PHOTOS — Queensrÿche w/ Armored Saint at Jannus Live St. Pete 2024 ⋆ Shows I Go To | 🎤 Florida Concerts, Festivals, & Giveaways

PHOTOS — Queensrÿche w/ Armored Saint at Jannus Live St. Pete 2024

Queensrÿche w/ Armored Saint • May 09, 2024 • Jannus Live — St. Petersburg, FL • Photos by Randy Cook — instagram.com/horns_raised

Live Review Queensrÿche

May 9, 2024 | Jannus Live, St. Petersburg, FL
Review by: Randy Cook /// @horns_raised

Queensrÿche stormed into the courtyard of Jannus Live on Thursday, May 9th 2024 with ‘The Origins Tour’. This tour focuses on the band’s history and beginnings with their 1983 self-titled EP and their 1984 debut release, ‘The Warning’ being played in their entirety. Even though the band is based out of the Northwest part of the country, their shows here locally have that homecoming feel as three of the band members live in the area and lead singer, Todd La Torre, resides not too far away from me. Opening the show were heavy metal titans Armored Saint. We were in for quite the metal treat this evening as these two bands have almost eighty five collective years of musical history between them.

I had recently seen both Queensrÿche and Armored Saint perform on the 2024 Monsters of Rock Cruise (MORC) and Queensrÿche performed on the 2024 Cruise to the Edge the week after MORC. I was the photographer for the Queensrÿche photo experience on MORC so I had an extended amount of time to hang out and chat with the fellas in the band. Chatting with Todd about how great the local pizza place is and how he just recently brought (guitarist) Michael Wilton there for his first time. I always joke that if Queensrÿche is not on tour, there is always the chance of running into Todd at Little Italy (the kick ass local pizza place).

I arrived at the venue just as the doors opened, as I did not want to miss a single note of this great lineup that was in store for us this evening. Several of my friends were already there and after chatting with them for a little bit I went off to find my friend Nikki who is doing merchandise sales for Armored Saint on this tour. It was great to see and chat with her. While the show did not sell out, it came very close as the venue was near capacity based on the crowd size. Unfortunately, this was the first evening since last summer where the humidity was out in full force. Even Todd made a mention of how hot it was about halfway through the Queensrÿche set.

Being a people watcher, I always make note of the age demographics at the Shows I Go To. As expected, this evening was skewed toward an older and mostly male crowd, but I do want to mention and give metal props to the family who had several youngsters in their group. Whether it was one family unit or parents that volunteered to chaperone a group, these kids were for sure under the age of ten and had to be the coolest kids in school the next day. I noticed them in the crowd just before Queensrÿche took the stage and made sure to catch a glimpse of them as I exited the photo pit and those kids were rocking out hard with their horns in the air! Sadly, their group left before I could find them after the show to get a group photo.

This would be my fifth time seeing Armored Saint. They were part of a record breaking three concert series for me in late 2022. They were the opening act for W.A.S.P. and I saw that tour three consecutive shows, one in Orlando, then the next week at both of the Chicago shows. It was the first time I had ever seen the same tour for three stops, and also seeing the same band(s) for three concerts in a row was a record for me. Armored Saint were only able to play one of their two scheduled MORC shows as their pool stage set on the last evening of the cruise got rained out. While the rainout was a bummer, I knew I had this upcoming show of theirs to look forward to.

The band took the stage right at 8PM sharp and bassist Joey Vera greeted the crowd and said that lead singer John Bush was still having issues with his voice and that Jason McMaster, lead singer of Dangerous Toys, would fill in on vocal duties so the show could still go on. The band had to cancel a couple of shows last week and while I had hoped John would be back sadly he was not. When Jason hit the stage, he was wearing a Nasty Savage shirt, which I found out after the show was a local metal band formed back in the early 80s. Props to Jason for showing some hometown metal love. Nasty Savage re-formed and after reading about the band I need to check them out.

