Concert Preview
Queensryche reigns again with concert extravaganza

By Patrick MacDonald
Seattlet Times music critic

Heavy-metal band Queensryche will perform its entire "Operation: Mindcrime" album, from 1988, with live actors and new visuals, at the Moore Theatre.

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It's rare for a rock band to revisit, let alone revise, its most famous and successful work, but that's what Queensryche will be doing next week when it plays two nights at the Moore.

The local heavy-metal giant, formed in Bellevue in 1981, will play, in its entirety, an enhanced version of "Operation: Mindcrime," its intense, dramatic, science-fiction-influenced album that marked Queensryche's artistic and commercial peak when it was released in 1988.

It will be presented in surround sound, with live actors portraying key characters, and new visuals added to the already impressive footage — which has long been available on "Operation: Livecrime," the DVD of its 1990-91 tour, in which it also performed the album live. That DVD features Seattle singer Pamela Moore as Sister Mary, the pivotal character, whose mysterious murder is the key plot device. Moore will perform the role again at next week's shows.

"The band is so excited to be performing 'Operation: Mindcrime' in its entirety again after not having done this in 15 years," lead singer Geoff Tate said in a prepared statement. "We are presenting it in a whole new way that finally does justice to the intricacies of the story and the personalities of the characters."

Concert preview Queensryche, 8 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, Moore Theatre, 1932 Second Ave., Seattle; $34-$44 (206-628-0888 or www.ticketmaster.com; information, 206-467-5510, www.themoore.com or www.queensryche.com).

The Moore shows kick off an 18-city tour that runs through October and will be extended into 2005. Queensryche is presenting "Operation: Mindcrime" on the tour in order to whet the appetite of its fans for "Operation: Mindcrime II," scheduled to be released next year on the Sanctuary Records label. The finale of its concerts will be a preview of "II." Maybe we'll find out who killed Sister Mary.

The shows will open with the band — also including guitarist Michael Wilton, bassist Eddie Jackson, drummer Scott Rockenfield and guitarist Mike Stone — playing a set of its greatest hits, along with a string section and guest keyboardist Michael Igor Delassandra. Expect to hear its 1991 Top 10 hit, "Silent Lucidity," from its 1990 "Empire" album, as well as cuts from its other releases.

After intermission, "Operation: Mindcrime" will be performed, with the "Operation: Mindcrime II" preview as the encore.

There is no opening act.

Patrick MacDonald: 206-464-2312 or pmacdonald@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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