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| Geoff Tate & Ollie Jordan-kelly (Photo: Kevin Keating) |
Although this wasn't officially billed as a private concert, that's exactly what transpired last night at the Oakland Metro for 37 lucky individuals who came to see former Queensrÿche lead singer, Geoff Tate, perform an acoustic set of music from his 35 year career. We
last caught Geoff prior to the official break-up of Queensrÿche back in 2010, when the band played to a near capacity crowd at the Regency Ballroom in SF, so it was a bit shocking to walk into the hall last night to find that only 21 tickets were pre-sold and up until 15 minutes before showtime, only 15 people had arrived. There's no exaggeration to say that we all had literal front row seats last night -- the entire crowd fit against the front of the stage!
After speaking with both the band and bar employees, it became clear that two major issues affected ticket sales. The first and main issue was publicity, or the lack there of. As one band member pointed out after the show, there wasn't a single flyer or poster for the concert at the venue -- and as I think back, I don't think there was even a marquee outside of the venue highlighting that the Metro hosted live music. Clearly, the word had not gotten out throughout the Bay Area. Secondly, it sounds like this show was a late addition to the tour, which only gave about a months' notice before the show. Personally, even if the promoter only had a month, I'd imagine you can run to Kinko's to do a print run for flyers and spend a few bucks on Twitter and Facebook campaigns to spread the word.
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| Geoff Tate (Photo: Kevin Keating) |
In this particular case, the promoter essentially paid the band an appearance fee and was then free to recognize any/all money from ticket sales. The venue itself may have charged a flat fee for the night as well, which the promoter should have also been able to cover... Assuming they had properly promoted the show.
Anyway...
For those of us in the audience, and much to Geoff & co's credit, the band put on a full set of 18 songs interlaced with stories for just over 2 hours. At one point, Geoff joked that this show was a world record for the smallest audience he's ever played to, and that each of the audience members would have their name included in his memoirs.
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| Geoff Tate (Photo: Kevin Keating) |
As you'll see from the setlist below, the night included tracks from all over Geoff's catalog of music, and his voice was just as strong as ever. Geoff was backed onstage by Scott Moughton (lead guitar), Kieran Robertson (guitar), Even Kleve (violin), and Ollie Jordan-kelly (drums). The band's on tour for about another month, so if you're reading this from outside the Bay Area, check Geoff's tour schedule
here to see if they'll be playing near you!
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| Geoff Tate (Photo: Kevin Keating) |
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