Operation Mindcrime
Tomorrow night at the Warfield in San Francisco.
Just found out about this last night on Sirrius. I will be there. This hasn’t been performed in 15 years, and I’m not going to miss it. I estimate I’ve seen well over 100 concerts/gigs/shows in my increasingly long life, and when I saw this in Seattle (their hometown) many, many moons ago, it blew me away. Still the best concert I’ve ever seen, if you’re familiar with the music anyway. Otherwise it would be pointless.
For those that aren’t familiar with this, it’s probably too late for you. Mindcrime is 17 years old this year. For those that know, it’s a hell of an experience. The story of a disillusioned young man’s life wasted by a pseudo-socialist revolution. Heroine addiction, greed, sex, murder of politicians and the clergy, and why not to waste love on a prostitute, because you may just have to kill her later, even if she’s the only friend you ever had. Truly fucking brilliant lyrics and all of it backed by incredible music and Geoff Tate’s amazing vocals. Not only is this the best concert I’ve seen (experienced is a better word), it’s also possibly the best album ever produced. After all these years it’s still my favorite.
I get back into Queensryche every five years or so and it’s about that time again. The last time was when I had just finished a fucking ripping system in my car. 1200 watts of pure class A amps, digital crossovers, digital signal processing and optical rather then RCA’s throughout the car. The first CD I put into it was Mindcrime. I sat through the whole 1.5 hours in the garage listening. I listened to it for another year and put it away in till a few days ago when I accidentally found it. Its sounds as good as it ever did (even if the Bose system in my current car sucks ass compared to the old system). This shit is timeless.
So why have most people now days never heard of Queensryche?
Because they’ve made too many mistakes. Letting some shitty agent talk them into long hair and faggy make up in the early 80’s to get a record contract. They were way to talented to need gimmicks like these early 80's LA metal bands. After their first two albums they fire all these idiots and do what they want in the late 80’s. This resulted in Operation: Mindcrime. Gaining a huge cult following with Mindcrime, then releasing the not as good as Mindcrime but still very good (and quadruple platinum) Empire. Getting too much airplay with a couple songs on Empire, causing the loss of much of the cult following. Rather then redeeming themselves immediately (or at least finish selling out and take the money) they wait four years for an album and another four years after that. Two albums a decade don’t exactly breed success in the music industry, and neither of those albums was nearly as good as Mindcrime or even their earlier music. Now they still write and perform 20 shows or so every few years. All of this is fine with me, The band is better then they've ever been and I much prefer a 1,500 seat club compared to a 25,000 seat arena.
Sweet dreams..........you bastard.
Just found out about this last night on Sirrius. I will be there. This hasn’t been performed in 15 years, and I’m not going to miss it. I estimate I’ve seen well over 100 concerts/gigs/shows in my increasingly long life, and when I saw this in Seattle (their hometown) many, many moons ago, it blew me away. Still the best concert I’ve ever seen, if you’re familiar with the music anyway. Otherwise it would be pointless.
For those that aren’t familiar with this, it’s probably too late for you. Mindcrime is 17 years old this year. For those that know, it’s a hell of an experience. The story of a disillusioned young man’s life wasted by a pseudo-socialist revolution. Heroine addiction, greed, sex, murder of politicians and the clergy, and why not to waste love on a prostitute, because you may just have to kill her later, even if she’s the only friend you ever had. Truly fucking brilliant lyrics and all of it backed by incredible music and Geoff Tate’s amazing vocals. Not only is this the best concert I’ve seen (experienced is a better word), it’s also possibly the best album ever produced. After all these years it’s still my favorite.
I get back into Queensryche every five years or so and it’s about that time again. The last time was when I had just finished a fucking ripping system in my car. 1200 watts of pure class A amps, digital crossovers, digital signal processing and optical rather then RCA’s throughout the car. The first CD I put into it was Mindcrime. I sat through the whole 1.5 hours in the garage listening. I listened to it for another year and put it away in till a few days ago when I accidentally found it. Its sounds as good as it ever did (even if the Bose system in my current car sucks ass compared to the old system). This shit is timeless.
So why have most people now days never heard of Queensryche?
Because they’ve made too many mistakes. Letting some shitty agent talk them into long hair and faggy make up in the early 80’s to get a record contract. They were way to talented to need gimmicks like these early 80's LA metal bands. After their first two albums they fire all these idiots and do what they want in the late 80’s. This resulted in Operation: Mindcrime. Gaining a huge cult following with Mindcrime, then releasing the not as good as Mindcrime but still very good (and quadruple platinum) Empire. Getting too much airplay with a couple songs on Empire, causing the loss of much of the cult following. Rather then redeeming themselves immediately (or at least finish selling out and take the money) they wait four years for an album and another four years after that. Two albums a decade don’t exactly breed success in the music industry, and neither of those albums was nearly as good as Mindcrime or even their earlier music. Now they still write and perform 20 shows or so every few years. All of this is fine with me, The band is better then they've ever been and I much prefer a 1,500 seat club compared to a 25,000 seat arena.
Sweet dreams..........you bastard.
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