(Live Review) GEOFF TATE BAND + SUPPORT - Milwaukee, WI (4/19/25)
- Mark McQueen
- 11 minutes ago
- 6 min read
Welcome friends, fans, and followers to another episode of Beard Reviews. This time your darling duo was up in Milwaukee to catch long time Queensryche vocalist Geoff Tate and his solo band as they performed the entire Operation Mindcrime album, as well as other hits, on this year’s tour dubbed “Final Mindcrime.”
With me, as always, was the man, the myth, and the legend. You know him you love him, he constantly shills for free beer, the indomitable Little Johnny.
Now, Pabst Theater is one of about six music venues in the downtown Milwaukee area, but design wise this one was significantly more vertical. Holding 1300 seats, there were three stories to this place and if you were at the top, I would think you could get vertigo watching a band from up there.
Fortunately, we got our tickets early and had Mezzanine row one with a great view of the stage. This place also had a massive and ornate chandelier that I was impressed with. Directing Little Johnny's attention to it however only elicited the reply, “Cool Beard, it looks like a giant sparkly boob. Look, it even has a nipple.” “Ok, John you can stop talking now.”
I have covered Geoff Tate before, so I will just hit some historical high notes for new readers. If you want more, check out The Mighty Decibel from 4/24/24 where I covered this act and did a much more detailed history.
Geoff Tate is now sixty-six years old and belongs on the short list of greatest all time metal vocalists. Although Hit Parader has him 14th, the Beard would have Tate in the top ten certainly and top five debatably. His early career was fronting Queensryche from 1982-2012, but he has also enjoyed a healthy solo run these last thirteen years.
The Beard won’t get too deeply into the nasty split-up between vocalist Tate and the rest of Queensryche, suffice to say lawsuits were filed and the whole thing took a couple years to play out in the courts before a settlement was reached with the rest of the band buying out Tate's share of the Queensryche corporation and Tate getting the rights to Operation Mindcrime. A moniker he would then award his solo band for a number of years before sliding into just calling it the Geoff Tate band. This 2025 tour is allegedly the final time Tate would be playing the Mindcrime album in its entirety.
But before we got to Geoff Tate, we had an opening set from Fire & Water, an Irish three-piece act that has been on tour with Tate for the last couple of years.
FIRE & WATER
This band was fine for what it was. Tomas McCarthy can certainly play acoustic guitar in the spirit of the Irish pub styling. His wife, Clodagh is hardcore Irish and sang in both English and Gaelic while blowing on her saxophone. The Beard being a bit of Irish himself found the set enjoyable and most importantly not too long or involved. They did what they did and got the hell out of Dodge. I asked Little Johnny what he thought of the set, and he said, “Do you think they sell Guiness here Beard?” “Never mind little dude,”
Geoff Tate live
GEOFF TATE BAND
Next it was time for the main event, and along with what is now a six-piece band, out came Geoff Tate in cowboy hat and thick black glasses.
Tate wasted no time getting right into Operation Mindcrime and performed it all the way through. The almost sold-out crowd, (I did notice a few empty spots here and there), ate it up like getting water in a desert. Singing along loudly at every famous phrase and spot in the album, there was no shortage of genuine love and adulation for Geoff Tate.
Hearing Operation Mindcrime all the way through, reminded me of the overall strength of the material. Concept albums run the gamut from great to what the #$%@ was that jumbled mess? Operation Mindcrime may be one of the best of all time. The story, (written in the 1980’s) is just as relevant today over thirty-five years later. It stands up to time and that is a classic piece of metal artistry.
Operation Mindcrime has virtually no weak songs. Whether "Revolution Calling", the title track, "Speak", "Spreading the Disease" or "The Mission", the story was still right there as we listened. At sixty-six, Tate may no longer have unlimited stratospheric notes, but his voice has held up better than most. What was even more amazing was his energy. Playing with several musicians half his age, Tate completely held his own out there seeming genuinely pleased to be playing and performing.
For “Suite Sister Mary,” our Irish lass Clodagh (who had been ostensibly on keyboards throughout the set), came up front to sing the part of the troubled and doomed Sister Mary. Clodagh gave a spirited effort, and I am glad they did it that way to keep the story real and in the moment, but there was a heart wrenching fatality to Pamala Moore’s original work that seems to be captured by her and her alone. While I still rated this number strong, it lacked a little in that tear-your-heart-out aspect that the album evoked.
"The Needle Lies", "Breaking the Silence", & "I don’t Believe in Love", continued the stellar material before we finally took a slight step back with “Waiting for 22” and “My Empty Room” before finishing strong with a crowd assisted “Eyes of a Stranger” that wrapped up set one.
With a very minimal break, (like three minutes), Tate was back out there and ready to keep going. “I’m American” and “The Chase” from Mindcrime II would start us out before Tate decided to throw out “Jet City Woman” to a loud crowd pop.
“Murderer” and “If I could change it all” would continue the Mindcrime II saga and story, before breaking away again for a VERY crowd assisted “Empire” (Catch most of these on my TikTok site @thebeard0728. “A Junkies Blues” would wrap up Mindcrime II before ending the second set with big hit “Silent Lucidity.”
For the encores, Tate went deep for early Queensryche material, finishing with “Take Hold of the Flame” and “Queen of the Ryche.” While I would bet my Mighty Decibel paycheck that Tate had some “magic assistance” on both songs to hit those impossibly long high notes, I also noticed in both that he changed the phrasing just enough to let us know it was indeed still him singing them and not backing tracks. Respect then to Mr. Tate because those are bangers to try and sing.
Through it all, Geoff Tate stayed as highly energetic as he had started. I think that aspect, and the overall strength of the songs and how they have lasted for so long reaffirmed that despite wherever you come down on the Queensryche without Tate or Tate without Queensryche controversy, this was still one talented singer, and he certainly doesn’t need to stop performing anytime soon.
The Beard is awarding 89/100 for the Geoff Tate show. I do personally think that Michael Wilton and Eddie Jackson were the second part of the magic that was Queensryche for their first thirty years, which included the material played here tonight. Taking nothing away from Tate's new band, they are competent and certainly play the songs like they sound on the record, my issue is if you remove Geoff it’s a tribute band, therefore I am keeping the score just under 90.
That said, I heartily recommend it and if you can catch one of the remaining shows, do so. You won’t feel cheated. This is a good group playing great music.
And speaking of not feeling cheated, for YOU not to feel cheated remember to continue to follow the Beard on all his sites from Facebook, to TikTok to Instagram to The Mighty Decibel and wherever you can find us. We are always off somewhere reviewing all sorts of activities and as a bonus for new audiences, we are no longer just Metal, (although that remains our first love.)
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Until next time, this was the Beard & Little Johnny reminding you “Live Life,” “Stay Heavy” and “Horns Up.”