If you live in L.A., you can count on seeing Styx in town at least every six months. That’s because they’re touring madmen – a show band these days that still looks like a cool rock band, still plays like a cool rock band, and has all the props, gimmicks, lighting, sound and video you should expect from a cool band. The only thing that seems to be off the table is a studio album (their last couple tanked) and/or a reunion with Dennis DeYoung. In the years since, Styx has given their diehard fans a covers album, a collaboration with a youth orchestra, and a co-headlining tour with Yes.
Like others suffering from a late-life crisis in their career, Styx pay tribute to their past – in this case, their two biggest studio albums: 1977’s The Grand Illusion and 1978’s Pieces Of Eight. Taking the two on the road (or at least as far as the Orpheum Theater in Memphis, Tennessee) and playing them in their entirety has to be one of more enterprising things they’ve done in recent years. Watching The Grand Illusion/Pieces Of Eight Live on Blu-Ray Disc and DVD, you get the idea it’s something the band thoroughly enjoyed as well.
This is a 20-song, two-hour and 11-minute concert in HD in a theater setting, so the staging is tight, but effective. The opening sequence spells out the evening and a young man straps on his headphones for an aural adventure into The Grand Illusion. The opening sequence of “The Grand Illusion” and “Fooling Yourself,” along with “Come Sail Away and “Miss America,” are permanent fixtures on the Styx set list – a showcase for the band’s exuberant style and sustainability. Where things start to get real interesting is when they have to go deep, playing songs from the albums they rarely, if ever, played live before.
Styx rises to the challenge on “Superstars,” “Man In the Wilderness” and “Castle Walls,” amidst an array of instruments assignments on the front line, with Tommy Shaw on acoustic and electric guitars and some keys, James, “J.Y.” Young on guitar and some keyboards, Chuck Panozzo playing some of his original bass parts, inadvertently sending present bassist Ricky Phillips over to his six- and 12-string double-neck. Throw in the exceptional musicianship of keyboardist Lawrence Gowan and drummer Todd Sucherman, and you begin to realize why Styxs remains such a potent live act.
After the intermission, it’s on to Pieces Of Eight, featuring more mainstays like “Sing For The Day,” “Blue Collar Man,’ and “Renegade.” The biggest challenge, as it seems from commentary included in the bonus feature, was the album’s final song, “Aku-Aku,” a comparatively light and ethereal piece with a long fade. So instead of going out with a bang, the band intentionally fades out live, takes their bows and exits. If they returned for any encores, they didn’t include it on the DVD or Blu-ray.
The bonus feature of The Grand Illusion/Pieces Of Eight Live comprises an overview of Styx personnel, including road and stage managers, guitar, bass and drum technicians, lighting and sound people – virtually everyone who keeps the show going. Along the way, there’s input here and there from the band members themselves, but the focus stays squarely on what goes into their show. And why not – Styx is a show band, touring madmen with little else to add to the canon in the foreseeable future.
~ Shawn Perry
