Review: Well, At Least The QUEENSRŸCHE Encore Was Entertaining

Jonathan Foerster of the Naples Daily News reviewed QUEENSRŸCHE's August 27, 2006 headlining appearance at the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall in Ft. Myers, Florida. An excerpt from his review follows:

Concerts are supposed to be spectacles on some level.

Whether it's the visceral thrill of bass-heavy acoustics or the razzle-dazzle of back-up dancers, the whole point is to give the audience something they can't get listening to the album at home.

In that respect, what QUEENSRŸCHE attempted Sunday night at the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall was admirable. With actors, props and videos, the band did its best to make the show much more than just plugging headphones into an iPod.

But somewhere in between the idea of playing both "Operation: Mindcrime" and "Operation: Mindcrime II" as one big rock opera and the actual execution, something got lost.

In attempting too much spectacle, the concert actually took away from the music.

After the first few songs, the performance felt less like a concert and more like a really confusing play.

Part of the problem was that the story is confusing. It follows the path of Nikki, a junkie hitman controlled by a revolutionary/psychologist Dr. X.

The first act finds Nikki meeting a fellow junkie and nun, Sister Mary, falling in love with her and eventually being sentenced to prison for her murder, which he didn't commit. In Act Two, Nikki tracks down Dr. X, kills him and then grapples with thoughts of suicide.

But unless you had a pretty good idea of what was going on before the show started, there's no way you would have had a clue what was happening. The actors, who played out their roles in the band's midst, did little other than alternate between wild gesticulation and attempts at looks of desperation.

Read the entire review at Naples Daily News.