QUEENSRYCHE/ ARMORED SAINT

It’s not often I start a concert review by talking about the venue instead of the band, but this time will be an exception. You won’t find many heavy metal shows playing a space as historical and over the top gorgeous as the Coronado in Rockford, Illinois. This grand old movie palace opened in 1927 and was the crown jewel of the city for decades. After hitting a rough patch in the 80’s, it was lovingly restored to full glory in the 90’s and reopened as a music venue. When the Doctor was very, very young, he remembered how awesome this place was to see a movie. My Mom took me there many times to see Disney Pictures back in the days when cartoons ran before the feature...yeah, I’m that old.

I’m not adept enough with architectural terms to know whether the theater is baroque, rococo, Art Deco or what, but I do know it’s an amazing place. When I was a kid, I always imagined the Phantom of the Opera was watching me from the guest boxes on the side and readying to swing out over the crowd on a rope. It’s that kind of place...full of gilt-edged mirrors, velvet ropes, tons of neo-classical decoration. Something to engage the eye at every level. Since it’s been repurposed as a musical venue, I’ve seen acts as diverse as TORI AMOS, JETHRO TULL and THE MISFITS play there.

And it’s only a mile from my humble abode. So when I heard QUEENSRYCHE would be playing there with no less than ARMORED SAINT opening, the die was cast. It had probably been 15 years since I’d last been in the joint and that was to see THE MISFITS. As rowdy as that show was, it was no surprise it took so long to bring hard rock back to the Coronado.

I got there with plenty of time to spare, just so I could soak up the ambience in this joint. Believe it or not, the place still has a full contingent of elderly ushers wearing suits and ties helping people to their seats. That’s doing it old school style! I wonder what these polite folks thought of the crowd tonight...a bit different than the audience for Rockford Symphony Orchestra, that’s for sure.

Speaking of the crowd, they were on the old side themselves. Not a lot of younger kids at this show. Mostly it was mom and dads from the classic rock era, looking like they had just ambled out of a generic sports bar where an awful cover band played. This was the kind of crowd that only knows what gets played on the radio...I’m pretty sure the majority of them had no idea who ARMORED SAINT was. That’s a real shame.

As for the SAINT, they opened the night with a rush of metal power. They certainly didn’t tone anything down due to the venue or the crowd. This is one of the great American metal bands for sure. They came out swinging with “End of the Attention Span” from most recent record “Punching The Sky”. The stage at the Coronado is as huge as many arenas and gave ample room for the band to move around. Always on the move was their great frontman, John Bush. The man knows how to work a crowd and though a fair number of patrons had no idea what SAINT was playing, he is such a natural showman that you could feel the energy. Drummer Gonzo, sporting a sharp top hat, also had a great show...the drums boomed like cannons and kept time like a metronome.

The SAINT managed a pretty diverse and far-reaching setlist for the hour or so of time they had. They surprised me with “Raising Fear” as their second track...that’s a deep cut from probably their most underrated album. “Tribal Dance”, “Reign of Fire” and “Aftermath” were set choices that maybe weren’t expected, but they did justice to all of them.

Some tracks were expected. “March of The Saint”, complete with regal intro, remains my very favorite ARMORED SAINT track through the years and slays every time live with its great forward thrust. And also from their debut we got the dirty groove of “Can U Deliver”...the one song that most of the crowd seemed to know. How that missed being a radio hit back in the day is one of the great mysteries of the metal world. They also touched on more recent albums with “Win Hands Down” and “Standing On the Shoulders of Giants”, both being super-catchy and driving cuts.

The rest of the E,P.  was played to similar levels of excellence. “Nightrider” and “Blinded” are two great power metal songs and “The Lady Wore Black” is a quintessential heavy ballad. Even the most “mom and dad” members of the crowd were moved to stand up and sing along with this one. Again, the sound and lighting was terrific and the elegance of the theater only served to enhance things.

After a brief monologue from the humble de la Torre, the band laid right into their first LP “The Warning”. My relationship with this album is quite a bit different than the one I have with the debut EP. I remember being rather disappointed by it when I first heard it. The energy of the EP was not there and the song’s were much slower. It wasn’t AOR or anything like that, but just didn’t fire me up. It’s been probably more than 30 years since I’ve heard it in its entirety. After hearing it tonight, I may check it out once more to see if my opinion has changed.

The 2024 version of QUEENSRYCHE certainly hit every note in their run-through of it tonight. The title track was one of the few stand out songs on the album and came across wonderfully with Todd bringing full drama to the lyrics. There was a kind of raised platform where guitarists Wilton and Stone could climb on and engage in twin guitar gymnastics...a very basic but quite cool image. The songs were immaculately played, but honestly, my favorites from years ago were still the best songs tonight, those being “Warning”, “NM 156” (which has always been an underrated classic) and “Child of Fire” (an even deeper cut). The rest of the “Warning” tracks were well performed but just kind of lie there. The well-known ballad “Take Hold of the Flame” got a big response, but it’s always been one of the most “by the numbers” songs RYCHE has ever written.

Few bands would go out and explore their roots live like QUEENSRYCHE did tonight. Tours playing “Operation: Mindcrime” and “Empire” in their entirety are to be expected, but they dived deep into their birthing pool tonight and the result was most interesting. Following the climax of “Roads To Madness”, there was some question whether there would even be an encore...a fair amount of the crowd left. But those who stayed got a two song encore. Speaking of deep cuts, you can’t get any deeper in QUEENSRYCHE lore than “Prophecy”...a very old song left off the first version of the E.P. but added to later repressings. This is an awesome power metal attack fully in the vein of “Queen of the Reich” and “Nightrider”...I love this song! They wrapped it all up with the title track from “Operation: Mindcrime”, the only tune they played tonight from after 1986!

All in all, the unique historic setting and unusual setlist raised this show to something a little different than the usual QUEENSRYCHE gig. They demonstrated once again that they have lost nothing even with multiple personnel changes from their classic days. Hats off, also, to ARMORED SAINT, who made the most of their opportunity tonight and hopefully picked up some new fans.