Two big names of the 80s teamed up and took the Music City by its cowboy boots. Adrian Vandenberg, and Geoff Tate played the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville Tennessee on March 5th, to a very rock n roll hungry crowd.
Adrian’s band, properly named Vandenberg, took the stage first. The screams of excitement started right when the first member hit the stage. Vandenberg opened with “Hit the Ground Running” off their newest album, Sin, released in 2023. Not only was the album well received by fans all over the world but the song they did play was the perfect way to open the show. A few days prior to this show Adrian took to his social media accounts to express how much he enjoys having so many Whitesnake songs in the set as it was 12 years of his career. Vandenberg played 7 Whitesnake songs out of an 11 song set and the crowd devoured every song.
Vandenberg’s current lead singer, Mats Levén, has quite the resume, including working with Yngwie Malmsteen and touring with Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Levén has a very seductive voice that pairs very well with the overall sex appeal of almost every Whitesnake song. He stays nicely in a lower register which is perfect for songs like “Sailing Ships,” but when he needs to hit the high notes, like in “Still of the Night,” he hits them spot on. Ears perk up and bras come off. (Not literally but it wouldn’t be surprising). Adrian even stated he had vocal cords of steel.
Adrian started Vandenberg when he was around 27 years young, watching him play on stage 43 years later he is still that lively young man who stole hearts with the power of his guitar in the 80s. Whether you understand how to play or not there is no questioning Adrian’s abilities. Every guitarist says they always have more to learn but watching and listening to him play it’s easy to say that every young guitarist could learn a lot from him.
The rhythm sections is currently made up of Randy Van derElsen on bass and Joey Marin on drums. 10 out of 10 and absolutely solid pair. Van der Elsen absolutely tears up the bass and his facial expressions show that he’s not just playing the notes but feeling the music as he goes. Marin destroys the drums with such speed yet such grace and happily holds up the thunderous sounds of Vandenberg and Whitesnake. Last but certainly not least, Len Van de Laak adds those finishing touches on the keyboard.
Vandenberg had a very good mix of high and low energy songs transitioning from the intensity of Vandenberg’s “Freight Train” to the slightly more subdued sound of Whitesnake’s “Sailing Ships.” The most intimate moment of their whole show was during “Here I go Again.” As the band began their final song every fan in the audience knew their role.
Levén let the crowd have their moment singing the chorus back at him, and even had the crowd repeat it back to him one extra time. Needless to say, Vandenberg set the crowd on fire and prepared them for who was to take the stage next.
Geoff Tate and his band closed out the night. The second the lights went out, the crowd was on their feet trying to get as close to the stage as a seated venue would allow. They opened the show with “Empire,” the title track off Queensryche’s fourth studio album. Tate and his band treated fans to at least one song off of six different Queensryche albums including Operation: Mindcrime, Rage for Order, and Promised Land.
Very little has changed with Tate’s vocal range since the release of the self titled EP Queensryche in 1983. Every vocalist who has been doing this for as long as he has should be aware of what notes they can and can’t hit. Tate smoothly transitioned over pieces that he may have felt weren’t going to come out like the album, but also added a little spice to those high notes he knew he could hold.
Sound is definitely very important when putting on a good show for obvious reasons but so is having good chemistry between band mates. The best way to describe the relationship between Tate and his band is a loving and encouraging father and his 6 sons. Tate has put together a nice blend of young international rockstars.
Tate had up to 4 guitarists raising hell behind him, including James Brown (Ireland), Dario Parente (Italy), Amaury Altmayer (France), and Cillian Plummer (Ireland). The fun didn’t stop with the guitarists. The fiery rhythm section was made up of Jack Ross (Scotland) on bass and Danny Laverde on Drums. As a group they play like they are the original line up of Queensryche!
Fans sang along to every song never missing a beat and it fed the energy of everyone on stage. Tate even conducted the crowd during “Operation: Mindcrime.” After singing “Screaming in Digital,” Tate explained how he loves singing that song because of how accurate it is in this day and age with AI and all the new technology that has come along since the song was released.
Tate is not only a wonderful musician but there is something oddly satisfying about his story telling. Right before going into “Silent Lucidity,” he tells a silly story of being recognized at a gas station but not for being Geoff Tate! As the show comes close to the end Tate asks what everyone would like to hear as the last song. Unanimously the crowd screams for “Queen of the Reich” and honestly it was the perfect way to close out the show.
Tate and Vandenberg came together to remind the crowd of what fun the 80s were or for those of us not alive then, to give us a little taste of what it was like. – Tanis Enos
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