QUEENSRYCHE GEOFF TATE RUDY SARZO SIMON WRIGHT CLUB NOKIA
It was cool being able to catch the Queensryche’s show at Club Nokia after attending their Agoura concert on Thursday night. Everyone at The Canyon show had a really great time (you really had to be there) and many returned to catch the band play all 14 songs on Operation: Mindcrime again in its entirety, along with a drum solo and 6 song encore.
Like last time, it was great to hear a wonderful 25 year old concept album played in its entirety. Operation:Mindcrime is one of a kind when it comes to great albums. Rudy Sarzo was phenomenal on bass. He bounced around the stage for the entire show. HE IS 62 YEARS OLD and rocks twice as hard as people over half his age. Fans of Rudy were really in for a treat last night, as he did a great job on all the bass parts and pulled off the especially memorable parts of Operation: Mindcrime and “Needle Lies” that always pop into the familiar listener’s heads when thinking about the album. Simon Wright really pounds the drums – he hits hard!! His heavy-handed approach and super playing was great this show. And Geoff Tate definitely can still belt out the tunes. Hearing him sing the classics live is a great thing.
Club Nokia is a much larger venue than the Canyon Club in Agoura, so this was a different experience as far as shows go. The Canyon holds about 1500 people. There were thousands more on hand for this show. A whole bunch of Queensryche fans!
It was worth dealing with the bad traffic both coming and going from the venue in order to catch them again on this tour.
Nina Noir and Mark at the merch booth:
SET LIST: 1. “I Remember Now” 2. “Anarchy-X” 3. “Revolution Calling” 4. “Operation: Mindcrime” 5. “Speak” 6. “Spreading the Disease” 7. “The Mission” 8. “Suite Sister Mary”
9. “The Needle Lies”
10. “Electric Requiem” 11. “Breaking the Silence” 12. “I Don’t Believe in Love” 13. “Waiting for 22″ 14. “My Empty Room” 15. “Eyes of a Stranger”
ENCORE:
“Silent Lucidity” “Best I Can” “I’m American” “Jet City Woman” “Neon Knights” “Empire”
The tribute band business has grown into a billion dollar industry.
“The World’s Greatest Tribute Bands” on AXS.TV has been building real momentum on the network. Already half way through the season, this Monday’s show focuses on the music of Journey tribute, as DSB (it stands for “Don’t Stop Believin’”, of course), an incredibly solid band of skilled musicians that averages around 150 live Journey tribute shows each year takes the stage LIVE on AXS.TV at The Roxy on the World Famous Sunset Strip.
DSB has an impressive and growing list of credentials and is widely considered the MOST authentic sounding Journey band in existence. The band specializes in the Steve Perry-era of Journey and obviously has a vast catalog of hits and great songs to draw from and perform to delighted crowds.
In addition to Journey’s already tremendous fan base, several recent hit TV shows and movies have brought on a real interest in Journey’s powerful songs to the younger generation, which pretty much guarantees the largest viewing audience yet for this already widely successful series.
I had a chance to talk to DSB’s band leader, Scotty Kormos, and discuss the upsurge in popularity to a still very relevant and incredibly popular band and find out exactly what makes them the most authentic Journey band out there.
Scotty is originally from Cleveland, OH and ended up moving to the L.A. area to work on various musical projects and struck gold when DSB was formed. He gave some valuable insight and a behind the scenes look of what it took to achieve such an incredible distinction of being considered the best at what he and his band does, which will translate nicely to Monday night’s performance.
This Los Angeles-based band has been in existence for 4 1/2 years with a staggering rate of growth year after year. Since their inception, they have been doing roughly 150 shows a year and are attracting more fans and larger crowds partly due to the consensus that they are the must-see Journey tribute band.
Not only do they constantly tour across America, but they hold the distinction of being the ONLY Journey tribute band to play coast-to-coast and internationally. In addition to touring in Mexico and Canada, it looks like there are imminent plans for DSB tour dates in Asia – a real dream come true for any band.
