Although I have been a fan of Queensrÿche since the week the 1983 debut was released, I have only purchased about half of the albums released in the past two-thirds of their 30-year history. But the very public and acrimonious split with founding vocalist Geoff Tate this past year had me following the parallel careers of Tate’s Queensrÿche project and the three remaining original members’ Queensrÿche line-up with carry-over second guitarist (since 2008) Parker Lundgren and former Crimson Glory (and Rising West) vocalist, Todd La Torre.

I have yet to see Tate-rÿche in concert, but I would have to say that in addition to winning the new album bout, Todd-rÿche put on a show as good – or better – as any I’ve heard since founding guitarist Chris DeGarmo left the band in 1997.

The fire in the band is stoked by the powerful, spot-on vocals of La Torre. Originally recruited for the Tate-less side project, Rising West, which consisted of the rest of the band playing songs from Queensrÿche’s first five releases, La Torre sounds virtually indistinguishable from the “one-of-a-kind” Tate – more importantly, the Tate of 20 to 30 years ago.

The set opened with “Queen of the Reich,” then moved through five songs from The Warning and Rage for Order before touching anything from Operation: Mindcrime. Only one song –  “Fallout” –  was highlighted from 2013’s Queensrÿche, which was still three days from dropping. The set drew mostly from Warning, Rage… and …Mindcrime. Only three songs represented the multi-platinum Empire: the hits – “Jet City Woman,” title track and “Silent Lucidity.” The latter was dedicated to a deceased fan whose widow was brought up onstage and serenaded to by La Torre; mildly cheesy, but touching at the same time.

Throughout the show, every song was impeccably performed, with Michael Wilton playing most of Chris DeGarmo’s solos in addition to his own. The only criticism is that I’m pretty sure that a lot of the background vocals were lipsynced, explaining why drummer Scott Rockenfield wore headphones for much of the show.