Preparation
Queensrÿche throughout the early 80’s all the way through to the 90’s – they always ranked as one of my fave bands. Easily. With classic albums such as ‘The Warning’, ‘Rage For Order’, ‘Operation Mindcrime’ and ‘Empire’ – they were second to none.
To be perfectly honest, I haven’t really kept up with the band of late – it just has not been the same since Chris Degarmo left the band – and I was even considering not shooting tonight’s gig as simply put, I had lost interest in them.
But throughout the past week whilst I was debating on whether to shoot them or not – I went back through the band’s discography (see above) and was reminded, once again, just why I loved this band.
Gosh, they released some classic music over the years and whilst I was reminiscing through this amazing back-catalogue – I got the itch to not miss tonight’s show under any circumstance.
Listening to the band so thoroughly once again, helped me prepare for tonight’s shoot.
I watched some old concert videos and studied how each member performs, where they stand and what musical cues they react to in preparation and anticipation for the show. I mean, it had been so long since I considered myself a diehard fan, I didn’t even know who was in the band anymore.
On the day of the show, I had all my gear ready. Batteries, lenses and a strategy. I was ready. I was prepared. I was finely tuned to try some new camera settings and wanted to implement them all in the live environment.
But as prepared as I was, the night never nearly was. Arriving at the venue 30 minutes before Queensrÿche were to hit the stage, I presented my entry pass to the door girls and then I asked for my photo-pass.
"What photo pass? We don’t have you listed"
Great!
I frantically tried to call my contact at Billboard who provides me with photo-passes, but seeing as the venue is underground several levels, I had no reception on my phone.
I finally got a signal and sent a text to the venue manager and as he was texting me back I bumped into him and the photo-pass near disaster was avoided.
Lucky too. The venue was filled to the rafters and there was no way one could get any shots unless they were in the pit.
The band themselves were simply breathtaking. Playing practically 3 of their albums in their entirety, I was pleased as punch as they kicked things off with the Cyberpunk/neuromancer ‘Rage For Order’ repertoire as that was always one of my fave albums of theirs and one I had on heavy rotation throughout the past week after having let a decade and a bit pass since I had last heard it(!)
It was strange seeing them up on that stage. They looked fucking cool but ever since 1982 when I first started listening to them, I had never seen them live in the flesh. They, like me, are a little older now but geez they sounded amazingly tight, concise and meticulous. They rekindled some wonderful memories and reminded me pure and simple, why they were the best.
View the complete set over at the Slideshow to the right, or on 
