Meeting Queensryche 1989
So there we were, some former friends from high school I heading to Tracks at Ward’s Corner in Norfolk, VA to do the free meet and greet with Queensryche. It was a nice warm afternoon in March. Kirshon brought something to get signed but I don’t remember what exactly. One of my friends brought his copy of their first EP and I had nothing. I couldn’t find my Warning cassette so when we were getting out of Kirshon’s truck, I just grabbed a piece of notebook paper.
It was a remarkably small crowd if memory serves me correctly and the line moved quickly. I snapped a few photos and had them sign my sheet of paper, of which each one of them joked on. When they got to my friend’s EP, Tate said, “Where have you been keeping this, in your back pocket?” He laughed and replied with, “Pretty much.” They were all really nice guys and some of the nicest I’ve met in situations like this. They were having fun with the people there and were constantly talking trash to each other.
Queensryche was touring with Metallica on their …And Justice For All/Operation Mindcrime tours, respectively. By this time I was already done with Metallica. I thought AJFA was a shitty album (still do!) and didn’t even really care for Mindcrime (still don’t!), but I figured I’d get to hear enough stuff from the previous 2 albums and the EP to satisfy me. They did several from Mindcrime but it was fine. They kicked ass and made Metallica look like amateurs. Even Metallica’s older songs sounded like they came from AJFA. Blech!
My girlfriend’s little brother Ryan came with us to the show and I think he may have been 14 at the time. He loved Queensryche so we took him. We were all 4 on the barricade for Queensryche but during Metallica we moved back towards the sound board area and a big mosh pit broke out in front of us. Ryan got sucked in and I could see the look of fear in his eyes so I ran into the pit and extracted him as quickly as I could. To this day he still says, “thanks for saving my life that night!” hahaha
Enjoy the photos.
DeGarmo and Rockenfield (click to enlarge)
Queensryche (click to enlarge)
Queensryche autographs...on notebook paper! (click to enlarge)
The Metal Files 
excellent – love the pic’s!
*what’s up with G’s hair? ha ha…
Kinger
Demolish Metal
September 10, 2010 at 11:06 am
Yet another great story.Thanks for sharing.
t-bone
September 10, 2010 at 8:05 pm
Wish I was there. I couldn’t agree with you more about AJFA being “blech”. That album probably helped me more than I think though… it made me really “listen” to a hoard of other bands with a more keen ear, making me realize that “other” bands out there are just as great.
“Operation Mindcrime” I revere… ten-fold. It’s everything about that album I can’t get enough of. You should frame and mat that signed notebook paper and have those photos of the meet/greet surround it, inside the same frame as well. That is a pretty special and cool moment to show and tell us all!
metalodyssey
September 11, 2010 at 10:40 am