Opting not to wear wigs or dress like it’s still the 80s, Scotty made a good point in saying that Journey has never really had a “look" like some other bands that would appropriately require costumes for a stage act, as you would expect from Guns-n-Roses and other bands of that nature. According to him, and, in this case, it’s “always been about the music and it’s better to sound like them than to just look like them.” Great point.
Journey has so many hit songs. Their first greatest hits album alone has 17 songs, so there is a wide selection of songs that most everyone can already sing all the words to, and there’s no shortage of songs they could play for their exciting upcoming AXS.TV performance.
The band strives for a family-friendly experience. I asked about their best gig to date and Scotty mentioned a show in Southern California, where there were 14,000 people in attendance to witness DSB perform live. He said while they were playing, and as the massive crowd was swaying back and forth to “Faithfully", that, for a moment, he actually FELT like he was in Journey.
As a true sign of a great band, he stressed that the group pledges to be just as professional offstage as they are onstage. Their strong emphasis on fan-friendly, all-ages entertainment and musicianship has served them very well. They love interacting with fans and will spend plenty of time after the shows to meet fans and generously gift guitar picks, drum sticks, set lists and such.
DSB is as humble as they are talented. Guitarist Roger Cain’s brother is TV actor “Dean Cain." Scotty explained that Roger never publicizes this since he and his brother took different paths in the entertainment industry. However, and to add to the excitement of the show, Dean Cain will be co-hosting this upcoming event with TWGTB host and producer, Katie Daryl.
Scotty is very serious and passionate about DSB and his overall enthusiasm, level of excitement and passion for the music is quite inspiring. DSB is incredibly honored and humbled to get this incredible opportunity.
He mentioned that he gets a lot of requests from fans for places they haven’t been able to play yet, so this is the perfect opportunity to reach those fans. To prepare for the show, Scotty said DSB just played six shows in a three day span through Nevada and they are ready to take the big television stage to entertain all the Journey fans out there.
He also commented on the “multi-generational interest” in Journey’s music. You have young fans that know all the lyrics to the songs and some of their parents, and even grandparents probably have those same albums in their collections, along with all the people that Journey served as a “soundtrack to that era of their lives”. Many remember dancing to “Open Arms” at a prom, or roller skating to the hits off the “ESCAPE” album. Part of the reward for Scotty is so many people having incredibly fond memories of this music. And it’s fun for DSB to see people reliving some of life’s memories through their recreation of Journey’s music.
Scotty pointed out that Journey’s music, although very "listenable", it is quite complex from a compositional perspective, with all the chord structures, guitars solos, drum parts, and he possesses a very technically savvy respect for the material and craftsmanship involved.
I love when Scotty said, “We’re not doctors, we can’t save your life and we’re not lawyers, so we can’t get you out of jail, but we are entertainers and if you can come to our show, you can put your problems aside and let DSB make you smile.”
Tune in Monday night to find out what makes this band stand out above the rest of the many Journey tribute bands that are out there recreating and paying tribute to the timeless classics of Journey. They will have you believin’.
Follow DSB on Twitter, live tweet during the show and interact with Dean and Katie. Be sure to use the hash tag #AXSTribute.
I’ve seen Geoff Tate several times at the Canyon both with and without the original Queensryche. I caught both of his solo shows last year and two Queensryche shows prior to that. I was excited to see his new band with Simon Wright and the Sarzo Brothers. After hearing that they’ve only really rehearsed for a few weeks, it was hard to say if it was going to “work” or not. Without a doubt, it did. It sure was nice to feel 25 years younger. Everyone I knew wore that cassette out back in 1988 and needed a new one. And that was a “must buy disc” when CDs became the standard in the 90s.
From the start of “I Remember Now” to the conclusion of “Eyes of a Stranger”, this show COMPLETELY ROCKED. And shockingly so. The sound and lighting were absolutely superb. These are not “replacement players”, this is a bona fide super group.
Geoff Tate was in top form throughout. He really owned this performance.
