Geoff Tate
Pittsburgh, PA
Rosebud:  July 13, 2002

Appropriately, Geoff Tate’s solo touring band featured all of the musicians from his new Sanctuary release.  C. Fox, Scott Moughton, Evan Schiller, Howard Chilcott, and Jeff Carrell to be exact. Everyone but the Cello player, Tate jokes. 

Prior to the start of the tour Tate told TPRS.com that he was "very anxious to go on tour this summer, and really looking forward to it.” 

He explained, ”We’ve got an incredible set. We’ve been rehearsing and we’re playing all the new record and then we’re doing a whole bunch of Queensryche songs that are real obscure things that Queensryche never plays or will never play.  And then we’ve taken them all and twisted them and changed them around and made them our own.  And it’s really a different kind of situation.”

Whereas Queensryche tends to perform the same songs over and again to keep a sort of continuity that’s very important to the band, in his show they’ve changed everything.

During the Pittsburgh performance, those changes included longer sessions, repeat choruses, real modern rhythm sections, fusions of genres, and several surprises, but according to Tate, things will change quite a bit from show to show, because of the nature of the players he’s playing with.

“I find that very interesting and challenging,” says Tate.

A last minute venue change from M (formerly Metropol) to its sister showcase club Rosebud was welcomed by fans, since it offered a better atmosphere, a better view, and a larger stage.  Yet, there still was little room for the six-piece band to move around.  Tate explained that the theme to the evening revolved around taking risks, and concentrated on material that supported the concept.  As promised, his solo performance covered the tracks from his new album as well as several rare and often unheard Queensryche songs like a revamped version of the “Dirty Little Secrets” b-side; “Gonna Get Close to You,” from Rage for Order; "Some People Fly" from Here and the Now Frontier; and "Lady Jane," from Promised land; as well as others. Interestingly, Tate included unexpected selections from the band’s biggest commercial success, namely “Della Brown” and “The Thin Line,” along with the expected “Silent Lucidity,” but disappointingly neglected to include any fan favorites from the revolutionary Operation: mindcrime. While the body of his solo material is a great listen on its own, it seemed to be brought to life in the live arrangements on this tour.  Most notably, tracks like “On the TV,”  “This Movement,” and “Grain of Faith,” left everyone in the audience captivated even if it was their first exposure to the material.  And despite the great length of Tate's set as they moved through more than twenty tracks of mostly new material, the audience anxiously awaited the next as they applauded song after song, and even chanted for an encoure.

Tate says that in addition to his work with Queensryche this year he hopes to continue on with his solo work and get a jump start on the next album by laying down some tracks for a few songs that he has had on hold.  

In the future, he says he would love to work with many great talents on upcoming solo projects.  They include Sheryl Crow, David Silvian, the members of Massive Attack, The Chemical Brothers, and some of the techno DJs that are surfacing from a somewhat underground level. 

“That’s the beauty of music isn’t it, it’s so wide open what you can do with it and so inspirational,” says Tate . 

For more information about Geoff Tate and his first solo release check out our pre-tour interview and visit www.geofftate.com. 

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