The Reunion and Tour T-Shirts were just about all you’d see at the House of Blues for the Queensrÿche concert. On their current tour they brought with them some other heavy metal rock monsters. Recently formed metal rockers Midnight Eternal out of New York tested their brand of female-lead power rock on the Southern California crowd tonight. I would say that more than expected, probably by their account as well, showed up for the openers tonight, but many were here early to see Southern California favorite Armored Saint. The New York attitude and sometimes punk inspired sound of the five-member Power Metal Rock team kept their attention from note one.
Armored Saint, a favorite Power Metal band of Sothern Californians for years, joined the tour this year and people showed up in droves just for them. Throughout their loud and heavy performance the crowd quadrupled in size and the energy kept climbing. The Los Angeles based metal group slammed through song after song, with barely any break in-between. The experience took you to another world and you might find yourself lost in some weird animated sexual planet.
It took Queensrÿche a bit longer than expected to take the stage, but they must’ve planned it…because right as people started complaining a video began playing…then Scott just started hitting the crap out of his drums, and it was on! The band tore through their new songs with the explosiveness these musicians are known for. If you came for metal and head banging, tonight was your night. Leading off with a track from their most recent album, Condition Hüman, Guardian woke up the crowd and continued where Armored Saint left off. Queensrÿche made sure to take care of all of their fans, playing tracks throughout their storied three-decade spanning career, hitting nearly every studio album made by the band.
I believe there a few shows east of the Rockies in case you want a night of hard rock and heavy metal before the end of the year. It might become you New Years Resolution to learn to appreciate metal in a whole new way…it’s mine after seeing this lineup on one stage!
Big Jon / BackStage360
Images: Billy Esquibel
bigjon@bigjonentertainment.com
