805. Queensrÿche / Mindcrime at the Moore. 2007. 3.5/5

Continuing on with the sequence of studio album followed by live album, Queensrÿche went forth with this in releasing Mindcrime at the Moore. Certainly it was a unique opportunity, in which the band could perform their seminal Operation: Mindcrime album in it's entirety, alongside its sequel Operation: Mindcrime II in its entirety, back to back. Well, it seems like a great idea and historical moment on paper, but is the reality really that awe inspiring? Besides the fact that if you got to see the entire performance live you would probably be happy, but is it a release that is worthy of genuine affection?

The biggest problem facing this is that Operation: Mindcrime had been performed and recorded live before, back in 1991 on the Empire tour when the band regularly did the entire album live. It was then released on both album and video as Operation:LIVEcrime, and that release shows the band at its peak giving the album the performance it deserved. Doing this once again, 15 years later, and missing a vital ingredient in Chris DeGarmo (whose place here is taken by Mike Stone), leaves it open to a rather harsh judgement. Perhaps that is a little unfair, because there is an effort to make this more than just a concert. They have added in actors to do the talk pieces in between songs and make it more of a stage show. And overall the musicianship is still good, and the vocals are close enough to the mark to not make a lot of difference. Yet there is no doubt this has been done before, and will forever be judged against that recorded performance. As good as it is here, I will always prefer to put on Operation:LIVEcrime than I will be to put on the first disc of Mindcrime at the Moore.
The next problem facing this album is that Mindcrime at the Moore is but a pale comparison to its prequel, and though the album is fine in its own setting, it never really had that excitement feel about it, that it would set the stage alight if it was played live. So I always felt they would have to tweak it to make it work live, make it faster and bigger and fuller if it was going to light up the crowd. Well, what appears to have been done is to slow down those initial faster songs at the start of the album, to keep the mood in a similar mid-range tempo. Why? I don't really know, because surely the crowd would have liked to have gotten into the performance more than was surely possible under those circumstances. Apart from "Signs Say Go" and "The Chase", the songs here are quite possibly less enthralling than they are on album, which is somewhat damning of any live performance. In my mind I guess the second half of the album had little to no chance anyway, as it is very dull and lifeless. Still I hoped for better.
The positive note is that this double live album extravaganza does NOT end with the fairly abysmal "All The Promises", which would have been a real downer for the crowd (and the listening audience). Instead, we are treated to terrific versions of "Walk in the Shadows" and "Jet City Woman", when you can really hear the crowd singing along and enjoying themselves immensely. This for me is the damning feature of the release. For the most part of this second CD you can't hear the crowd, but you sure can during these two songs. Pretty much says it all I think.

The DVD is probably more entertaining than the CD version, because at least you get to see a little of what is going on (though mostly it is focused on Geoff Tate, as in the cover of the album). And your enjoyment of this album is directly tied to how much you like the two albums which are played here in their entirety. All in all, it has probably been done better elsewhere, but as a moment in time it is something I can still pull out and listen to from time to time.

Rating:  By day we'll live in a dream, we'll walk in the shadows.  3.5/5