Styx outshines REO in classic rock night at SPAC

[chowhall]

It was classic rock radio live on stage at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center Saturday night.

An Independence Day triple bill found 70s and 80s stalwarts REO Speedwagon, Styx and .38 Special joining forces for a night full of hits, of course, but also one peppered with tasty catalog selections from each crew.

Par for the course on these package tours is for the headliners to flip a coin or alternate nights. Whether or not that's the case here, it was a mistake for REO to follow Styx.

Speedwagon singer Kevin Cronin has nothing like the charisma of Styx mouthpiece Tommy Shaw, not to mention that Shaw shares lead vocal duties with guitarist James Young and keyboardist Lawrence Gowan – any one of which has more vocal firepower than Cronin.

Instead, Cronin sounded like the TV pitchman he's become.

Still, his band has a big bag of hits and the crowd enjoyed MTV favorites like "Take It On The Run," "I Can't Fight This Feeling" and "Keep On Lovin' You" as well as early flag-wavers "Roll With The Changes" and "Ridin' The Storm Out."

And keyboardist Neal Doughty shone on the unexpected organ-driven nostalgia of "Golden Country."

Frankly, though, anyone would have been foolish to follow Styx on the Fourth. They were firecrackers.

Shaw scored with the album track "Crystal Ball" and his trademark "Fooling Yourself." Young made the early hit "Lorelei" seem like it was written yesterday, giving it an urgent reading that sounded like he still wanted his main squeeze to move in, right now, baby. And Gowan, despite his histrionics, also impressed with "Grand Illusion" and a sharp take of The Beatles' "I Am The Walrus."

Perhaps was made Styx so entertaining was the sheer fun they were having. It's pretty rare to see a bunch of geezers with genuine smiles pasted across the faces while they rip out songs older than half the audience.

They seemed like the Chicago pranksters they were at the start of their long career. And – on sheerly shallow terms -- Cronin looks like an old lady now, while Shaw still looks like a rock and roll imp.

.38 Special opened the night with a satisfying set built on Don Barnes remarkable vocal and guitar skills.

They still advertise themselves as "Wild Southern Boys," but despite having a Van Zant brother in the band, they've always been more slick hit machine than Southern boogie.

Barnes dazzled especially with "Hold On Loosely," "So Caught Up In You" and an extended solo on "Fantasy Girl."

Speaking of fantasies, the night hit a big finish with "Can't Stop Rockin'," which found members of REO and STYX creating an uber-supergroup just right for a big Fourth of July finale.

Michael Eck, a freelance writer from Albany, is a frequent contributor to the Times Union.

Concert review

Reo speedwagon

with Styx and .38 Special

When: 7 p.m. Saturday

Where: Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Spa State Park Saratoga Springs

Length: .38 Special, 40 minutes; Styx, 80 minutes; REO Speedwagon, 80 minutes.
Highlights: Styx guitarist James Young brought a workingman's snarl to "Lorelei," making the fierce tune sound fresh all over again.
The Crowd: 6,500 classic rock fans spent their Fourth at SPAC.


Concert review


By MICHAEL ECK, Special to the Times Union
First published in print: Monday, July 6, 2009

[Babyblue]

WOW! Cool review

[classicstyxfan]

Geezers........

and KC is looking a bit old-ladyish these days....at least on his time-life infomercial.

[Abitaman]

Last time I Styx and Reo together, it was a great show indeed. Looks like everyone had a blast.

[LordofDaRing]

"Speedwagon singer Kevin Cronin has nothing like the charisma of Styx mouthpiece Tommy Shaw, not to mention that Shaw shares lead vocal duties with guitarist James Young and keyboardist Lawrence Gowan – any one of which has more vocal firepower than Cronin"

JY may have more firepower, but he is not a better singer....no argument on the other two. KC is at a bit of a disadvanatage, since aside from one song, he has to carry the load.

[Toph]

It was classic rock radio live on stage at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center Saturday night.

An Independence Day triple bill found 70s and 80s stalwarts REO Speedwagon, Styx and .38 Special joining forces for a night full of hits, of course, but also one peppered with tasty catalog selections from each crew.

Par for the course on these package tours is for the headliners to flip a coin or alternate nights. Whether or not that's the case here, it was a mistake for REO to follow Styx.

