Metal Express Radio's Mick Burgess recently caught up with QUEENSRŸCHE frontman Geoff Tate. The following is an excerpt from the interview

Q: Who first came up with the idea of running both Mindcrime albums right the way through on stage?

Tate: "It’s something that’s been brewing in our organisation for a while. We get a lot of letters and e-mails from fans asking us to perform both albums and we sort of took the inspiration from the fans really. We ran the idea past some promoters too and here we are."

Q: The logistics of planning such a theatrical tour must be a nightmare. How long ago did you actually start planning your approach to the performances?

Tate: "It was a six month process of planning it and organising it and getting everything together. Then we had two months of rehearsals with the band and the actors and shot some film and put it all together and we then took it out on the road in America last year. It was hard work and a real challenging show performing that in its entirety every day. We got into the swing of things after about a week and it became something even more than we had anticipated. The fans seem to really enjoy it and the band loves to play it and we’re very proud of it and very happy to be able to do this."

Q: Is it more of a challenge for you doing the Mindcrime shows rather than a regular gig in that you are interacting with characters on stage and performing more like a theatre show than a straightforward gig?

Tate: "It took a lot of planning and there were a lot of people involved. Everyone came on board to help make this happen. It is a challenge doing this show with all the characters, I just try to stay out of the way..Ha!! It’s very cue orientated, there’s cues for lighting and positions. As well as thinking about the music you have so much more to think about too, like you have to stand in a particular place during a song."

Q: The show is scheduled to last around 3 hours. That’s pretty hard going for any singer but there’s some pretty challenging material for you to sing. How will you pace yourself during the shows?

Tate: "The show lasts for three hours and there’s a short intermission between the two acts so I get a short rest. The scenes change over to a different look and then we start on the second part. I find that I become very involved in it and get into the character that I play, which is the Nikki character. I seem to become that character for three hours during the show and it’s very challenging to sing and it’s a very intense musical performance. I also do a lot of physical activity as well. There’s a lot of falling down and falling over. It’s acting you know !! It brings out the Thespian in me!!"

Go to this location for the complete interview.