Maximum Metal Rating Legend

From the Moore Theater, Queensryche are onstage for the DVD "Live Evolution" as musicians in a play that is more subdued drama than the action movie of the Mindcrime Days.

Geoff Tate and his superior vocals are the star of the show rarely straying from center stage lead and offering the only real dramatics of the show with his gesturing. The rest of the band are there more to be musically foundational than visually compelling. Dressed in all black and fashionable rather than rebellious, the band and the music is alway the focus, highlighted only by some colored lights and the band's symbol.

Stripped of the prior multimedia presentation, the intimacy of the venue and the absence of guitarist Chris DeGarrmo, the performance takes on a bittersweet feel, as if the band were performing an encore gig before gracefully bowing into retirement (which we know isn't true because of the release of "Tribes") or moving on to different pursuits.

Unlike the stereotypical, long-haired metal crowd, the audience appears to be middle-class and attentive. They are the diehards who were there during the commercial highs (Empire) and the less public days. They are rewarded for their loyalty with a great set of career-spanning songs.

Highlights - The hot opening of NM156 and Pamela Moore joining the band for the epic "Suite Sister Mary"

Criticisms - There could have been a few more of the speedier numbers. "Queen of the Reich" is really the only one.