Why I'm seeing Styx instead of Journey this year

[Monker]

Why I'm seeing Styx instead of Journey this year:

1. Styx will be alone. Journey will be with Pat Benatar and Loverboy. Don't care much about Loverboy and would rather see a long set with Benatar then her sharing time with two other bands.

2. I hate All Access. When I saw the Main Event tour, I was in third row. After Journey started using ILAA, I have not been able to get in the first 20 rows.

4. Styx is just more fun then Journey. When I saw Journey with Arnel, he did nothing but concentrate on the first few rows of fans. You can't understand anything the guy said, whether it be his accent or not is irrelevant. The only 'showman' Journey now has is Neal...Arnel may be more seasoned now...but Journey is no where near as fun to watch and be a part of the concert as Styx is.

5. I would rather be in front row center watching an entire band of entertainers then sitting in the 42 row watching Arnel talk to the first few rows, and Neal trying to make up for the lack of communication of Arnel by use of his guitar.

Just no contest really.

[Joe From Buffalo]

Actually Styx is not alone at least Ted Nugent and REO are with them on most dates.

[Abitaman]

Why I'm seeing Styx instead of Journey this year:



You can't understand anything the guy said, whether it be his accent or not is irrelevant.

.

It is a problem for me. It is hard enough at some shows to understand the singer when he is talking. And not being able to speak plain English only adds to the problem. There are some other performers I have had problems with DC from Whitesnake, his accent throws me off at times.

[brywool]

They're both great acts, but in the "Fun" category, Journey comes off as pretty serious these days. I'm a HUGE Arnel fan. Have a lot of love for that guy as a singer and he seems to be a great guy too. Seriously brilliant vocalist, but Journey is just so darned serious on stage. I could understand Arnel fine and he does a great job with the tunes, but yeah I agree with you Monker that Journey is just not a "fun" band. Great songs, great vocals, but just so serious. I think Arnel is doing what he can as a front guy, and personally, I preferred him when he started out because he was more animated (and I know a lot of people disagree with me on that). Now, he seems more reserved. But with a voice like that, the dude could stand there. Same with Perry, though he was a great front guy- he had the best of both worlds. I'm also rather bummed with Journey for not standing by Eclipse and doing more tunes from it in their shows, not to mention their management for not doing much to promote it. When you're playing with 3 acts though, there's only so much time I guess.

Styx on the other hand IS a fun band to watch. They clearly have a great time together on stage. Their banter is getting pretty stale, but their performances as a live band draw you in and don't have a forced look to them. They just seem to have a great time. I hear Tommy say the same stuff though quite a bit- but that happens after a bazillion shows. Lawrence on the other hand comes up with some damned funny stuff. One of my favorite parts of the new DVD (besides his performance on Pieces of Eight, which I thought was great- relax Deyoungians, you can like both versions and not have the sky fall) is when he's talking and at one point he says "YOU sir... or madame, excuse me..." I thought it was hilarious. JY is who he is and he's just not a great front guy. Shaw and Gowan are great front guys though. Gowan doesn't have Dennis' voice, but he's got a good voice and he does a great job in their shows. As a musician, I'm blown away by the guy's chops. I think the funnest version of the band was when Glenn was there. That doesn't mean the best version of Styx, but the Glenn version was fun to watch.

[Everett]

Bry it's glen with one N

[brywool]

Bry it's glen with one N

actually, he went back and forth. Why? I don't know.

EDIT
Oh wait, he changed the spelling of the last name.... oy!

[Monker]

Actually Styx is not alone at least Ted Nugent and REO are with them on most dates.

Not in Altoona, Iowa.

[MCM]

Lawrence on the other hand comes up with some damned funny stuff. One of my favorite parts of the new DVD (besides his performance on Pieces of Eight, which I thought was great- relax Deyoungians, you can like both versions and not have the sky fall) is when he's talking and at one point he says "YOU sir... or madame, excuse me..." I thought it was hilarious. JY is who he is and he's just not a great front guy. Shaw and Gowan are great front guys though. Gowan doesn't have Dennis' voice, but he's got a good voice and he does a great job in their shows. As a musician, I'm blown away by the guy's chops.

I saw the GI/Po8 show in Erie, PA and it was his performance of Pieces of Eight that finally won me over. I liked him before that, but was annoyed at time with his banter and spinning keyboard, etc.. after that show I was a fan, I think he did an excellent version of that song.

Also, some of the summer shows are Styx only, one or two of them are Styx and Nugent only.

[brywool]

I saw the GI/Po8 show in Erie, PA and it was his performance of Pieces of Eight that finally won me over. I liked him before that, but was annoyed at time with his banter and spinning keyboard, etc.. after that show I was a fan, I think he did an excellent version of that song.

Yeah, to me, that is one of the best things (no pun intended) that he's done with Styx. Great job of it. I like his studio stuff with the band (Cyclo and Big Bang Theory) quite a bit too. I wasn't wild about the Regeneration stuff I heard. Mostly because I didn't like the way his voice was recorded. They put a bunch of chorus or something on his voice and the effects didn't fit his voice, they detracted to me. The spinning keyboard, I'm not sure why people complain so much about it. If he was doing it and missing notes, then I could see people complaining, but to me, it adds a lot to the show and his whole vibe, which is cool. The first time I saw him, he actually drove me a bit nuts (BNW tour) but since then, he's reeled those things in a bit. Plus there was that whole "Wow, he's not Dennis". Second show I saw, I got past MY OWN feelings and saw it for what it was and it was and that was Not Dennis, but still an asset to the band. I've really got nothing but good stuff to say about him. Great musician, nice, respectful dude.
Things aren't what they were, but that happens in life.