QUEENSRŸCHE: Tour Kick-Off Reviewed

Bill White of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reviewed the opening-night performance of QUEENSRŸCHE's fall 2004/winter 2005 tour, which took place on Tuesday (Oct. 5) at the Moore Theatre in Seattle.

"In 1988, 'Operation: Mindcrime' was a wake-up call to a narcoleptic society on the edge of a totalitarian abyss," he wrote. "QUEENSRŸCHE's concept album had its first live performance since the early 1990s Tuesday night at the Moore Theatre.

"It would be a stretch to call it a fully staged production, but Geoff Tate and his band were fully committed. More an oratorio than a rock opera, the narrative had elements of 'The Wall' and 'Quadrophenia', as well as thematic borrowings from the films 'The Parallax View' and 'The Manchurian Candidate'.

"The band, including founding members Michael Wilton (guitar),Eddie Jackson (bass),and Scott Rockenfield (drums),was augmented by Mike Stone (guitar) and Igor Delassandra (keyboards),who also conducted a small string section on selected tunes. Local singer Pamela Moore sang the part of Sister Mary, and actor Christian Sorenson played Nikki, the heroin-addled angel of death controlled by subliminal telephone messages.

"Sorenson's contribution was superfluous, as Tate proved fully capable of playing the part himself. One of rock's great frontmen, Tate knows his way around a stage as well as any actor, and is acutely aware of how he comes across to the audience. At one point, Sorenson crossed the stage with a bouquet of flowers, looking like a stand-in for Adam Sandler, while Tate spread himself across a chair, completely wiped out, looking like the real Nikki." Read more.