BY MIKE SHALER | Go Venue Magazine
December 3, 2022, was a date I had been looking forward to for a while since I learned Geoff Tate was making a stop at The Machine Shop in Flint, Michigan with his Big Rock Show Hits tour. I wasn’t expecting Geoff to be going on tour until sometime in 2023 after an article I read earlier in the year, so it was a pleasant surprise to see him getting back to singing sooner than announced.
Supporting act Mark Daly and The Ravens opened the show with a force of energy that had the crowd rocking along. With his bandmates, James Brown on lead guitar, Jack Ross on bass guitar, Alex Hart on lead guitar and Danny Laverde on drums, the raw energetic vibe these guys play permeates with each musical note. With a new EP available sporting four songs, “Bottled Up”, “Gotta Run”, “Crying Shame” and the titular and very catchy biker bar feeling song, “Nothing To Lose”, these guys had the crowd into the good rock and roll vibe to kick off the night. Playing a gritty cover of Highly Suspect’s, “Lydia”, was also a cool thing to see as well.
Geoff Tate, for those who don’t know the name, he’s the voice of Queensrÿche. Tate took us on a journey throughout the years as he performed hits from his catalog of music. With all the band members of The Ravens doing double duty performing with Tate and joined with Kieran Robertson on guitar and Bruno Sa on keyboard, we were treated with tons of awesome songs from “Empire”, “Best I Can”, “Jet City Woman” and “Silent Lucidity’.
The audience remained engaged all night, especially with a song like “Take Hold Of The Flame” where the fans chanted out, “Take Hold”, throughout the song. And not to dismiss the holiday season, Geoff and the band donned Santa hats and dished out a rocking rendition of “Silver Bells” before closing the show with “Queen Of The Ryche”. The Big Rock Show Hits tour runs on through January 2023.
Geoff Tate
Mark Daly and The Ravens
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