Finally, another concert.
I went to this one with my absolutely crazy, fun-lovin' cousin, who by day is a mild mannered genuine HERO (No really, go here and check FIREFIGHTER OF THE YEAR).
He and I don't see each other that often anymore, but as soon as we do get together we regress and become these kids again! It's a whole lotta fun. Oh and we totally pigged out at this Chinese Buffet place a couple of blocks from his house! Damn, that was AWESOME!
Anyway, back to the show! I hadn't hear about an opening act...that was until the actual day of the show. My cousin tells me some guy name of Jessie James Dupree is opening the concert. The disgust on my face had to be evident. Jessie James Dupree! Anybody remember Jackyl? The over the top annoying "semi-hit" back in Hair Band Metal days called "The Lumberjack Song"? Well, Jessie was the lead singer / chainsaw wielder! AAAARRGGHH!!!!
Anyway, my cuz and I joked a lot before the show that maybe he would just come out and do a five minute lecture on chainsaw safety and get the fuck off the stage, but guess what...he kicked ass. He put on a 35 - 40 minute set, and every song rocked! (No, he didn't do the Lumberjack Song, nor did he produce any power tools whatsoever!). He had a great guitarist with him, John Hays I think he was, and he rocked! Bottom line is, I'm not gonna rush out and by any Jackyl or nothing, but it WAS a good time.

OK now, think back...it's 1983 or maybe '84. On the radio, K-102 102.7 FM (the coolest fucking station Miami EVER had (sorry Zeta)puts on this song called Queen of the Reich. It fucking blew me away. We're talking Classic Metal sound here...awesome dual guitars, a rocking drum beat, and this voice. This voice was like nothing I had heard at the time. It ranged from high pitched wails, to almost operatic lows. Beautiful. Angry. ROCKING!
That was my introduction to Queensryche. By the way, the "Y" in Queesnryche has an unnecessary yet cool looking umlaut. Since then, they have always been one of my favorite bands. Unfortunately we've sort of parted ways over the years because I was never able to get into their newer stuff. But through 1990's ('91?) Empire, their biggest commercial success which spawned the hugely popular Silent Lucidity, they could do no wrong with me. And if I liked them, my cousin basically worshipped them! So when he told me they were coming, we were both like, "we are so fucking there!".

It was my first Hard Rock / Metal concert since Metallica in 96, so I was a little outta practice in concert etiquette. But it's funny, like riding a bike, it all comes back to you. Unfortunately some things don't change, as the ever familiar, slightly nauseating, and I hate to say it but, nostalgia inducing scent of cannabis permeated the air, mostly because the scary looking gentle man and his "turned-out-not-to-be-a-drag-queen-which-is-a-shame-because-that-was-one-SCARY-looking-woman" friend that sat next to me indulged in the wicked weed all night.
But I digress.
Queensryche put on a great, great show. At first I was a little put off by Geoff Tate, the aforementioned incredible voice of the band. He has sort of morphed into a "black-leather-era" Elvis / George Michael / Freddy Mercury - type. Hmmm, you know, I always wondered about Geoff. But fuck it, the man can sing like nobody's business! Overall, the sound of the show was great. I only sat down three times, twice during new songs that I didn't know at all, and once, during the only disappointment of the night, when they did an extended, heavily revised cover of U2's Bullet in the Blue Sky. Why they had to go there, I have no idea. I wish they hadn't. They did a lot of stuff from my favorite CD of their's, Operation Mindcrime, and damn it, the crowd would go crazy every time.

Overall, it was an amazing show, and really, a great day all around.
I missed Dream Theater last weekend, but I'm hoping for a new concert before the end of the year. Um, hopefully I won't wait that long to update my anemic music section though.