Now, after a rocking night of KISS, it is possible to keep the rock alive? Thursday night looked to be a semi-bleak night. We had the amazing band Live but then it was followed by Styx. (I know Trish is out there seething at me right now).
I headed over to Krista’s place where Mike was staying for the week. We ended up picking up a nice cooked chicken meal at the grocery store for the night. We drove by some Cordon Bleu restaurant and we had a good chuckle at the fact that we prefer the ‘take home chicken’ from Loblaws!
After a nap and a few beer and some general chatter, Vero picked us up and we headed to the concert. Have I mentioned that I feel that the Bluesfest Gauntlet is getting to me? I can’t do it any longer! Rocking until 11, get home around 12…get up at six….it’s getting to me!
When we get there, we are surprised to see that Busta Rhymes has not arrived to his stage yet and it is nearly 8PM. This poses a problem as Live is supposed to take the opposite stage at 8PM. They can’t have two bands going on at once as the sound bleed would be horrendous (or so we think. It turns out that it’s not that big of a problem when it happens later on.) So there you have it. The Beer Identification Bracelet lineups are insane for some reason, crowds are cheering for Busta Rhymes, other crowds are cheering for Live to come on the other stage…it’s pandemonium. In the end Busta Rhymes comes onto the stage around 8PM, an entire hour later than he should be, sings for 25 minutes, cuts into Live’s stage time and is ridiculous sounding. What the heck?
Live promptly gets to the other stage as soon as Busta Rhymes leaves. They make a comment later by thanking him for finally leaving the stage! Live opened up with a few tunes off of Throwing Copper, as well as playing my all time fave song off of Secret Samadhi…Gas Hed. Ah, good times. Krista, Mike, Vero, Trish and I were on the left hand side of the stage near the VIP fence. Turns out that Karilee gets a great view from this spot.
The rest of the night had them play a couple of new tunes…Forever and the one from the film Zack and Miri (which was a Throwing Copper leftover). I feel that the crowd is a lot less rocking than they used to be. Perhaps everyone else is hitting the wall as I am? I really didn’t feel the crowd got into it until much later into the set when the sun went down. The band were giving it their all but to no avail. They even sang MJ’s ‘Don’t Stop Till you Get Enough” during I Alone!
The band left the stage by the time Styx was already playing at the other stage. Dang Busta Rhymes taking away from Live’s set! Argh. But the band came back and played a couple more tunes, including Lightning Crashes and They Stood up For Love. All was well in the world.
Setlist:
Top
All Over You
Selling the Drama
Forever
Gas Hed
I Alone
The Distance
Turn My Head
Hold Me Up
Dolphin’s Cry
Lakini’s Juice
Heaven
They Stood up For Love
Sophia
Lightning Crashes
As for Styx, I will let my friend Trish, write about them as she is a big fan of them and singer Gowan. All I can say is that I enjoyed hearing the classic tunes I recognized (Come Sail Away) and the band was quite entertaining. In fact, they had a lot of energy that I thought was needed after a night of KISS.
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Dish is flattered that she would be selected to provide a Bluesfest review for Palmer’s World. It takes her back to the good old days of the guest rant. Contrary to popular belief, Dish is not actually a huge Styx fan. She is familiar with only some of their musical repertoire and basically started listening to them because her beloved Gowan joined the band as the lead singer in 1999.
Let’s just say that, even as a member of Styx, Gowan did not disappoint. His energy and enthusiasm are contagious. And the man is talented. Dish last saw him on his final solo tour before he joined Styx. At that time, he was playing small venues. He shouted out to the crowd to name a song, any song, and then he would proceed to play it, no matter what it was. The man could sit down and play Spice Girls on his keyboard on the spot and you know that is not something he secretly practiced for hours at home. That is a sign of incredible skill.
As further evidence of his talent, during the Styx concert, he was seen to play his keyboard the wrong way around – right hand where the left hand should be and black notes where white notes should be). Completely amazing!
All in all, this was money well spent. Although the set list consisted of all Styx songs, except for “Criminal Mind,” which was the best part of the show, Dish was thoroughly impressed. The music was upbeat and the crowd was enthusiastic.
One slight disappointment is that apparently the band no longer plays “Mr. Roboto” or “Babe” live because of some legal troubles with Dennis DeYoung, Styx’s former lead singer. This is too bad given that these are two of Styx’s cheesiest hits. “Babe” is definitely a great “get out your lighter” song and, as for “Mr. Roboto,” the song speaks for itself: “Secret, secret. I’ve got a secret.”
Regardless, Dish was still happy listening to some of Styx’s other greatest hits, including “Too Much Time on my Hands,” “The Grand Illusion,” “Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man),” “Blue Collar Man” and, of course, “Come Sail Away,” which involved a sad amount of confetti being launched out into the crowd. This made Dish laugh, but she felt that what would have been more effective than confetti is if the crowd had been given paper sailor hats like they were when the cast sang “Sailing” at the end of Tonight’s the Night, the Rod Stewart Musical.
Final verdict: Styx should be given a pat on the back for their smarts in recognizing that Gowan would make a great addition to their band and another one for bringing the masses a special kind of cheesy rock. Dish gives this concert two thumbs up.