Geoff Tate’s Operation: Mindcrime – Belfast, Empire Music Hall – 20 February 2019
I remember now… and it seems like only yesterday. It was Hallowe’en night in 1990, and Queensrÿche ripped Belfast’s iconic Ulster Hall a new one. Despite promoting their ‘Empire’ album, the Seattle band played the whole of their iconic ‘Operation: Mindcrime’ in its entirety. It was so loud that, standing at the back of the venue, Monk could feel its four-foot thick Victorian walls vibrating. It was the only time he would see the original version of Queensrÿche live (he did catch the Todd LaTorre version a few years back, but they weren’t a touch on what he had seen that night) … Wind the clock forward a trio of decades and the band’s original frontman is making his third appearance in ÜR’s adopted hometown of Belfast in less than as many years: having somehow contrived to have miss his previous two appearances in the very same venue, there were no excuses this time around to prevent Monk and DQ venturing up the road from ÜRHQ to see if the man in question still possesses THAT voice: and they’ll answer that question very shortly…
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