am happy he is rebuilding his image.

It would be one thing playing material and incorporating some QR songs, but this whole "playing an album in full" is out of whack to me.

It's been this phenomenon over the last number of years, and I always find it weak. If that's how they (not specifically talking about Tate here but more of a general point) have to make money, I can't behoove them of that. But as a fan (again, not directed at Tate, specifically) I find the whole thing lame.

[Samsara]

Just when you start enjoying the music, then you get Tate telling interviewers (again) that he "IS" Queensryche, and referring to Wilton as a rhythm guitar player. Unreal.

https://allthatshreds.com/geoff-tate-i-am-queensryche/

 

Is there a "SIGH" emoji too?

[Mebert78]

I went to Geoff's concert two night ago on Long Island, NY.  It was the first time I'd seen him perform since his solo tour for Kings and Thieves album, because I decided I needed a Tate break after that due to all the QR drama.  I must say, I enjoyed the show.  Now that a number of years have passed, I think I was able to view it for what it was: a nostalgia act.  It was QR's former vocalist celebrating Mindcrime's 30th anniversary with some unknown musicians backing him up, and I was okay with that.  During the show, I realized I will always love QR's classic albums and if I'm going to see someone perform them I'd rather see Geoff perform them than the current QR (which only has Wilton and Jackson left as original members; Wilton and Jackson were probably the two QR members I felt least connected to as a fan through the years).  I think Tate can really ride the nostalgia train for years to come and do well.  Next is Empire's 30th anniversary.  Then Promised Land's 30th anniversary.  Then Rage for Order's 40th anniversary.  Then back to Mindcrime for a 40th anniversary tour.  Meanwhile, the real QR can continue to pump out new material and play festivals and do what they're doing.  The only thing that felt weird was that Tate's backing band were the same musicians from his daughter's opening band, which comes across as a blatant way to save money, but they performed well enough so I didn't mind in the long run.  I was also happy to see Tate wasn't clutching a glass of wine on stage, like he was the last time I'd see him.  He delivered a solid performance.  I left feeling like both Geoff and QR have found their grooves now.