GEOFF TATE On Performing Live: 'I Feed Off The Audience; If They're Excited, It Makes Me Excited'

In a new interview with Hall Around Town Radio, former QUEENSRŸCHE frontman Geoff Tate spoke about his heavy touring schedule at the age of 64. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I feel better when I work. I feel stronger the more I sing, the more we perform. And, yeah, you just get to a level, I guess, of performance that —you try to get there, at least — where it's easy for you to keep doing it. And that's kind of what happens, I think, if you stay at it every day. We try to take one day off to give the crew a rest, but we do six shows a week, basically. And the tour never ends, really, 'cause where one tour ends, the other one begins a couple days later. [After] our American tour, we head over to Europe and Ireland in particular, start there, right after; I think we have three days off or something like that, travel time, to get there."

Regarding the high energy level of his live performances, Geoff said: "Well, I have to sort of give credit to the audience, really. The audience really pushes me over the top. I try to kind of maintain a certain performance level, but I can really be swayed by the audience. And I have to — well, I have to discipline myself, because sometimes I'll just give in to… Like a Sunday-night crowd is oftentimes less energetic than a Saturday-night audience. And I'm like everyone —I get kind of lulled in to the Sunday doldrums where you just want to like lay on the sofa and watch TV. [Laughs] It's hard to work on a Sunday, right? But over the years, I've just sort of disciplined myself to do it. And I feed off the audience — I really do. I feed off their energy. And if they're excited, it makes me excited."

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.

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.