My ears are still ringing.
(My son found it funny that mom wasn't playing her CD in the car this morning because my ears hurt. Some people's kids!!)
I had a floor seat, in front of mid-stage, could see (AND HEAR) everything, bought the t-shirt (two, actually, I'm such a groupie).
The Bell Center was packed. When Styx came on, about half of the audience went nuts. The other half were young teenagers who where there for Def Leppard and had probably never heard of Styx. One of the teenagers behind me was looking at her mother and I (who were enjoying the Styx show) as if we had grown horns. Styx got a standing O and an encore. They played 90 mins, including the encore.
Anyway, the Styx boys let it fly!! And yes, they played SMB, as many of you predicted. A few lighters went up during the song. They kept telling us how much they loved Montreal. Sounds familiar ....
Two suprises of the night - They played MIDNIGHT RIDE!!!! I was one happy camper to hear this one live, finally. Say what you want about JY, but he can still let this one rip!! And - CHUCK CAME TO MONTREAL!!! He played, sang, smiled, walked the stage with his AC/DC t-shirt. It must have cost him, though, as when it came time to leave the stage, he needed the help of a roadie and the handrail to get down the stairs off the stage. What a trouper.
Montreal Setlist was:
Blue Collar Man (Tommy)
Grand Illusion (Gowan)
Too Much Time On My Hands (Tommy)
Suite Madam Blue (Gowan)
MIDNIGHT RIDE (JY)
Criminal Mind (Gowan - nice harmony arrangement by the guys here)
CHUCK CAME OUT
Fooling Yourself(The Angry Young Man) (Tommy)
Miss America (JY)
Come Sail Away (Gowan)
Encore: Renegade (Tommy)
Compared to the American setlist, which was listed as the following on another thread:
Blue Collar Man
Grand Illusion
Too Much Time On My Hands
Lorelei
I Am The Walrus
Crystal Ball
Fooling Yourself(The Angry Young Man)
Miss America
Come Sail Away
Renegade
Now. As for Gowan. SMB wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, probably because I was warned. Some of his onstage antics are funny (like how he travels the stage with that polaroid camera - during Miss America he takes a pic of JY doing the "ward off evil spirits" sign with his fingers and flings the shot in the audience). But his climbing on his keyboards and jumping off his dias is a bit much. But, he does what he does.
Todd Sucherman sure works hard for his pay! No slouch there. It's exhausting just to watch.
Tommy's voice was right on - and he's still as cute as ever. Guitars were tight, JY and Tommy never missed a note. Ricky's voice certainly adds to the harmonies.
Great show!
P.S. I checked the pictures of Def Leppard on the 14th that were linked on this thread and the guys are wearing (or not wearing) the exact same clothes as they wore last night. Same stage, same songs. But hey, it works!
