I went down to Gothenburg last weekend to catch Tate performing Rage for Order and Empire in their entirety and original running order. The club they were playing was packed - I was expecting a smaller turnout. The support band, "Captain Black Beard" was very good and one of the few times I've enjoyed an opening act I'd never heard of.
Now, the Geoff Tate band basically consisted of his friend Mark Daly's band, but with a flown in drummer, as the previous guy had run into health issues and the replacement drummer had apparently learned the set in two days. He had never heard Tate's music before.
This was the opening night of the tour and the backing band pulled it off rather well, with a couple of hickups during two song endings. Other than that, a good performance. Tate himself sang well and went for a couple of pretty damn high notes during the Rage For Order material. His timbre is a bit nasal and worn these days, but I think it's pretty understandable after 35+ years of touring (and the fact that according to Ken Tamplin early bridging singing, which is the basis for Tate's vocals, is hard to maintain over a long period of time). There was some unfortunate off key singing during the first section of Is Anybody Listening, which was a bit painful, but other than that Tate held his own. They finished off with Eyes of A Stranger as encore. They are playing a city near me on the 15th of February but unfortunately it's the same night as Sabaton is playing Stockholm.
Edit: Found this gem while browsing Youtube. This vid from 2008 is the most 90's sounding I've heard Tate in the last 20 years. Just about identical to the studio version. While the ongoing tour is Tate in good form (relatively), it doesn't come near this.
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