It’s been a little over nine months since Styx performed at Artpark, which holds four times as many people as the Seneca Niagara Events Center. That made for a rare, intimate Saturday night with the classic rockers as they squeezed in some tour dates ahead of the summer tour with Foreigner and John Waite.
I’ve seen the band numerous times dating back to Nov. 8, 1979, which was not just my first Styx concert, it was my first concert. Needless to say, I have a long history with the band, which includes owning an extensive Styx record collection.
Saturday’s performance was only the second with bassist Terry Gowan. Styx has not officially announced whether Gowan will assume bass duties full-time. Still, the band did not seem to miss a beat with the departure of longtime bassist Ricky Phillips, who announced his departure from Styx just last week.
If Gowan does assume bass duties, he will join his brother Lawrence in the band, and the change will not be as significant as when Lawrence Gowan replaced Dennis DeYoung in 1999. Lawrence Gowan deserves credit for filling some big shoes. In many ways, he has cemented Styx’s legacy with his stage prowess and musicianship, which were on full display as usual on Saturday night.
It’s almost unfair to keep comparing Gowan to DeYoung since it has been 25 years since he joined Styx, but he has handled the DeYoung material, such as “Lady” and “Come Sail Away,” with respect.
Many bands from the arena rock era have dealt with significant lineup changes, but few have managed them as well as Styx. The first significant change came back in 1975 when Tommy Shaw replaced John Curulewski. On the way to Saturday’s show, I was listening to a playlist of Styx rarities, which included a healthy dose of the Curulewski era. While the band has evolved and changed since those early days, it still has a common thread that goes back to the band’s formation in 1972.
The current lineup has three of the four surviving members from the height of Styx’s popularity, albeit Chuck Panozzo only appears onstage for a few songs. Tommy Shaw and James “J.Y” Young were major contributors to the band’s sound, and they are both performing as well as ever, especially Shaw, whose vocal prowess has not diminished a bit.
The current lineup is a well-oiled machine and also includes drummer Todd Sucherman and guitarist Will Evankovich. Sucherman replaced the late John Panozzo in the mid-1990s, and Evankovich was added a few years ago.
The setlist includes four songs from “The Grand Illusion,” arguably the band’s best album. It also included a couple of selections from their two most recent albums and the Gowan classic “A Criminal Mind.”
Like so many bands from their era, it has to be a challenge to decide what songs to add to the set, but whatever they perform, they still enjoy what they do and know how to please a crowd.
The only thing missing from the Styx story is an induction or even nomination for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. With Foreigner and Frampton on the ballot this year and contemporaries like Rush, Journey, Cheap Trick, and Heart all inducted, Styx has risen to the top of Rock Hall snubs.
In addition to managing major lineup changes, whether Shaw for Curulewski, Gowan for DeYoung, or even the underappreciated Glen Burtnik era, Styx were trailblazers and provided the soundtrack for generations of fans.
And it’s clear they aren’t done yet.