Operation: Mindcrime was never exactly background music. Queensrÿche’s 1988 concept album wrapped progressive metal around a story involving political corruption, addiction, assassination and revolution, becoming the record most closely associated with Geoff Tate’s tenure as the band’s frontman. Nearly four decades later, Tate is giving the album another full theatrical run with “The Final Chapter,” performing Operation: Mindcrime from beginning to end. It’s both a nostalgia trip and a reminder of an era when metal bands could make sprawling concept records about shadowy political conspiracies and somehow sell a million copies. Subtle it wasn’t. Ambitious it absolutely was.
Geoff Tate’s Operation: Mindcrime – The Final Chapter
Thu, Oct 1, 8pm, $45-$85
Guild Theatre, Menlo Park

