This gig was one that I had been looking forward to a lot. The split between the band and singer Geoff Tate has been well documented and there’s not need to bring all that up again. But the fact that Tate was an essential member of the band and therefore not easily replaced made this gig interesting, no matter what you think of this version of the group. Just like other singers such as Rob Halford, David Lee Roth and Bruce Dickinson, Geoff Tate has always been one charismatic frontman which has made the lead singer / frontman position in Queensrÿche pretty big shoes to fill. Neither Ripper Owens or Blaze Bailey were accepted by the Maiden and Priest fans, so I was really curious to see how new guy Todd LaTorre (ex Crimson Glory) would manage to front a band like Queensrÿche. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves now. Opening act Civil War has a great album out in The Killer Angels and they played a great gig this summer at Väsby Festival, but this was the first time I would catch them live indoors. They were really good this evening as well, although the usually flawless lead singer Nils Patrik Johansson had some problems with the higher notes in some songs. Still, songs like “Brother Judas”, “Rome Is Falling” and “I Will Rule The Universe” went down very well. However, it was a pity to see that the crowd was very small and there couldn’t have been more than something like 50 people there. That also made me a bit worried – would this turn out to be a fiasco for the new Queensrÿche line up?
Well, to be honest, there wasn’t a whole lot of people present at this gig and I think it’s really strange that this band didn’t draw more than the 300 something people present. Sure, Queensrÿche were never a huge act in Sweden and they’re hardly the flavour of the month, but I had expected at least a few hundred more. If Geoff Tate takes his version of the band to Stockholm, things could turn out really embarrassing for him! This version of Queensrÿche is way more popular here than Tate’s – in fact, I haven’t heard or read that anyone prefers Tate’s band to this, but for those of us who did attend this concert, there was a real buzz going on before the gig started and the cheering when the lights went down and the band appeared sounded more like an arena gig than this small club. They opened up with a bang with “Queen Of The Reich” and Todd sounded real weak the first half of the song which left me a bit confused. However after the solo, Todd was back to normal and the rest of the song totally killed. “Queen Of The Reich” went straight into “Speak” from Operation: Mindcrime and the band played a great version of the song, so tight and Todd sounded so much like Tate at times it was scary. They had the audience by the end of that song. I can’t remember the last time I heard the awesome “Walk In The Shadows” from Rage For Order and the hairs on my arms were standing up when the band totally nailed it and when they went into “The Whisper” from said album I was in heaven. Another album that has been more or less neglected when Tate fronted the band is The Warning. Now, that is a crying shame, because it’s a brilliant album, so the band showed us that they too love this album by playing no less than three The Warning songs in a row, “Enforce”, “Child Of Fire” and “Warning”. Talk about giving their fans what they want. After that it was time to introduce us to the latest self titled album. In my book, this album is the best that Queensrÿche has released since 1994’s Promised Land, but I was really curious to see how the new songs would stand up to the classic songs. “Where Dreams Go To Die” is the first one out and it was big surprise to see how many fans knew the words to this tune. The song is a killer and the band performed it brilliantly and it stood up surprisingly well to the classics played before it. Same thing with the next new tune “A World Without”. The smile of relief on LaTorre’s face when “his” songs went down so well really spoke volumes.
“The Needle Lies” was a jawbreaker, “Roads To Madness” is an epic 9 minute tune, but worked so well and never got boring for a second and “NM 156”, one of my all time Queensrÿche songs has made a very welcome return to the set. I had goosebumps. “Fallout” from the new album fitted very well in the company of oldies and when “Eyes Of A Stranger” broke loose the band went for a knock out which was completed by “Empire”, which ended the show. Of course, no gig is complete without an encore and “Jet City Woman” and “Take Hold Of The Flame” ended an already magnificent show. On the minus account, we have the low audience attendance and I guess it can be explained with the fact that Geoff Tate was such an important part of the band and I think a lot of people were suspicious about them using another singer. Also, the last couple of times that Queensrÿche have played Sweden Rock, many, many fans were disappointed by the band’s performances and I can only agree with that. The latest Tate fronted records and gigs have destroyed a lot of the band’s once so great reputation. The band really has to start over again and they are now out there showing people that they are still relevant and it might take a couple of tours with low attendance before word by mouth has started to create a stir. But if the band continue to play killer gigs like this, I have no doubt that they will start to gain a bigger crowd once again because this is not the same tired, lifeless bunch of old men that I saw on Sweden Rock a few years ago. No, this is a powerful and tight unit and it really feels like they are having fun again, even tough bassist Eddie Jackson looks like a metal Bill Wyman, standing still and looking bored a little too often. Guitarist Parker Lundgren, who replaced Mike Stone who replaced the dreadful Kelly Gray is getting warm in his role as well. But he looks kind of misplaced with his nu-metal image. Short black hair, bandana and tattooed sleeves on his arms makes me think of Avenged Sevenfold rather than Queensrÿche.
