An Evening With QUEENSRYCHE! Clearwater Casino - Suquamish, WA 6/14/18

Queensryche

Clearwater Casino

Suquamish, WA

6/14/18

Greetings,




On a beautiful pre-Summer day in the Pacific Northwest, the Clearwater Casino hosted a sold out Queensryche show last Thursday evening. The long time local die hards came out to see the band as they play a string of shows before their next record is released.




Todd La Torre, sporting a cast and arm sling (due to a broken bone in his right hand), took to the stage like he has the past six years and just wailed away vocally all night. Starting off with, "Surgical Strike", Whip, Eddie, Parker, and Casey did what they always do - deliver a show that reminds you why Queensryche are one of the premier metal bands.




"Damaged" and "Walk In The Shadows" were next as the fans watched the stage (and/or video screens as there were four inside the venue for those further back in the audience).




Todd, as evidenced at the last show I covered (in December 2017), is vocally bridging the gap between singing the songs as they were recorded and adding a dash of his own style into the proceedings. Todd has some grit and growl to his vocals when he wants to and in the right places, it works perfectly.




Other songs aired included, "Guardian", "Breaking The Silence", "I Don't Believe In Love", and two songs from the EP, "Queen of The Ryche" and "The Lady Wore Black", where Todd's vocals really stood out in December as well as at this show, too.




Of course a few tunes from "Empire" were aired including, "Silent Lucidity", "Jet City Woman", and the title track.




Whip and Parker played all of the songs effortlessly. I've said it in every review but I'll say it again here - I would love to hear Parker play a few more leads to even out the guitar load so to speak. He is more than capable - please let the man play more leads like the old days where Chris and Whip split the guitar duties. Thank you.




Casey did a fine job playing the drum parts to near perfection. He is visually fun to watch bash away as well and he has fit into the band almost seamlessly at these shows.




The band encored with, "Best I Can", "Screaming In Digital", and "Eyes Of A Stranger". They said their goodbyes, the crowd wanted more, and the night was over - for now.




I would love to see the band add say one or two acoustic numbers in the middle of the set to change things up a bit. Perhaps songs like "The Lady Wore Black" and "Silent Lucidity" or even something like, "Bridge".




I would also respectfully suggest that whenever the show is sold out, throw in another new Todd era tune. When shows sell out that's a good indication that a lot of die hard fans are going to be there (especially locally here in WA). Change up the set list by adding in something from "Queensryche" or another song from "Condition Human". There are some great tracks on both albums that are beginning to feel like they're being dismissed which is a shame.




The band is coming back to Rochester, WA on July 14th (a Saturday for those needing to know). If you missed them last Thursday, here's your chance to see them 'Ryche and Roll again!




Cheers!
Mark Sugiyama
Eclectic Arts

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Special Thanks: Theresa and Stephanie for the credentials - thank you for the opportunity! Jay, Bender, and the crew for making things hassle free! See you all next time!

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Video Interview with Todd La Torre:

(click on any photo for a larger image)