A Sea Of Red

So for the old time farts I went to the STYX concert last nite at Smith Mountain Lake. So as always I will leave some observations about the show:

1. James JY Young had to miss the concert b/c his wife had emergency surgery Sat. in Chicago. First concert he's missed since 72. Kudos to the band and especially Tommy Shaw for taking the stage. Most bands would have bailed. Shaw kept switchng guitars to make up for what he could. Not bad.
2. Tommy Shaw is TINY. I don't mean small I mean Prince tiny. Very suprising.
3. Dennis DeYoung's replacement needs to lay off the Red Bull. Dude, you are a KEYBOARD player
4. They did not play BABE which suprised me. But they had to switch their set list around and I just imagine they forgot. Disappointing.
5. The last time I saw STYX was at a 20,000 seat arena. Yesterday, teh middle of a field. And speaking of the venue, what is up with no beer sales??? That is a huge revenue stream they are missing out on. Bedford County needs to get with it.
6. Great energy. Actually STYX has become a perfect band for the Summer ampitheatre/State Fair ciruit.

Ahhhhh. Nothing like 80's flashbacks.

Hearing Babe without Dennis' voice would be odd.

Sly I will say that was originially my thought as well. But the replacement (whose name escapes me) does sound a heck of a lot like him. He nailed Come Sail Away the best but everything else was pretty darn close. He was just a tad hyper for me, but vocally he was pretty much spot on.
I can't say enough about Tommy Shaw, despite how TINY he is. Being able to carry his own guitar load and then switching as needed to Young's parts was pretty impressive and says alot about him and the band.
Lorilei was OUTSTANDING Plus the lyrics were sort of funny "Lorilei let's live together" isnt that now adays sort of like saying "Will you go with me?"
Renegade was solid
Lady was GREAT
LIGHT UP was hilarious b/c no one had lighters so we just waved our cell phones
GRAND ILLUSION sort of echoed SML. I felt sorry for the old folks LOL
FOOLIN YOURSELF was also solid.
OK I could go down the set list, but the only bad tunes were "I AM THE WALRUS" cover and another one they covered I put out of my memory

The opening band TK IV II I (aka TK 4 2 1) wasn't that bad. The lead vocalist was, imho, working outside his vocal range. HORRIBLE PARADISE CITY cover, but totally suprised me when the partially covered a TOOL song. He had THAT spot on. Also, my wife said he had a little bit of Steve Perry in him, which I agree. Overall, not bad.

I saw STYX at our state fair here in MN with REO back in 2000 and they were great. It rained through their whole set and their fans LOVE them.

1. nothing wrong with tiny.

2. Agreed on how odd it is to see acts in a 30-seat bar nowadays as opposed to arenas 25 yrs ago. Saw Tommy Conwell in a biker bar where I was close enough to punch him. My wife even sang WITH him. Saw Stryper in a club in Allentown that MAY get 300, standing wall-to-wall. GREAT show.

I think all these guys are better NOW, 20+ yrs later- and sober.

I thought I would rub this in to all the Styx fans out there... Dennis DeYoung will be in studio with us today at 5:15:)

Have him sign a poster and send it to me . It is the least you could do!

I will see what I can do... If you want to listen it's www.850thebuzz.com

Must be old timers concert time. I saw the Doobie Brothers sat night. Sounded like they did 30 yrs ago. Even without MM.

It's a two day benefit concert it's a pretty sweet concert... BTW DeYoung was really cool... diehard Bears and White Sox fan...

Haize contact me about this concert.. you will want to go to it...

http://www.rockhallbenefit.com/