The very first installment of the 2025 Batavia Downs concert series brought us a gem in Queensryche, to open things up with. They last played the venue in 2021 as we were slowly coming out of the pandemic. Queensryche has been around since 1982, and have gone through a few lineup changes. Since the last time they played Batavia Downs, the same lineup remains in effect. That is founding members Michael Wilton on guitar and Eddie Jackson on bass. They are joined by Todd La Torre on vocals, Casey Grillo on drums and Mike Stone on rhythm guitar.
The band really focused on paying their most well known tracks with a a newer track tossed into the set. The band set the bar super high by opening up with “Queen of the Reich.” That vocal is insanely high but singer Todd LaTorre was more than up to the task. In fact, a lot of the earlier Queensryche stuff has a lot of hard vocals to sing but again, LaTorre was up to the task the entire night, hitting note after note. During “Walk in the Shadows,” a fan threw up a red shirt that LaTorre retrieved. It said Buffalo Mafia and LaTorre held the shirt up so the entire crowd could see it. That gesture even got the crowd more energized. “For a die hard Queensryche fan, you couldn’t ask for a more represented setlist. “The Lady wore Black,” Breaking the Silence” and and going all the way back to the beginning for “Warning” were played. The rhythm section was super tight with Jackson and Grillo holding down that low end. Wilton and Stone met together a few times at the forefront of the stage to play off of each other. The band played a track from their latest effort ‘Digital Noise Allowance’ called “Behind the Walls.” I thought the song went over very well with the Batavia crowd. LaTorre thanked the concert goers for making them feel at home and for coming out to see them before they went into “Take Hold the Flame.” Wilton came out by himself to play the opening chords to “Silent Lucidity,” before the rest of the band joined in. Queensryche came out 2 do encores which were “Empire” and maybe my favorite Queensryche song in “Eyes of a Stranger.”
It was truly solid opening night of music for Batavia Downs and lets hope that the rest of the lineup can meet or exceed expectations going from here.
Setlist:
Queen of the Reich
Operation: Mindcrime
Walk in the Shadows
The Lady Wore Black
Breaking the Silence
I Don’t Believe in Love
The Mission
Warning
Behind the Walls
Take Hold the Flame
Silent Lucidity
Jet City Woman
Screaming in Digital
Encore:
Empire
Eyes of a Stranger
We would like to thank Ryan Hasenauer from Batavia Downs for the credentials to review the show.