Speedwagon singer Kevin Cronin has nothing like the charisma of Styx mouthpiece Tommy Shaw, not to mention that Shaw shares lead vocal duties with guitarist James Young and keyboardist Lawrence Gowan – any one of which has more vocal firepower than Cronin.

Instead, Cronin sounded like the TV pitchman he's become.

Still, his band has a big bag of hits and the crowd enjoyed MTV favorites like "Take It On The Run," "I Can't Fight This Feeling" and "Keep On Lovin' You" as well as early flag-wavers "Roll With The Changes" and "Ridin' The Storm Out."

And keyboardist Neal Doughty shone on the unexpected organ-driven nostalgia of "Golden Country."

Frankly, though, anyone would have been foolish to follow Styx on the Fourth. They were firecrackers.

Shaw scored with the album track "Crystal Ball" and his trademark "Fooling Yourself." Young made the early hit "Lorelei" seem like it was written yesterday, giving it an urgent reading that sounded like he still wanted his main squeeze to move in, right now, baby. And Gowan, despite his histrionics, also impressed with "Grand Illusion" and a sharp take of The Beatles' "I Am The Walrus."

Perhaps was made Styx so entertaining was the sheer fun they were having. It's pretty rare to see a bunch of geezers with genuine smiles pasted across the faces while they rip out songs older than half the audience.

They seemed like the Chicago pranksters they were at the start of their long career. And – on sheerly shallow terms -- Cronin looks like an old lady now, while Shaw still looks like a rock and roll imp.

.38 Special opened the night with a satisfying set built on Don Barnes remarkable vocal and guitar skills.

They still advertise themselves as "Wild Southern Boys," but despite having a Van Zant brother in the band, they've always been more slick hit machine than Southern boogie.

Barnes dazzled especially with "Hold On Loosely," "So Caught Up In You" and an extended solo on "Fantasy Girl."

Speaking of fantasies, the night hit a big finish with "Can't Stop Rockin'," which found members of REO and STYX creating an uber-supergroup just right for a big Fourth of July finale.

Michael Eck, a freelance writer from Albany, is a frequent contributor to the Times Union.

Concert review

Reo speedwagon

with Styx and .38 Special

When: 7 p.m. Saturday

Where: Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Spa State Park Saratoga Springs

Length: .38 Special, 40 minutes; Styx, 80 minutes; REO Speedwagon, 80 minutes.
Highlights: Styx guitarist James Young brought a workingman's snarl to "Lorelei," making the fierce tune sound fresh all over again.
The Crowd: 6,500 classic rock fans spent their Fourth at SPAC.


Concert review


By MICHAEL ECK, Special to the Times Union
First published in print: Monday, July 6, 2009

Ever heard the saying "Tallest among the midgets....."?

[Jodes]

Speaking from experience Toph?

[MCM]

I saw them the next night (5th) in Wheeling and I thought about the same thing as the review. It was a much better Styx show than I was hoping for. .38 Special was o.k., REO were good, the Styx portion was great. They all seemed to be having a ball and a lot of energy. Miss America didn't even annoy me as much as usual, nor did the spinning keyboard.

[gdaeb]

I won tickets for the SPAC Show while trolling Main St / Saratoga Springs earlier that day, 101.3 had a Prize Wheel spinning & my clairvoyant wife guessed the # correctly & we won tickets for the show.

38 Special gave their usual too-short workmanlike performance, Don Barnes is still singing well & the guitar work by both players was great.
Donnie Van Zant has the energy of many 1/2 of his age & their love for what they do is obvious.

The drummer was especially solid as well.

STYX is great when Tommy Shaw / JY is singing, They sound like STYX
I'm sorry, When LG is singing lead it's a cover band to me as too much of their identity is tied to DDY's sound & input.

Gowan is waay too full of himself, Some of his vocals seem to be tracked (some of the music parts as well)
Really a non-issue to me but a couple parts seemed obvious...

They could have added a couple more songs & ditched the drum solo & the extended bombast which accompanied many of the song endings.

Didn't stick around for REO as seen the a 1/2 dozen times the last few years.