Armored Saint put on a great, high energy set, playing eight songs from five of their studio releases. There was no drop off the vocal talent from John to Jason and Armored Saint constructs their songs to blend heavy metal with elements of hard rock and thrash metal. Powerful riffs, melodic hooks, and robust arrangements kept the crowd engaged and the consensus was they needed to play a longer set, like come back and do a headline show. One of my photographer friends is friends with Armored Saint’s drummer, Gonzo Sandoval, and we had a chance to chat with him at the end of the show about how the band recruited Jason to fill in and to reminisce about how awesome MORC was. It was really interesting to get a glimpse into the business side of bands touring and hear some of the stories Gonzo has experienced on tour.

This evening was the seventeenth time for me seeing Queensrÿche. I have been a fan of and following this band since my high school days in the mid-1980s and just like the last time Queensrÿche played Jannus, had to give grief to a friend who did not want to go because it is not the original lead singer. I was like, really? Dude, name a band that has been around as long as they have who still has all original members – it is about the music and the camaraderie of enjoying live music with your friends. Sadly I could not persuade him to go and it was 100% his loss because Queensrÿche put on a kick ass performance.

Queensrÿche hit the stage promptly at 9:15PM to a loud cheer from the crowd. As promised, ‘Queen of the Reich’ was up first and to hear Todd hit that amazingly long and high intro, I knew this was going to be a kick ass show. I had only seen Queensrÿche with Geoff Tate twice, so the vast majority of the shows of theirs I have seen of theirs has been with Todd fronting the band. This would be the first time I had hear Todd go that deep into the band’s discography and I was curious myself because it had been years, if not decades since I have heard some of their earlier stuff. As I have mentioned from prior shows, those first three songs when I am behind the lens I am more feeling than hearing the music so the nostalgia of what I was hearing did not hit me until after I was out of the photo pit.

After those first three songs up front I settled into a spot on an elevated platform near the back of the venue and just took in the tunes and the reactions of those around me. Queensrÿche is known for powerful vocals intermixed in solid song construction, and the rawness of their early day sound stood out to me. While I had heard and read of some grumblings of fans who had attended prior stops on this tour and bemoaned how there were no ‘big hits’ being played, as any live song is being played at any concert I go to it is always in the back of my mind how that song is someone’s favorite song who is there and is the one they wanted to hear the most so I have always stayed on the sideline of that debate.

Queensrÿche has a devoted fan base, and I saw many in attendance sing along to every word of every songs with raised hands in the air. While Todd delivers the band’s iconic sound with passion and precision, Mike and Stony are complimenting each other’s talents trading off intricate dual lead guitar riffs, each taking the spotlight both individually and together as the complex musical arrangements align their solos.

In between songs, Todd mentioned how this was a hometown show for him and drummer Casey. He mentioned how guitarist Mike had just recently relocated to the area, now they just needed bassist Eddie and guitarist Stony to follow suit. This immediately brought me back to being a senior in high school in 1987, not too far away from the venue itself. I would skip class and go to a friend’s house close by to get high and listen to music. One of the guys in our group, his father was someone in the music business and he got his hands on an early copy ‘Operation: Mindcrime’. Being almost forty years ago I do not recall all of the details, but I specifically recall that I would skip Geometry class while my friends had lunch. The only real thing I remember is how killer that album was (and still is today) and I have been a fan of the band ever since. I also remember failing Geometry because I skipped eighty seven of the ninety day semester as it was way more fun to hang with my friends then go to class.

As the set list progressed flashes of familiarity for the tunes happened for me. A lot of these songs I had not heard in forever and the band dedicating this tour to their beginnings and their fans prompted me to listen to this set on random as I write this. It was a fantastic night, filled with friends and great tunes in one of my favorite venues. With only a handful of dates left on The Origins Tour, both bands will continue touring and their future show dates can be seen on their respective websites: