Styx’s fortunes changed on 7/7/77 when they released their seventh album, “The Grand Illusion,” an album that came out when albums were albums and not filler surrounding a few hit singles. The biggest “hit” on the album, “Come Sail Away,” stalled at number 8 on the Billboard charts and “Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)” fared worse. As an album, “The Grand Illusion’s” fortunes were brighter, becoming the first in a string of multi-platinum releases, and thus propelling Styx forever into the rock pantheon.
Perhaps the greater accomplishment occurred a little over a year later when Styx released “Pieces of Eight.” Instead of a retread, Styx took some chances with “Pieces of Eight” and the result was a follow up album that did just as well as its predecessor and in many ways, outdid it in quality. Taken together, “The Grand Illusion” and “Pieces of Eight” represent everything that makes Styx a great band.
They also made for a great show Friday night in Erie, Pennsylvania, as the current lineup of Styx presented the iconic pair of albums in their original running order. It was a nostalgic evening paradoxically filled with deep cuts overshadowing hits, and an older band that looked and sounded youthful and energetic.
The show opened with the title cut from “The Grand Illusion” following a short presentation scrolling across the big screen in the style of the opening of “Star Wars.” After the text, a short video of a kid flipping through his stack of albums, including Styx’s eponymous debut, Boston, REO and James Gang albums, until he gets to “The Grand Illusion.” The boy puts on big headphones (I forgot how huge headphones used to be) and places the album on the turntable and the show begins.
Lawrence Gowan had the task of handling the Dennis DeYoung material. Thankfully, Gowan is not a mimic. Even though his voice is similar to DeYoung’s, he has a unique voice and an entirely different stage presence than DeYoung. I found Gowan’s performance respectful of Dennis DeYoung’s talent in the same way that bass player Ricky Philips and drummer Todd Sucherman’s performance is respectful of the Panozzo brothers.
On “The Grand Illusion,” the band sounded fantastic with the highlights being on side two, including a blistering version of “Miss America,” that featured some amazing work on the drum kit by Todd Sucherman. James Young wowed the crowd with powerful vocals and tasty licks on the guitar. Tommy Shaw followed “Miss America” with a delightful rendition of “Man in the Wilderness.” Shaw and Young seemed to be having the time of their lives, and when original bass player Chuck Panozzo appeared onstage for “Fooling Yourself” and “Come Sail Away,” the crowd gave him a rousing welcome.
After a brief intermission, the band returned to the stage to perform “Pieces of Eight.” Of the two albums, “Piece’s of Eight” is darker and more complex. The DeYoung, Young composition “Queen of Spades” was fantastic as was the title cut from the album. “Queen of Spades” reminds me most of the pre-Tommy Shaw Styx era, but make no mistake about it, the “Pieces of Eight” album was Tommy Shaw’s finest hour as a performer and songwriter, yielding the show stopping hits “Blue Collar Man (Long Nights)” and “Renegade.”
After the album presentations, the band performed “I Am the Walrus” and “Too Much Time on my Hands.” If there is any drawback to performing classic albums, it is that the logical encores like “Come Sail Away” and “Renegade” had already been performed earlier in the evening. Both encore songs were great, but strangely anti-climactic after the amazing album performances.
Overall, it was a delightful show, one designed for lovers of the lost art of album making. In as much as it brought back fond memories, this is a show that people of all ages could really enjoy and if you love music you will be sad you missed it.
Set 1
The Grand Illusion
Fooling Yourself (Angry Young Man)
Superstars
Come Sail Away
Miss America
Man in the Wilderness
Castle Walls
The Grand Finale
Set 2
Great White Hope
I’m Ok
Sing for the Day
The Message
Lords of the Ring
Blue Collar Man
Queen of Spades
Renegade
Pieces of Eight
Aku-Aku
Encore:
I Am the Walrus (Beatles cover)
Too Much Time On My Hands
Photos by Gus Griesinger
We would like to thank Terry Gibson for allowing Backstageaxxess.com to review the show.
