Queensryche Cabaret
Harry and I went to see Queensryche Cabaret last night at a cozy venue in Times Square. Make no mistake, we love Queensryche. We've seen them in small venues like the Beacon and rocking it out at the Garden. This was just plain weird. They tried for a cabaret theme with a loose story weaving songs from several of their albums together and it just did not work. Geoff was in excellent voice and looked hot in his many outfits including a brocade jacket and a top hat. He was also sporting a bald head, a goatee and mustache and eyeliner. HOT. The band itself sounded wonderful. The problem was the patter in-between the songs, designed to hold the story together. It felt forced and only Geoff was moving the story along. The band just stood there and played, seemingly oblivious to the other performers on stage with them. The end result was a disjointed show that felt like it could of worked but didn't. The venue was open seating and Harry and I chose to sit rather than stand in the pit. When the cabaret part of the show was over, The Ryche came out and did one encore song, Empire. Harry and I were already moving toward the exit so we headed into the pit, which had already emptied out substantially. That was the best part of the whole show. Up close and personal with Geoff and the boys, banging my head in the pit, like I used to in the days of L'amour? That was pure joy. But the rest of show was just plain odd. Maybe, Queensryche will learn the lesson Iron maiden did when they toured playing nothing but new material. Fans came out but not all that much so Maiden followed up that tour with their awesome "Somewhere Back in Time" and played the songs the fans wanted. I can hope that Queensryche will learn that this didn't work and come back to these small venues and play a tight show of nothing but music, sans the cabaret crap. For that I would risk getting trampled on in the pit.