Styx

One of the main problems with bands that have been around for decades is that they have that stigma attached them that they can't be very good if they have not dominated the radio waves for every year of their career. However there are two bands that have been around for ages and despite the fact that quite often they are ridiculed by the general public, the fact remains that they are absolutely brilliant at playing live- one of those bands is Status Quo, the other band is Styx.

Upon arriving in Rock City's main hall, you could see that this was a mature audience to put it politely. The majority of people had dressed appropriately - leather trousers and T-shirt emblazoned with their favourite group from yesteryear. The venue was crowded but not rammed full, there was ample space to roam around and dance along to the songs.

I personally wasn't too sure what to expect from Styx, although I had been told by plenty of ageing rockers that Styx were in a league of their own when it came to playing live.

They arrived on stage to an appreciative round of applause. They wasted no time in grabbing the audience's attention with their stage antics-which included revolving keyboards, bright colourful lights and guitars galore.

For those of you who have never heard of Styx - to try and give you an idea of their incredible sound - imagine the classic songs from The Who like 'Pinball Wizard', and 'Who Are You?' but with bucket loads more synthesiser melodies, and combine that with the vocal harmonies of Crowded House and you would have a fairly good idea of what Styx sound like live.

'Grand Illusion' was certainly a crowd pleaser as everyone in the audience recognised it and started to jump/dance/sway along to the tune.



Obviously I wont insult your intelligence by listing all of their tracks, but what I will say is that every track you can think of by Styx was played including the instantly infectious 'Summer In The City' as well as their golden oldie 'Come Sail Away'. All of the songs sounded so crisp and clear that it leaves a lot to be desired from the up and coming bands.

There was a couple of surprises for the audience- like their cover version of 'I Am The Walrus' taken from the album 'Big Bang Theory' and the guest appearance by their original bassist Chuck Panozzo for the last few tracks of the set.

If you like to see what bands should be like when they play live then Styx are quite easily one of the best bands around- be warned though after seeing these live- very few other bands you go and see play live will be able to reach the same standard!

FUTURE GIGS

sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.