Queensrÿche Provide a Night of Hair Metal Fun to the Audience at OLG Stage in Niagara Falls [Photos]

Queensrÿche and Quiet Riot came together to pack in hair metal fans at the OLG Stage in Niagara Falls, once again reminding fans that music remains timeless and rock n’ roll is far from dead.

The night started with Quiet Riot, delivering a high-energy set of hard rock. With the guitarist and bassist switching from stage left to stage right all night long, it was hard to stay out of focus for long if you weren’t constantly refocusing; the stage looked completely different.

Quiet Riot is most known for their album titled Metal Health that came out in 1983; most of the set consisted of songs from this album, but most notably, the band dedicated “Thunderbird” to the original members of Quiet Riot who passed away. These members are Frankie Banali, Kevin Dubrow, and Randy Rhoads. And although he wasn’t a part of the band, they also dedicated it to the Prince of Darkness, Ozzy Osbourne.

This setlist featured a good number of covers. They covered “Mama Weer All Crazee Now” and “Cum On Feel The Noize” both by Slade, “Blackout in the Red Room” by Love/Hate, the former band of the current vocalist for Quiet Riot, Jizzy Pearl. And a guitar solo mashup, notably featuring “Crazy Train” and “Eruption.”

Seats were filled, the crowd was loud, and Quiet Riot ended their set with “Metal Health (Bang Your Head)” to ensure the crowd was warmed up for Queensrÿche.

It didn’t take long for the stage setup, before the video screen showed a robot introducing the band and the first song, “Queen of the Reich.” The band instantly kicked into overdrive, showing off the pure talent of everybody on the stage.

Notably, I was shocked by the vocal power of Todd La Torre since joining Queensrÿche in 2012. He knew he had some big boots to fill, and I would say he’s done a damn good job at overfilling the boots. The sound takes you right back to the ’80s, when Headbangers Ball ruled MTV.

OLG Stage is a more intimate stage than most venues in Canada, but this doesn’t mean bands can’t crank up the volume like it’s a full-blown arena. This was easily one of the loudest concerts to come through Niagara Falls in quite some time, and it was only fitting that the crowd was packed in for it.

How can I forget the instrumentals as well? The drummer’s bell cymbal was being destroyed all night long in the best way possible; the sound of it filled the entire theatre, and the guitarists kept the solos flowing all night long, and the tone of those guitars hasn’t aged a bit. Simply put, seeing Queensrÿche is like taking a time machine to the 1980s and deciding to enjoy a concert from that era.

Queensrÿche show no signs of ending their tour anytime soon, with tour dates extending through the summer. Like I said before, if you want to really feel like you’re stuck in the ’80s, go to a Queensrÿche concert. If the music doesn’t make you feel like you hopped into a time machine, then the crowd that goes with a Queensrÿche show will. OLG Stage was filled with a whole lot of hair, and I can guarantee most of them were watching Headbangers Ball when it was airing on MTV!