GEOFF TATE “AND FRIENDS”
TO PERFORM SELECT, ALL-ACOUSTIC DATES
ON THE WEST COAST BEGINNING ON JANUARY 26TH
Shortly after Queensryche’s Geoff Tate heard that American Idol’s James Durbin was going to sing the band’s song, “Take Hold of the Flame” to his new bride, Heidi Lowe, at their wedding reception on New Year’s Eve, he started making arrangements to join the festivities.
A great way to end 2011 and bring in the new year!
Known to representatives, but unbeknownst to James and Heidi, Geoff and his wife, Susan, flew from Seattle to Northern California for the big surprise.
The Durbins walked into the reception where Geoff quickly introduced himself.
A dream come true for James, both he and Geoff hit the stage and sang “Take Hold of the Flame’ together with Heidi just a few feet away.
A truly memorable evening, indeed, for the newlyweds who had publicly stated that the song was one of their favorites.
See the People magazine coverage for more details – http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20557815,00.html / http://www.queensryche.com/2012/01/09/an-idol-rocker-wedding/
This was just the beginning of what promises to be another exciting year for Geoff Tate.
After touring extensively in 2011 with his band, Queensryche, Geoff recently announced that he will be doing a handful of acoustic solo dates billed as “Geoff Tate and Friends” beginning on Thursday, January 26 at Anthology in San Diego, California.
What can fans expect on the brief run of dates?
According to Tate, he’ll be “playing acoustic versions of all my favorite Queensryche songs as well as some songs from my solo album.” And that certainly gives him a lot to choose from…
Not one to remain idle, Tate is anxious to hit the road again next year despite an incredibly busy 2011 that found the band performing over 75 dates along their 30th Anniversary tour primarily in support of their 12th studio album, Dedicated to Chaos (Roadrunner Records/Loud & Proud), that was released in the summer.
Towards the end of the tour, Geoff and the band pulled out “all the stops” by performing Rage for Order in its entirety for the first time ever (New York City on Halloween) and Operation: Mindcrime from beginning to end on this year’s ShipRocked Cruise (with In This Moment’s Maria Brink handling vocal chores as “Sister Mary”) for the first time in three years. Both shows were a pure treat for fans!
“Mindcrime” (1988) is universally respected as a classic concept release about rock, revenge and redemption and, ultimately, regarded as one of the most important and essential hard rock records in the genre’s expansive canon. 1990’s follow-up, Empire, yielded a number one single, the Grammy-nominated ballad “Silent Lucidity,” which Queensryche performed at the 1992 Grammy Awards accompanied by a supporting orchestra.
In 2006, the band released Operation: Mindcrime II, a scorching sequel to their original. The band then hit the road performing both albums Operation: Mindcrime and Operation: Mindcrime II back-to-back in their entirety in an incredible theatrical presentation throughout the year. The final performance was recorded at The Moore Theatre in Seattle that October and the Mindcrime at the Moore double CD/DVD release debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Top Music DVD Chart and eventually reached gold status.
It’s hard to believe it’s been 30 years and more than 20 million albums sold worldwide later…
For 2012, Queensryche has plenty up its sleeve.
For more information, please view the official Queensryche website at www.queensryche.com.
TOUR DATES
THURSDAY, JANUARY 26 – ANTHOLOGY IN SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA
FRIDAY, JANUARY 27 – THE CANYON CLUB IN AGOURA HILLS, CALIFORNIA
SATURDAY, JANUARY 28 – SLO BREW IN SAN LUIS OBISPO, CALIFORNIA
SUNDAY, JANUARY 29 – THE COACH HOUSE IN SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, CALIFORNIA
TUESDAY, JANUARY 31 – CENTER FOR THE ARTS IN GRASS VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1 – EL REY IN CHICO, CALIFORNIA
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2 – UPTOWN IN NAPA, CALIFORNIA
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4 – FINAGHTY’S IN SNOQUALMIE, WASHINGTON