Review by: Val Tapia
Photos by Fred Kuhlman
Promoter: Danny Zelisko Presents (https://dzplive.com/ )
Venue: Celebrity Theatre (https://celebritytheatre.com/ )
Date: Saturday February 14th, 2026
Tour: ‘Operation: Mindcrime’…’The Final Chapter’
Geoff Tate never seems to stop performing… presumably because he still enjoys it after four decades. And for the 1200 fans (i.e. according to box office staff) in attendance who packed Celebrity Theatre during Valentine’s Day weekend on Saturday February 14th, it also seemed perfectly alright with them that he’s doing exactly that… performing. Especially when it comes to the music of Queensryche.
Good readers, there is one album in particular in that seminal Seattle quintet’s catalog that still resonates with fans in 2026… that being 1988’s Operation: Mindcrime. Widely regarded as Queensryche’s finest work– artistically speaking– it’s also one of the most significant albums of the 1980s.
And sure enough, once Tate‘s nine-member(?) band took the stage at 9:40 p.m. to the spoken-word track “I Remember Now”, as always, it segued right into the militant sound of “Anarchy-X”. Then Tate makes his “grand entrance” for an all-time Queensryche classic, the anthemic and defiant “Revolution Calling”. Yes, the latter continues to be as (frighteningly) viable and relevant today as it was in 1988.
Funny thing about the title track. For years I’ve heard fans say that Operation: Mindcrime is arguably their least favorite song on the album. Of course, that’s subjective. But with songs like “Speak” and “Spreading The Disease” that follow it, it’s not hard to understand that sentiment.
Onstage, Tate made a slight (yet brilliant) change to a lyric in “Spreading The Disease” that brought the song into the now, if you will.
“Politicians say NO to drugs… While we pay for war after war after war”. In lieu of “While we pay for wars in South America”… in case anybody was wondering.
Put it this way. It was simple, direct and ultimately… effective. Kudos Mr. Tate.
“The Mission” and the 10-minute epic “Suite Sister Mary” conclude “Side One”. For the latter, backing vocalist Clodagh McCarthy had the unenviable task of replicating the inimitable vocals of the great Pamela Moore as “Sister Mary” in the Mindcrime saga. She went over pretty well with the largely Gen X audience.
With the applause at a high-level Saturday night, Tate then looked out at the audience and simply asked one question:
“Shall we continue?”
Of course, fans knew what was next: “The Needle Lies”. As the band plowed through a song that Tate co-wrote with one of his former guitarists in Queensryche, founding member Michael Wilton, I started thinking: It can rightly be argued that Tate and Wilton, truthfully, co-wrote some of Queensryche’s best songs… ever.
Just on Operation: Mindcrime alone, we’re talking the aforementioned “Revolution Calling”, “Speak”, “Spreading The Disease” and again, “The Needle Lies”. Not to mention “Empire”, one of the top 100 rock songs of the 90s. Period.
Anyway, “Electric Requiem” and “Breaking The Silence” kept the fans out of their seats. Like last year’s show in March, Tate seemed most comfortable vocally on songs like “I Don’t Believe In Love”, and to a lesser degree, “Eyes Of A Stranger”. Overall, though, Tate and the band for the most part stayed faithful to the original album. Rightly so I might add.
Interestingly, this time there was nothing played from the 2006 “sequel” (and I use that term very loosely) Operation: Mindcrime II. The only conclusion I can draw is that those songs weren’t going over well live. Frankly, there isn’t much more I can interpret from that.
For the remainder of the 95-minute, 20-song set the band just kept the classics coming. By the way, a great song like “Empire” doesn’t need to be preceded with a slow (and frankly, lame) intro. Sorry, it just didn’t work.
Having said that, once it kicked in, it sounded okay. The main set concluded with “Walk In The Shadows” and “Jet City Woman”. For an encore, Tate said it was time for “one of my favorite songs to play”, that being Queensryche’s biggest hit single of its career, “Silent Lucidity”.
Appropriately (if not predictably), they went back to 1984 for “Take Hold Of The Flame”. Fortunately, it was closer to the original this time, as opposed to last year.
To conclude, it’s time for Tate (as a solo artist) to retire Operation: Mindcrime as a whole in his live set. Speaking candidly, it’s been overplayed over the course of a dozen years. In short order, it’s time to move on from it and release new music— which is coming later this year by the way. It looks like there’s a title for the upcoming album. It’ll be called Operation: Mindcrime III.
UGH! But I digress.
Anyway, the final verdict? Three out of five stars. It was solid but not great.
Geoff Tate
Photos © Fred Kuhlman 2025, All Rights Reserved
James Keegan
Photos © Fred Kuhlman 2025, All Rights Reserved
OGMA
Photos © Fred Kuhlman 2025, All Rights Reserved
