GEOFF TATE Looks Back On QUEENSRŸCHE's 1986 Tour As Support Act For BON JOVI: 'They Treated Everybody With Respect'

In a new interview with Michele Amabile of the 107.1 The Boss radio station, original QUEENSRŸCHE singer Geoff Tate reflected on the band's 1986 tour as the support act for BON JOVI. He said: "We opened up for 'em on the 'Slippery When Wet' tour. And they were just really starting to hit big at that time. And it was exciting to watch their success and how they handled it. It was such a wonderful band of guys at that time. They were very happy to be there. They were excited and they treated everybody with respect. They were one of the few bands that said to their opening act — which was us — 'Have the stage. Do with it as you please.' And they didn't hold anything back, which was very admirable. A lot of bands would see a band like us and feel competitive and maybe not so confident in their own abilities. But they did. They were a very good band. Very confident."

Last month, Tate told Mike Hsu of the 100 FM The Pike radio station that he was "on the second round of writing" his autobiography.

Geoff celebrated his 64th birthday on January 14 during his concert at Amaturo Theater in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

After Tate's current six-week tour of the United States, he will embark on a European tour playing QUEENSRŸCHE's "Operation: Mindcrime" album in its entirety to celebrate its 35th anniversary. He will return to the U.S. in early 2024 for a co-headlining tour with VANDENBERG, the band led by former WHITESNAKE guitarist Adrian Vandenberg.

In April 2014, Tate and QUEENSRŸCHE announced that a settlement had been reached after a nearly two-year legal battle where the singer sued over the rights to the QUEENSRŸCHE name after being fired in 2012.

Tate was replaced in QUEENSRŸCHE by former CRIMSON GLORY singer Todd La Torre.

As part of the settlement, Tate gained sole rights to perform the "Operation: Mindcrime" album in its entirety at "unique performances," as well as "Operation: Mindcrime II", the 2006 sequel to the original album.

"What we settled on in the court case was they bought the [QUEENSRŸCHE] name from me," Tate told The Gazette earlier this year. "It's probably a good thing because none of them, I don't think, could have survived if they had to go by their own names rather than the one QUEENSRŸCHE. It worked out for both parties really well."

In the summer of 2022, Tate underwent an aortic valve replacement at the Universitäts-Herzzentrum Freiburg-Bad Krozingen (University Heart Center Freiburg) in Bad Krozingen, Germany.