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MUSIC REVIEW: Crowd sails away with Styx
Arena rockers prove they're still a mighty force as performers
BY MELISSA RUGGIERI
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Jun 16, 2006
CONCERT REVIEW
STYX
AT: Innsbrook's FasMart Pavilion, last night
Mention Styx's name and the response is usually either a roll of the eyes or something about Cartman crooning "Come Sail Away" in a 1997 episode of "South Park."
It's unfair, really, that a band so adept at swooping arena rock is ridiculed rather than celebrated. Oh, of course "Babe" is cheesy drivel and "Mr. Roboto," karaoke gem that it is, represented the beginning of a six-year Styx disappearance in the'80s that not many complained about.
But even without Dennis DeYoung, who either left or was kicked out of the band around 2000, depending upon whose camp you believe, Styx remains a mighty force live.
The musical centerpiece is represented by the odd blonde guitar couple of Tommy Shaw and James "JY" Young, the former a diminutive David Spade doppelg?nger with a goatee and a pocket full of chatty licks and the latter the towering muscle onstage, his face affixed with a permanent smile.
Last night's 100-minute set at Innsbrook opened with a trio of songs intended to showcase each lead singer. It took Shaw a few bars to ease into "Blue Collar Man," but DeYoung's replacement, Lawrence Gowan, sparked immediately with "Grand Illusion," his voice an uncanny mirror of DeYoung's theatrical tenor. Young dove into "Lorelei," with trademark gruffness, but the song peaked when the frontline trio, plus bassist Ricky Phillips, chimed in with tight harmonies and drummer Todd Sucherman offered some fat drum fills straight out of 1975.
But Gowan, for all of his strengths as a vocalist and keyboardist, is a bit too "Phantom of the Opera" for these guys. His spinning synthesizer -- and his subsequent playing behind it and upside down -- was a gimmicky attempt at visual razzle-dazzle that wound up distracting from the songs rather than supporting them. His foppish leanings were particularly annoying during a lengthy medley that included snippets of "Rockin' the Paradise," "Crystal Ball" and the trippy "Lights Up," spoiled by his unsubtle need to command the spotlight.
It's precisely the unpretentious rock star quality of Shaw that, by contrast, made him a delight to watch. His "Too Much Time On My Hands" with a lyric change to "Is it any wonder I'm not the governor of Virginia?" sounded fresher than you would think, considering it's been played about 82,637 times on classic rock radio in the past five years alone. Likewise the sensitive "Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)," so full and passionate and perfectly in key, it could have been inside a packed arena in 1977 instead of outside in front of 3,000-plus fans on a humid night in Glen Allen.
Though the set focused on Styx's massive catalog, the band made a quick detour to last year's "Big Bang Theory," its covers album of influential songs. Obviously, if you're going to tackle The Beatles, you'd better do it right -- and Styx does. They didn't even choose an easy Beatles tune, instead opting for one of the band's most challenging, "I Am the Walrus." But they nailed every nuance, from percussion to multilayered harmonies to quirky time changes.
All evening, the crowd sang along fervently, most members reliving some element of their youth. But it was the soaring melodies of "Come Sail Away," introduced by Gowan's chiming keyboard, that resulted in arm swaying and air guitar playing. Somewhere, Cartman is grinning.
Contact staff writer Melissa Ruggieri at mruggieri@timesdispatch.com or (804) 649-6120
