Geoff Tate with Fire and Water – Vamp’d Becomes the International House of ROCK!

Geoff Tate played Count’s Vamp’d with support act Fire and Water on Sunday, April 21, 2024.

Vamp’d remains the definitive home for rock and metal in the Vegas Valley. I can’t begin to count the number of shows I’ve seen here. It’s my favorite spot to catch a show in Sin City, attracting local, national, and international talent alike. The venue opened up for a rare Sunday night show this past weekend with the arrival of classic Queensryche vocalist Geoff Tate.

One of the unexpected surprises on this evening came in the form of Mr. Tate’s opening act, Fire and Water. With a name like that, I would’ve expected a tribute to British blues rock bands, but what I got was completely different… albeit in an unexpected and good way. The group is a trio hailing from Ireland, and proclaimed that this was their first time touring the United States! The band consists of Tomas McCarthy and Stephen Manning on guitars, and Clodagh Kearney on saxophone, with each member of the group alternating lead vocal duties.

“This is another song about drinking too much… if anyone can relate.”

I’ve never quite seen a group like Fire and Water before, and it’s more than a little difficult to classify them. While they play acoustic guitars, they certainly play them with plenty of ferocity when the songs require them. The repertoire of original tunes played by the group ran the gamut from songs with more punch to slower-paced ballads. A true highlight of the set was the group’s lone female taking lead vocal duties, singing a tune in Gaelic, which she of course dedicated to the memory of Sinead O’Connor and Dolores O’Riordan, two of her Irish female vocal heroes. This was an eccentric but excellent ensemble of musicians, and I truly hope their first American tour won’t be the last!

“How would you feel about a little Operation: Mindcrime?”

Geoff Tate rocked the world as the classic voice of Queensryche for three decades, but hasn’t let up in the least after having parted ways with his former bandmates. Tate has recorded some solo albums and also put out a trip of albums under the name Operation: Mindcrime, of course named for that classic Queensryche record. Mr. Tate still tours the world and keeps quite busy, with Vamp’d being a regular stop for him on many tours. Having not seen Geoff doing his thing on a life stage in about eight years, I figured it was time to pay one of his gigs a visit.

When I first arrived at Vamp’d, there was a line around the back corner of the building, going to show just how respected and admired a man in the music business Mr. Tate is. The venue was packed wall to wall, which I certainly expected given the reputation he’s got with his fans. That this many heavy metal maniacs will pack a venue on a Sunday night is proof that live music is alive and well in the modern world, and that’s certainly reassuring.

“My home is on the road with you good people!”

For this gig, Mr. Tate had assembled a band of SIX musicians (including himself) that he proudly proclaimed came from many different corners of the globe, including France and Italy, and one musician he proudly introduced as a “Fellow American.” There were THREE guitarists, one of whom looked like he was going to audition for a gig in a steampunk movie as soon as he got off stage. Additionally, while I wasn’t familiar with any of his musicians for the evening, despite their very young ages, all of them proved themselves to be up for what these tunes required in a live setting. Finding performers who can do justice to classic Queensryche tunes isn’t an easy task, but Geoff definitely recruited the right guys for the evening. One track (more on that later) even featured an additional guitar, with Geoff wondering out loud what it would sound like to have FOUR guitars on the stage! Geoff’s voice is as strong as ever, remaining one of the most distinctive in the rock and metal world.

So, what did the setlist consist of? The set was essentially a “Queensryche’s Greatest Hits” set, with a few deep cuts and other surprises peppered in periodically, giving the audience and nice and diverse mix of songs. Unsurprisingly, many of the songs in the set came from the ‘Ryche’s two biggest albums, OPERATION: MINDCRIME and EMPIRE. So cuts like “Jet City Woman,” “Empire,” “Operation: Mindcrime,” and “Another Rainy Night” were unsurprising and welcome inclusions. “Desert Dance” From TRIBE, I AM I from PROMISED LAND, and NM 156 from THE WARNING were slightly deeper gems that added to the appeal of the overall setlist.

The encores ended the set in fine form, with a cover of Pink Floyd’s “Welcome to the Machine” for which Geoff had a fourth guitarist take the stage, apparently curious as to how a quartet of guitars would sound in a live venue. From there, the set was closed with the one-two punch of “Take Hold of the Flame” from THE WARNING, the band’s 1984 full-length debut, and “Queen of the Reich,” the blistering opening cut from the band’s 1983 debut EP. The set covered most of the big hits and plenty of deep stuff as well, though I would’ve loved to have heard “Revolution Calling” and “Eyes of a Stranger” too. Apparently, some gigs on the tour are featuring the non-album cut “Last Time in Paris,” though we sadly didn’t get it here.

It’s great to see Geoff Tate is still going strong on a live stage, keeping Queensryche classics alive with a talented international band of musicians. The opening set from Fire and Water was one of my most unexpected musical surprises of the years, resulting in two wildly different but no less excellent sets! Both acts are highly recommended if you get the opportunity to see them doing their thing in a live venue.