Well, my mind has just completely been blown.

In my early 20's, I made a list of bands that I hoped to see live before I died. Most of that list has now been exhausted. A few years back, there were 5 left on the list. One was The Cure, who managed to find their way here in 2000. That left 4. Then I was lucky enough to see Megadeth, not once, but twice (in 2001 and 2005). That left 3. Of the 3, I really only thought that I'd get to see one more, and certainly not this one...

So tonight, while surfing, imagine my complete and utter shock when I found out that The Palace, on July 14 this year, will be hosting Queensryche. Ha! Now that's out of the blue to say the least.

Admittedly, their last album was woeful. It was... wait for it... "Operation: Mindcrime II" - a feeble attempt to recapture their glory days from the late '80's. AND they don't have one of their key members (Chris DeGarmo) anymore - they've got some ring in guitarist. BUT you're reading the ramblings of someone who, as a teenager, spent $100 of his hard-earned, shit paying, supermarket wage on an imported video of this band. Someone who took his "handle" for computer hijinx as a teenager from this band. Someone who has both tape, CD and guitar tablature copies of some of their albums. Yep, they had 3 albums that really changed my life, so I'll definitely be there July 14 (Happy forthcoming Birthday Skogg - is it June or July - I think it's July...), regardless of the fact that they haven't done anything good for the past 10 years.

So, soon the list will only have 2 left. One of which I will definitely see (I have considered flying overseas to see this band on a few occasions. I still might. I would pay easily over $500 to see them). The other, is a longshot, but given my discovery tonight, I have hope.

What an excellent start to the weekend.