WDHA takes a look back at WDHA Presents: Queensrÿche at the Starland Ballroom on Tuesday, April 30th!
Have you ever thought “it’s Tuesday night, time to get my face melted”? Well, that’s exactly what the packed Starland Ballroom was thinking when Queensrÿche took over for a night of old-school heavy metal with their friends in Armored Saint.
Kicking the night off, Armored Saint ripped through a decade-crossing 10 song expanse of their discography. The LA-based band started their set with “End of the Attention Span” off of their most recent album Punching the Sky from 2020.
What followed was what can only be described as epic. Armored Saint had the Starland Ballroom in the palm of their hand, but, after finishing their set with “Reign of Fire”, they had to hand the crowd over to the band the room was waiting for.
Queensrÿche came out swinging, taking the energy in the room left over from Armored Saint and re-amping up the crowd with Pantera’s “Walk” before setting the scene with a spoken intro. The band then flew right into their self titled EP with “Queen of the Reich”.
When they announced the tour, Queensrÿche made it very clear they were coming around to celebrate their self-titled EP released in 1983, and they did exactly that, blowing through the 4 songs like a raging tornado. Without so much as a moment to let the crowd recollect their thoughts, the band dove into their second celebration of the night, their debut album The Warning (1984).
At this point, the room was rocking and shaking like the April 5th earthquakes. From start to finish, “Warning” to “Roads to Madness”, the rest of Queensrÿche’s set dominated Starland with pure heavy metal. Then, because they couldn’t let the opportunity to play the extra track from the remastered and expanded version of The Warning go by, they came back out to play “Prophecy” and closed the night with “Operation: Mindcrime”.
Armored Saint played a 10-song setlist that consisted of:
End of the Attention Span
Raising Fear
Tribal Dance
Last Train Home
March of the Saint
Standing on the Shoulders of Giants
The Pillar
Win Hands Down
Can U Deliver
Reign of Fire
Queensrÿche played a 15-song setlist that consisted of:
Queen of the Reich
Nightrider
Blinded
The Lady Wore Black
Warning
En Force
Deliverance
No Sanctuary
NM 156
Take Hold of the Flame
Before the Storm
Child of Fire
Roads to Madness
Prophecy
Operation: Mindcrime
