Queensryche At Rocklahoma Shows Band Tensions
Tuesday, June 5, 2012 at 12:01AM By now, you've probably seen the news reports online about Queensryche front man Geoff Tate telling the Rocklahoma crowd that they "suck."
I watched the Queensryche set live, as it happened, on HDNet. I wasn't watching for the music. Instead, I was watching for band interaction. Geoff's comments to the crowd were uncool... but even more uncool was just the dead emotion between band members. There just wasn't any excitement from the stage for the Rocklahoma crowd at all. Geoff is working on a solo album... and the rest of Queensryche recruited singer Todd La Torre to become Rising West. Does this all mean Queensryche is over? I doubt it. The band still has dates booked during the summer... and I don't think they will ever really break up. Still, the tensions are obviously clear and the band members definitely need a break from the Queensryche machine. And who wouldn't need a vacation? We all deserve a break from our day jobs, right? So I say, let Geoff do his solo thing! And good luck to the others in Rising West. I'd be interested in seeing them live.
Here's the full Rocklahoma performance.
Reader Comments (14)
"My God! This is Rocklahoma, huh?!" he can be heard saying. "I think we played here two years ago. I think it, maybe, was a different crowd. You guys suck. I'm serious. C'mon! I know it's Sunday. You've gotta go to work tomorrow. You're gonna let that stop ya? My God! You only live once, man. This is all there is. There ain't nothing else. This is your chance. This is it. This is all there is. It doesn't get any better than this. That's right. Anyway, nice to be here on a Sunday. [chuckles]"
I don't know closing Sunday bands after a weekend of debauchery is always a tough sell unless you are a big name. I like Queensyrche, but they aren't quite the top billing of festival's last night.
p.s. Except for one song -- "Queen Of The Reich"! What the hell happened to 'em after that? Oh, I remember -- They decided to take themselves too seriously! Look, this guy's always had a problem with worryin' about his profile a little too much. Now he's losing it...well, um...because he's losing it! Sayonara, A*shole! Say "Hi" to Neil Peart, another no talent, on the way down!
In between workin' over the semi-retired strippers and bantering with some of the crazy alcohol fueled Rock'n'Rollers packed up on the deck awaiting to trounce the VIP entrance for RATT, the only real reason for coming to M3 2012 (plus Lynch Mob, Kix, Stryper, Loudness, XYZ and L.A. Guns), I would catch glimpses of Tate's Q-Ball head (which is kinda cool, actually) floating about the stage. Listening to his plaintiff wails, I realized they sounded more like pleading with the audience, rather than singing. Cheerio, Jeffy-Weffy. Bon Voyagee!
Lifeson should have gone out on his own and formed a new band, LIFESON, in chrome lettering. Now THAT GUY has TALENT!
However, if you are booked at a festival, you could play a set that reflects the fact that almost nobody bought a ticket to see your band play. You can play whatever "hits" you have, you did an entire cover album - you can play something off that, and work in the deep cuts that the diehards love. You don't play 8 songs, 7 of which nobody could possibly have ever heard of, tell the crowd they suck, implore them to get up and move around - and then play Silent Lucidity.
This is all sad to me, they were once my absolute favorite band, for many many years.