DDY 6/29/2012 IN MARYLAND

[DavidD]

It's called the Dundalk Heritage Festival. Anybody who knows Dundalk on the southeast side of Baltimore can identify with the area's grittiness combined with families of tradition. There were quite a few "rockin folks" who thought it was a good idea to poney up the 5 bucks to get in the festival, tote along a folding chair and stake out a spot to hear some classic Styx tunes.

After checking out the beer garden for a few, I heard the familiar sounds of a concert about to go. By the way, I had some really cool conversations in the garden with a retired police officer from the area.

At this point I decide to make my way to a spot from the back of the audience; on the keyboard side to observe the opening of the show. Sounded pretty good. I have never been one to remember set lists. But, he played STYX stuff. The crowd in the beginning was a bit slow to get into it. And there was this awl full problem “bass related” that every time the bass note hit the speakers fizzed. Not sure if it had anything to do with how hot it was. It was like 95 degrees with the extreme humidity. Probably it had more to do with faulty rental equipment. It’s got to be difficult to “bring it” from a production level when you travel by plane to show up and pay a gig with equipment covered by the local rental company.

After a bit I decided to get a closer look and moved down to the front on Dennis’s side. One of the first things I noticed was the quality of his two guitar players and their vocals. I had read that Dennis had recently formed a rock band thing with the lineup on his rock shows to bring Styx sounds. Then that awful bass note hit again. I swear Dennis was doing his familiar crowtch down and look around to see if anybody heard it. At this point I was about 15 feet away from him and our eyes caught with disapproval.

The crowd was now starting to get a little revved. Who wouldn’t after hearing hit after hit of Styx. But, to be honest they never reached the feverish pitch of the old days – the experience I was hoping for. Then I had to bring myself to reality that this is quite a few years later and things change.
I never did hear that bass note hit as bad again. Dennis was a class act. His band are really good players. I haven’t seen this guy for quite awhile and as always he had a positive impact on me.

-Dave

[Ash]

Grew up in York, PA... very familiar with Dundalk. There used to be a parody of "Take A Walk On The Wild Side" played on 98 Rock called "Take A Walk Down In Dundalk" that talked about the people who lived in that part of Maryland. Was pretty funny