[Toph]

Gowan is waay too full of himself, Some of his vocals seem to be tracked (some of the music parts as well)
Really a non-issue to me but a couple parts seemed obvious...

They could have added a couple more songs & ditched the drum solo & the extended bombast which accompanied many of the song endings.

Are you saying that Gowan is lip synching? That they are covering for him? That is major! Journey did the same thing a few years ago with Steve Augeri and got totally busted for it. Can't believe Styx is doing the same thing, if what you are saying is true. That would really be a shame if they were resorting to tracking vocals and having Gowan lip synch it....

[gdaeb]

Can't say for certain but a few times a few mystery notes appeared from either the vocals or the band.
It could just as easily been the venue as sound seems to bounce around pretty well at Rock shows I've witnessed there.

My wife nudged me during the show & asked me & that's what put me on the lookout,

I only notice such things as I've worked on the Corporate circuit for (30) years, have successfully used both music & vocals tracks to fill-out a bands' sound
& I tend to zero in on different band members during a show as I enjoy watching Pros at work.

It's not unusual to hear background vocals tracked out, extra guitars/keys etc. at many shows, With STYX I couldn't see if TS was wearing in-ear monitors as you need at least the drummer to hear a click if tracks are in use. (Though he has incredible time)

& yes I saw Augeri when he was struggling w/Journey & the tracking of his vocals was painfully obvious...He needed a break!

[classicstyxfan]

hey ! if they are going to "track" Gowans vocals anyways, maybe they could find a stand in whose voice blends better in the harmonies???

[DerriD]

As much as I am a fan of Dennis, I can say that the few times I've seen Styx with Gowan it's been Larry who was the showman of the group. His songs are sung with more acrobatics and enthusiasm. Not to mention his songs were by far the best ones on Big Bang Theory, and personally I liked his songs the best from Cyclorama.

No he doesn't have the voice Dennis has, but on his own material he's strong.

[Abitaman]

As much as I am a fan of Dennis, I can say that the few times I've seen Styx with Gowan it's been Larry who was the showman of the group. His songs are sung with more acrobatics and enthusiasm. Not to mention his songs were by far the best ones on Big Bang Theory, and personally I liked his songs the best from Cyclorama.

No he doesn't have the voice Dennis has, but on his own material he's strong.

Pretty much agree on everything. But I thought all of them did pretty well on Cyclorama, and would hard for me to pick one person who out did the other on that cd. But on BBT, Larry was it.

[classicstyxfan]

There's a lot to like about Gowan.........I like his version of I am the walrus and A criminal mind to name a couple.

But, having him sing DDY's part in Classic Styx songs ( to me ) is like having Neil Young step in on lead vocals for Journey

[kansas666]

Are you saying that Gowan is lip synching? ....

I find that hard to believe, but not totally out of the question. Tommy has mentioned more than once that STYX is all live. He really lit into Ashlee Simpson when she lip synced on SNL.

The last time I saw REO, the harmonies seemed a little too perfect. Then I saw them on Soundstage and it was obvious that the background vocals were not live.

The worst band I ever saw do this was Saliva. They put on a good show. But the background vocals and some of the instruments and percussion were all piped in. It was a joke. They didn't even try to cover it up. Half the time they didn't even make it up to the mic before the vocals started.

[gdaeb]

There's a huge difference between 'Lip-Synching" (see Milli Vinnilli et al.. ) & having some background vocals/music parts tracked out & playing along with a song.

One is no talent masqurading as having some & the other is embellishing a performance, is tough to pull off well & adds to the show.
(You have to be real good to pull it off successfully)

I didn't say 'lip-synch" at all, Hopefully I wasn't misunderstood.

[Toph]

There's a huge difference between 'Lip-Synching" (see Milli Vinnilli et al.. ) & having some background vocals/music parts tracked out & playing along with a song.

One is no talent masqurading as having some & the other is embellishing a performance, is tough to pull off well & adds to the show.
(You have to be real good to pull it off successfully)

I didn't say 'lip-synch" at all, Hopefully I wasn't misunderstood.

Is it real or is it memorex? If the guy doesn't have the pipes to sing the songs then...welll what is the audience paying for?

[gdaeb]

He has the "pipes" I'm sure! It's used to add a harmony vocal or musical part, not replace anything.