Nina Noir as Sister Mary was incredible and the vocal interplay between her and Geoff was a true highlight of the show.
Seeing Rudy Sarzo do his thing on the bass was another highlight of the show. Rudy rules.
Simon Wright gave a commanding performance on the drums, complete with an excellent drum solo close to the beginning of the show. After seeing this concert, it’s good that they’re playing again in LA this weekend. They’re going to get a LOT of repeat performance from this incredible line-up.
Randy Gane, Kelly Gray and Robert Sarzo are also great additions to the band. Argue and compare all you want, but Geoff Tate is Queensryche. This is the real Queensryche and they are fantastic live.
SET LIST: 1. "I Remember Now" 2. "Anarchy-X" 3. "Revolution Calling" 4. "Operation: Mindcrime" 5. "Speak" 6. "Spreading the Disease" 7. "The Mission" 8. "Suite Sister Mary" 9. "The Needle Lies" 10. "Electric Requiem" 11. "Breaking the Silence" 12. "I Don’t Believe in Love" 13. "Waiting for 22" 14. "My Empty Room" 15. "Eyes of a Stranger" ENCORE:
“Silent Lucidity” “Best I Can” “I’m American” “Jet City Woman” “Neon Knights” “Empire”
All the awesome people in attendance made the evening even cooler…. Everyone was there for the right reasons – to celebrate a true masterpiece of a recording played by excellent musicians.
Brian Tichy was there enjoying himself and checking out the band. It turns out that he will be covering for Simon Wright in June. Brian had to be impressed with what he saw tonight.
After having really enjoyed the Atomic Punks last Monday, it was time for a quick return trip to Hollywood to enjoy the premiere Elton John Tribute from Kenny Metcalf for the next installment of “The World’s Greatest Tribute Bands” on AX.TV.
After checking out some of his performances via the Internet, it was clear that Kenny was definitely up for the sizeable task of recreating an Elton John performance.
It turns out that Kenny was the original keyboardist with Stryper and toured with the band up until 1986.
Several years ago, I caught the show of Elton John’s The Red Piano a few times at Caesar’s Place in Vegas. That was an extraordinary production. I could just imagine what the Million Dollar Piano is like.
I also saw Elton at the Wax Museum a few years back (ha ha):
Hosted by Katie Daryl, she did the show’s introduction just before Kenny and the band took the stage. Within a couple of songs, I actually felt like I was at an Elton John concert. And unlike a lot of tribute bands, I didn’t have to close my eyes to imagine that. His tribute to early Elton John was phenomenal. “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”, “Tiny Dancer” and “Pinball Wizard were the standout tracks.
In addition to rocking out to a lot of the popular hits, there was a special appearance by Caleb Quaye, Elton’s original producer and lead guitarist. That was a fantastic moment to an already incredible show. The entire band was on fire. And the sound was incredible. Those amps sounded really hot.
I’ve already watched the AXS.TV airing several times on my DVR since seeing the show live and I’ll definitely check it out again.
It was cool being able to catch the Queensryche’s show at Club Nokia after attending their Agoura concert on Thursday night. Everyone at The Canyon show had a really great time (you really had to be there) and many returned to catch the band play all 14 songs on Operation: Mindcrime again in its entirety, along with a drum solo and 6 song encore.
Like last time, it was great to hear a wonderful 25 year old concept album played in its entirety. Operation:Mindcrime is one of a kind when it comes to great albums. Rudy Sarzo was phenomenal on bass. He bounced around the stage for the entire show. HE IS 62 YEARS OLD and rocks twice as hard as people over half his age. Fans of Rudy were really in for a treat last night, as he did a great job on all the bass parts and pulled off the especially memorable parts of Operation: Mindcrime and “Needle Lies” that always pop into the familiar listener’s heads when thinking about the album. Simon Wright really pounds the drums – he hits hard!! His heavy-handed approach and super playing was great this show. And Geoff Tate definitely can still belt out the tunes. Hearing him sing the classics live is a great thing.
Concertologist 
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