So, wasn’t Tate missed at all, then? Well, to tell the truth both yes and no. I grew up with this band and I have seen them numerous of times in their heyday and Tate was always such a vital part of this band. He was very theatrical in his presence, he had the big, fantastic voice and huge presence so yes, I did somewhat miss him. Still, Tate today doesn’t have that voice anymore, his stage presence isn’t even close what it used to be and the times I have seen him, he just doesn’t deliver the goods anymore. Todd on the other hand, has the voice, not a far cry from the way Tate used to sound, he’s hungry, loves the classic songs and has grown to be a great frontman. What I’m saying is, I do miss the Tate of old, the guy who did great things in this band up to 1997, but no, I don’t miss the Tate of today. I feel really comfortable with LaTorre and I think that he does an amazing job and I really hope that the original line up doesn’t reunite. Chris DeGarmo would be welcomed back with open arms, though. To all of you who didn’t show up this evening – you missed out on a fantastic show and after the gig I only heard praising comments and I haven’t heard or read one bad comment of this gig, so my guess is that the next time the band shows up on Swedish soil, the attendance will be doubled and according to all the positive feedback this gig got, this LaTorre fronted version of the band is accepted as the true Queensrÿche. I so agree on that!
Jon Wilmenius (9/10)
Setlist:
1. Queen Of The Reich
2. Speak
3. Walk In The Shadows
4. The Whisper
5. Enforce
6. Child Of Fire
7. Warning
8. Where Dreams Go To Die
9. A World Without
10. The Needle Lies
11. Roads To Madness
12. NM 156
13. Fallout
14. Eyes Of A Stranger
15. Empire
16. Jet City Woman
17. Take Hold Of The Flame
CD & Festival reviews 
Glad to finally read this review! I knew you were going and had been anticipating. I’m disappointed they didn’t get a bigger crowd. I’m also glad that La Torre is up there kicking ass. I know he has rough patches in some songs, sometimes, but these songs are very demanding to sing. Just try!
Fact is that as we currently stand only one band will get the name. Bravewords Magazine has pre-emptively declared Toddryche the winner, and all the concert reviews (yours included) justify that.
If Tate would win the name, then there’s something really fishy going on. Any judge who would vote in favour of Tateryche must be on the take.
Just spoke to a bunch of guys at the Black Star Riders gig who also were at the Queensrÿche concert and they all agreed. Toddryche is the shit and no one’s interested in Tateryche.
Ahh soo! Lol! Well lets see?
1. No geoff tate no fans.
2. Geoff Tate Queensryche does shows with 50,000 crowds, Toadryche gets 300 people to show up.
3. A friend of mine from malmo was one of the 300 hundred, he wasnt as generous as you with his review on the show as you.
4. Geoff Tate selling out more shows now than ever.
5. If Geoff Tate and Queensryche do this show it wouldve been a sellout but somehow you spin it that somehow its Geoff Tates fault Toadryche show is poorly attended! Lol! Nice try!, try again! Lol!
6. Toad has no stage presence, not rock star caliber performer.
5. Where have I written that it was Tate’s fault that only 300 showed up? Please tell me. And no, Tate and Queensryche together would not have been a sellout. The fact that QR didn’t sell out is that they still have a bad rep here after disastrous shows at Sweden Rock. Fact is, most people here are glad that they got rid of Tate. I still haven’t heard anyone say that they perfer Tateryche to Toddryche.
6. Todd is a great frontman and a brilliant singer. His stage presence is different to Tate’s, but they are both great frontmen. The biggest difference is that Todd can sing…
1. Tateryche wouldn’t even had drawn 300. Also your comment doesn’t ssay shit until Tate and his tribute have played here as well.
2. Tate played a festival. Those 50 000 weren’t his fans, they were festival attendences. Again, Tate alone wouldn’t even have pulled 300.
3. Your friend was ONE out of 300. I have talked to lots of people and read shitloads of comments on forums and not one was negative.
4. Of course he does. It’s not that hard to sell out Pizza Hut.
7. Click tracks. (Nothing wrong with click tracks)
7. So why bring them up?
8. Reality of the situation setting in with team Toadryche lol! 300? Lol!
8. Again. Tateryche wouldn’t even have pulled half of that. Also, you’ve got to remember, Sweden is a small country so you can’t compare 300 in Sweden to 300 in the States. And QR never pulled a big crowd here, not even in their heyday.
All I will add to this discussion is that somebody obviously has problems reading English. And it’s not the guy who speaks Swedish.
neue regel.
