Live Review: Geoff Tate + Daxx & Roxane @ The Waterloo Music Bar , Blackpool on Wednesday 21 June 2023

According to popular stereotypes, the Swiss are known for, amongst other things, Toblerone, Cuckoo Clocks and a calm neutrality.  I don’t know about the first two, but no-one seems to have told Daxx & Roxane about the last!  

When before they’ve even played a single note they are knocking back shots from a square bottle, you know this is a band that’s here for a good time not a long time.  A delightfully madcap confection of classic rock riffage and eighties excess, they are a blur of energy, colour and fun from start to finish! Cal Wymann on lead guitar is a veritable dynamo, careening from one side of the stage to the other, vaulting from the riser with scant regard to logic or indeed safety. The appropriately titled ‘Sugar Rush’, sets out their manifesto early, a blistering up-tempo number, complete with obligatory “woah woahs” but with an unexpectedly tasty harmonica solo, from rhythm guitarist Simon Golaz.  Bassist and vocalist Cedric Pfister, is the eye of this storm, even with Cal playing his bass for him from behind his back during one particular number.  They groove, vibe and bounce through the rest of their frenetic set, as the temperature in the venue continues to climb with the waves of heat and energy generated on stage washing out over the crowd.  Somewhere along the line, drummer Luca Senaldi loses his shirt, only for the perpetually moving Cal to clamber over his sparkly red kit and replace him on drums for a few bars, before they swap back again without so much as missing a beat.  Even a broken string (a D string I am reliably informed by photographer Darren) can’t derail the band’s momentum, finishing the song a string short before swapping to a Flying V.  More acrobatic antics ensue with the guitarists charging one another matador-like, before the set ends with ‘Good Vibes’ which encapsulates the spirit of Daxx & Roxane in a single song.  There’s no doubt that whilst many may have been unfamiliar with the band by the end of the set they had certainly won the hearts and minds of many of the Waterloo crowd… 

Back in 1983, on the recommendation of the Heavy Metal bible, Kerrang, my fourteen-year-old self scoured the record stores of my home town in search of the “Queen of the Reich” EP (remember those?).  And from the moment the needle gently thumped into the groove of the vinyl, in my teenage bedroom, I was completely captivated.   The playing, the drama, the atmosphere, the sheer scale of those four tracks.   

And that voice.   

The last time I actually saw Geoff Tate was when Queensryche supported Dio in 1984.  Nearly four decades later, in the far more intimate confines of the Waterloo Music Bar, that voice has lost none of its ability to delight and astonish, the clarity, tone and range just as phenomenal in 2023 as they were all those years ago.   

It’s the 35th anniversary of “Operation Mindcrime”, and as such we get that album in its entirety. The opening salvo of ‘Anarchy-X’, with its militaristic snare drum patterns and sweeping dynamic guitar lines, sees the three guitarists surge to the barrier in unison, providing the perfect prelude before the man himself picks up the mic and we dive headlong into the clarion call of ‘Revolution Calling’.   

Surrounding himself with a young band of prodigious talent and skill, from the very first note Geoff shows he is the consummate performer whose charisma and magnetic stage presence simply demand your attention. “Operation Mindcrime” is widely considered to be one of the greatest of all concept albums, but tonight, in front of a packed crowd of the Waterloo faithful it is nothing short of a revelation.  Live there is an added urgency and edge to the tale of the tragic Nikki, with Geoff completely inhabiting the roles in the songs, each one the perfect musical vignette driving the narrative onwards.  With between song banter kept to a minimum – in fact there is none at all until about eight songs in – this adds still further to the drama and immersion in the storyline.  There’re no video projections or any other props to tell the story; there doesn’t need to be.  The strength of the music and Geoff’s powerful performance stand on their own, only enhanced further when Geoff’s daughter Emily Tate makes her entrance, to deliver a committed passionate turn as the doomed titular character in the always dramatic ‘Suite Sister Mary’.  

In a set that is full of highlights, ‘I Don’t Believe in Love’ gets one of the strongest crowd responses of the night, the chorus belted back with a fervour and intensity, as, it has to be said, it is with every song, with many of the crowd word-perfect. Tonight, the crowd and the band are as one, hands and voices raised together in a joyful communion between those on and off the stage. 

‘Eyes of a Stranger’ bring the “Operation Mindcrime” section of the set to a stunning close, and then the pace changes with the luscious and delicate ‘Silent Lucidity’, allowing the rapt audience a moment to draw a much-needed breath.  It provides an emotional pause before we are treated to a brace of back-to-back classics. The brooding ‘Empire’, the classic ‘Take Hold of the Flame’, then ‘Jet City Woman’ with its propulsive and mesmerising bass intro and singalong chorus brings the set to a sweat-drenched (on both sides of the barrier) conclusion and the band depart. 

But just when you thought they could do no more, Geoff returns again for one last song. “How far back do you want to go?”  he teases; a voice in the crowd responds “all the way!” and just like that we’ve come full circle back to 1983, with the power and majesty of the track that started it all, ‘Queen of the Reich’.  Even after nearly ninety minutes of vocal gymnastics, Geoff somehow manages to still deliver those electrifying highest of notes, raising the hairs on back of your neck.  It’s bombastic, over-the-top and quite simply magnificent and I think there must be something in my eye, as both my fourteen-year-old and fifty-four-year-old selves, revel in this moment, overwhelmed and exhilarated, as then and now collide.  

Simply a phenomenal performance from a true legend… 

Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!
Geoff Tate, Daxx & Roxane