REVIEW
Queensryche's Political Message, Like Its Orlando Performance, Falls Flat
By Douglas Maher
LAKE BUENA VISTA
The 1980s rock band Queensryche made its way through Florida last week with a stop at the House of Blues in Downtown Disney.
Queensryche, responsible for such hit albums as 1988's multimillion seller "Operation: Mindcrime" and 1991's multi-platinum selling "Empire," spent part of the concert offering political advice to the crowd.
Unlike the recent Rock for Change tour that's been playing hockey arenas throughout the fall with such acts as Bruce Springsteen, REM, John Mellancamp, The Dave Matthews Band, and others, Queensryche did an evening of political rock on their own.
Queensryche has managed to sell more than 10 million albums globally since the early 1980s, but it was easy to see how the band has managed to go from playing sold out arenas in the 1990s to grabbing barely 2,000 people on a recent Sunday in Downtown Disney.
To be blunt: Queensryche has become stale.
Not to be fooled by any means, Queensryche still contains scraps of talent, especially when speaking about lead vocalist Geoff Tate's abilities. He is possibly one of the greatest voices in rock music today.
The band is injured, though, by the spot that's been vacated by founding guitarist Chris DeGarmo, who is no longer playing for smaller crowds.
The problem with Queensryche is they think they are more important and relevant than they really are. When the band took the stage for part one of the Evening With Queensryche show, the band played a short set of 10 songs that spanned from the hit single "Jet City Woman" and "Another Rainy Night Without You" to the political "Empire" and dreamy bedtime story, "Silent Lucidity," which grabbed a Grammy nod back in the early 1990s.
Unlike bands from the same era -- like the Canadian rock band Rush, who play well over 31/2 hours per show -- Queensryche managed to muster up a mere 50 minutes of music before taking an intermission. It was bad enough that you had to stand for an extra hour for the doors to open, and then another hour for the show to start; now Queensryche were taking an intermission after barely an hour on stage.
The stage was changed into what one could only call a community theater prop set, and then the familiar sounds of "Operation: Mindcrime" came across the PA and video screen.
Queensryche decided to bring out actors to portray the story of a drug addicted, paranoid man named Nicky, who was put under some form of mind control from the U.S. government, which hired Nicky to kill local religious leaders and a nun named Mary.
All of this was sandwiched between nonstop video images of President Bush in a less than flattering light. The most stunning moment was when Queensryche played the track "Revolution Calling," a song about making a rally cry for Americans to take over their government in a revolution, while Nicky paced the stage with a mock handgun.
The show came to a merciful ending and then the band offered a premiere of "Operation: Mindcrime Part 2 -- Coming Soon in 2005," with a video and audio track of the first single to come from it, "Hostage."
It appeared to me that Queensryche has run out of ideas and needs to return to what put them on the map to begin with; but that simply wasn't going to happen at this concert. It seems to me that Queensryche's best days are behind them, and now they've returned to concept albums.
If the band was being overtly political, so were many in the crowd, who had a decidedly mixed reaction to the band's decision to combine rock with politics. There were Independent voters, Democrats and Republicans in attendance, not to mention many from out of town, such as Steve Maggi, a resident of Argentina who said, "I flew in to see these shows, and meet up with a friend from Indiana. I have been a fan for decades of Queensryche. They have their core following, and I honestly feel they hit both political parties fairly in their live show."
Maggi's friend, Andy Manchir of Indiana, disagreed.
"Seeing a rock show is not going to decide my vote for president," he said. "Queensryche has always been political, but it is probably getting a bit more attention right now because of everything going on with the election. I'm not offended."
Hector Delgado came in from Kissimmee to see the show and afterwards said, "These guys are just blind. I can't believe this is the same band that I used to listen to for hours in high school. I used to be inspired by them. Now I'm embarrassed, not just by the smaller venue, but that the message they are trying to use is just pure hatred. Then they have the audacity to throw a peace sign in the air at the end of the show. Get real."
Not everyone was so critical. Steve Stack of Kissimmee found it to be "a really amazing show. No band out there today has the guts to perform what just went on inside. As far as the politics go, I am a Republican and I am here with Republicans and Democrats. I was not offended by what I saw, but then again, I am not swayed by what Hollywood and the music industry tells me as far as politics goes."
Stack added: "My advice for people is to become informed before you vote and study the issues. Being partisan is being blind."
That's a lesson Queensryche obviously has not learned in nearly 25 years.
House of Blues Orlando is at 1490 E. Buena Vista Dr. at Downtown Disney. The box office number is 407-934-BLUE.
Upcoming concerts include Switchfoot with The Format today, Deep Dish with special guests on Friday, the MTV2 Headbangers Ball on Nov. 12, Jonny Lang on Nov. 13 and Bouncing Souls on Nov. 14.
House of Blues is also known for its popular Sunday Gospel Brunch, featuring inspiring gospel performances and a buffet to feed the body and the soul.
Douglas Maher is a feature writer. He can be reached at The Reporter office at 863-421-5577.
Unfortunately, they are way off base if they think corporations run the world. Sure, the global economy is a if not the major influence on society, but there are so many handcuffs put on capitalism from environmentalists to special interest groups that I find it hard to believe they are handicapping themselves (if we are to believe that "the rich control the government the media the law...")
If anything, it is as you suggest, the left controls the government, the media, the law... since, by it's nature, government is a construct of the left. The media is absolutely controlled by liberals and activist judges threaten freedom and the Constitution on a daily basis.
That's what I've always thought too, to my ear Nicky was duped by drug dealers using a fellow traveler message to get people that were being effective in keeping people off drugs and competing drug dealers out of the way. Then he figures out he's been duped and they turn him in to the cops. Great music though. Real shame how the mighty Ryche has fallen, although maybe they just over achieved for a while, their pre-Mindcrime albums had issues.