Your last six comments were not approved. Here’s the deal – if you can’t discuss matters here lika an adult, without getting into personal attacks, name calling and heckling, then I won’t approve of anything you write. Instead you’ll go as spam.
Let’s see if you can discuss this and comment this in a grown up way.
First, I’m curious of why you even bother to read my reviews and comment on what I write when you, in your words, thinks that I’m full of shit and you don’t believe anything I say. I’m also curious of how on earth you can dislike somebody that you have never spoken to, let alone met, in your entire life so much.
Second, it’s really beyond me how someone can get so worked up and waste so much energy, just because someone doesn’t share your opinions and taste in music. Because frankly, all I ever did was to write a review of an album and shared my opinions on certain behaviour of a certain lead singer. But that was clearly enough for you, Mike Rietow, to blow your fuses. Mind you, all I did was to answer to your comments and you were the one who went personal. That said, I won’t deny my part in the childish behaviour that went down, but to my defense, I only defended myself to your heckling. And I did so by getting back the same way. I should have just left it alone.
You also accused me and Mike Ladano for being part of a smear campaign against Tate, as you called it. But you have no problem giving Todd LaTorre shit for the olnly reason that he now sings in Queensrÿche. What did that guy ever do to you? And Wilton, Rockenfield and Jackson are freeloaders? If you don’t know Tate personally, how come you fight tooth and nail for him? And you were the one who said that nobody really knows what really went down behind the curtains. Well, you seem to know that three QR guys are freeloaders.
Now, I will not get into that stupid kindergarten mudkicking with you once more – it ends here. If you want to keep this at an adult and well behaved level, you’re more than welcome here and I’d love to discuss things with you even though we won’t ever see eye to eye over the versions of this band. But if not, every comment that doesn’t stick to the subject will not be approved.
300? Wow! Actually let’s look at the bright side, Jons interpretation of the amount of spectators, 300 is better than the number Peter my friend from Malmo gave me 175-200. Peter bad with counting people though!…serious!
Look. I didn’t count every single spectator myself. Around 300 was something one of the guards who worked there told me when I asked. I have no reason to doubt that. But maybe Peter from Malmö did count every singel person there.
Also, too bad you decided not to go with the adult way of discussing things. You really had to send me three more childish and immature comments. Well, good riddance, because this was the last comment by you that I will approve. You’re now officially spam!
jAG skms Jag skms fr att sga att jag inte har fljt eran sida. Har totalt missat denna underbara sajten som levererar vldigt bra resensioner. Jag sjlv besker mycket konserter och festivaler varje r, vi pratar circus (varierar sjlvklart varje r beroende p utbudet) mellan 30-50 konserter och 2-4 festivaler per r. Konsertbesk r min stora hobby samt att jag lskar musik och har aldrig slppt hrdrocken (r fdd 65 men har fortsatt att lyssna in mig p nya grupper d mina killar sjlva spelar hrdrock i olika band) dom har ftt mig att brja lyssna p lite hrdare musik. Kommer fortsttningsvis beska sidan regelbundet d jag tycker den var riktigt riktigt bra. Johan frn GBG!
Date: Tue, 12 Nov 2013 18:06:19 +0000 To: salerno40@hotmail.com
Tusen tack för de fina orden, Johan. Alltid kul med feedback, ris som ros.
Var på trädgårn och kan bara säga det var fantastiskt, pratade med två killar om vilken del av queenryche som dom föredrar, båda två utan att tveka sa Toodryche.
Todd som frontman är som skuren för uppgiften. Han leverar hela tiden och sjunger jävligt bra. Mickael och Parker fungerar alldelles utmärkt tillsammans och är väldigt tajta.
380 BILJETTER VAR SÅLDA NÄR DET STÄNGDE NER PÅ NÄTET. Sen tillkom kanske ett fåtal och cirkus 400 var på plats. Låtvalet var mycket bra då dom gick tillbaka till den gamla goda tiden och hämtade låtar från tidiga skivor (tre låtar från warning). Tror att Toddryche så småningom kan hitta hem till en större publik. Löjligt att säga att Tate skulle ha en klart större fanclub då man hör överallt att han inte alls är populär som person. Publiken var med från första början och sjöng med i nästan alla låtar. Låtar från Den nya skivan fick faktiskt ett bra mottagande vilket var en positiv överraskning. Grym konsert med det rätta Queensryche.
Johan från GBG!!!
Håller med helt, Johan. Vet inte exakt hur många plåtar som såldes till Stockholms-giget, men det talades om 300.
If neue regel used Google translate and read this, he’d find out that you’re saying what 90% of the all Queensrÿche fans are also saying….