Grand Rapids review

[Ron]

http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/grand-r...g_brings_s.html

 

Apparently you can go home again, if only for a few hours.

 

But a few hours were enough, thanks to Dennis DeYoung and the Music of Styx.

 

The singer, songwriter and keyboardist from the progressive rock group from Chicago was back in DeVos Performance Hall on Saturday for a show subtitled “The Music of Styx.”

 

DeYoung and his five-piece band delivered as promised, from the nice groove on “Light Up,” to the big flourish ending the evening with “Come Sail Away.”

 

The last time DeYoung was in Grand Rapids — with a symphonic Styx extravaganza featuring the Grand Rapids Symphony — he stuck to his own songs.

 

This time DeYoung made good on the show’s promise with several of the biggest hits by Styx written and sung by his former mate, Tommy Shaw.

 

Shaw’s edgy, hard-driving rock songs, contrasting with DeYoung’s ballads and expansive, high-concept anthems, made Styx a success in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and DeYoung came with both for the local Styx fans.

 

August Zadra and Jimmy Leahey, standing in for Shaw and James “J.Y.” Young on twin guitars, were exciting all evening.

 

But when Zadra sang Shaw’s “Long Nights (Blue Collar Man)” just four tunes into the night, the audience went nuts.

 

“Folks, you ain’t heard nothing yet,” DeYoung warned the audience afterward.

 

He wasn’t kidding. By the end of the night Zadra, a Los Angeles-based musician who just joined DeYoung’s show this year, had delivered equally authentic performances, on vocals as well as guitar, of “Too Much Time on My Hands” and “Renegade” as well.

 

But DeYoung was the star of the show, and his songs took precedence among his 16-song set.

 

His 63-year-old voice, always a full-throated belt, still sounds good whether unadorned at the opening of “The Best of Times” or soaring through “Grand Illusion.”

 

He hammed it up with “Mr. Roboto," though DeYoung can appear awkward singing songs such as “Rocking the Paradise,” even when he’s not trying.

 

When he sang his biggest hit, “Babe,” his wife of 40 years, Suzanne, was on stage behind, singing backup for much of the night.

 

 

Just one song — “Desert Moon” — from his post-Styx solo career was part of the show, but he opened it up for a long and satisfying solo by Leahey on guitar.

 

The evening opened with a 41-minute set by Grand Rapids’ own Mid-Life Crisis, playing originals from two albums as well as classic hits by Jackson Browne, Chicago and Bob Seger.

 

These guys have fun making music, and it certainly shows. But they gave a performance that would have been better with more help from the soundboard. Several of Greg Morris’ guitar solos were lost on me. Too much cowbell indeed was too much cowbell.

 

Both groups knew their audience, which filled out the orchestra and mezzanine level of DeVos Hall.

 

When DeYoung asked how many were in high school between 1977 and 1984, most erupted in applause, including myself, a 1981 high school graduate.

 

Those years were the heyday of the quintet from the Windy City that scored four consecutive albums from 1977’s “Grand Illusion” to 1983’s “Kilroy Was Here” that achieved double or triple platinum sales.

 

One of DeYoung’s last big hits with Styx was “Don’t Let It End” in 1983.

 

Apparently, he’s determined to make good on that, too.

 

3.5 OUT OF 4 STARS

Opening Act: Mid-Life Crisis

Highlight: “Long Nights,” “Too Much Time on My Hands” and “Come Sail Away”

Low point: Sound mix during Mid-Life Crisis

Time on stage: 104 minutes for Dennis DeYoung, 41 minutes for Mid-Life Crisis

 

[ladybugking]

I always breathe out a sigh of relief, and happiness, when I read a good review for DDY. It really sounds like this new band alignment is jelling well and it is working out for Dennis.

 

[Ron]

But I get soooooo tired of hearing that Tommy was the rocker and Dennis only wrote ballads.

[Boomchild]

But I get soooooo tired of hearing that Tommy was the rocker and Dennis only wrote ballads.

 

I agree. The issue here is that it has been said so many times that the general public thinks it is true. TS has written quite a bit of slow melodic music but since he is most known for what got air play people believe that he is only a "rocker". Personally, I hate putting labels on music to begin with.

[Pamela]

But I get soooooo tired of hearing that Tommy was the rocker and Dennis only wrote ballads.

 

[Pamela]

But I get soooooo tired of hearing that Tommy was the rocker and Dennis only wrote ballads.

 

Me too!!

[blt]

But I get soooooo tired of hearing that Tommy was the rocker and Dennis only wrote ballads.

 

OK, I am going to take grief for this but here goes...

 

Is that statement really inaccurate? Dennis himself admits he was not the rock writer amongst the crew. Even his more rock infused songs are co-written.

 

None of Dennis top 10 are true rockers. Lady (power ballad), Babe (ballad), Come Sail Away (ballad morphing to rock), Best of Times (ballad), Dont let it end (ballad), Mr. Roboto (pop), even Desert Moon is more light rock than anything else. As for his secondary hits - Sweet Madame Blue is really a power ballad with some prog morphing into a rock song at the end, Queen of Spades starts as a ballad and then morphs to a rock song (the music rock portion likely written or suggested by JY), Born for Adventure was co-written, Borrowed Time was co-written, Rocking the Paradise was cowritten (and Dennis indicates in an interview that he took two different guitar riffs, one from Tommy and one from JY and then wrote the lyrics), Lorelei was co-written.

 

That leaves grand illusion as a rocker (the original recording more so than the more "theatrical" onstage version), and light-up as a reggae infused rocker as the successful rockers Dennis wrote himself.

 

However, just because his hits were not big rockers, thats not to say that Dennis can’t rock. His contributions to Renegade (suggesting it as a rocker), Blue Collar man (the intro), Miss America, etc. are well known. His keyboard playing on all of styx rockers are amazing. Equinox is the best Styx album ever (had to throw that in as Dennis' most rocking work is in there).

 

Yes Tommy wrote many mellow songs and I don't consider him a hard rock kind of guy but two of his three most popular songs in North America are rockers and the third is a pop rocker.

 

As for Dennis new CD, its the most rocking he has done in years. Private Jones is great for fans of Dennis' harder stuff.

[ladybugking]

I do agree with you blt, so no grief towards you from here. Dennis did write either the softer stuff or the really, really deep progressive stuff, like POE and Castle Walls. All of his music had the elements of both his softer side and the crunch chords and power playing guitar work which made it much more than just a sloshy ballad. (Tho' he has written and sung his share of those.) I think that is why I like his Styx songs so much more, because they tend to surprise and take unexpected turns on their way to completion.

 

I will wager, though, that save for a very, very few songs, Styx was NOT, and has never been, a rocking band. They were a melodic rock band, mostly.

 

Dennis has a voice that lends itself towards the soaring, be it ballad or progressive song. Tommy has a good voice, but it doesn't even come close to being a rock voice. Probably JY is the only one who can claim that title, but his is the weakest of the three voices that made up Styx, well, until the advent of the hideous sounds that come from Gowan in what passes for "Styx" today.

 

And I also agree that 100 YFN is chock full of great stuff that runs the gamut from pop, to rock, to true throwback progressive rock. He didn't need help from anyone to accomplish a great recording. It's just too bad so few were made aware of its existence.

[blt]

Castle walls is one of his best - very haunting melody. Loved the instrumental part of POE and was disappointed that when I saw him in concert he plays the classical music interlude from his orchestra version and not the original.

 

Chuck once referred to Tommy's music as rockabily so I am inclined to go with that.

 

Yes, I too find it humorous when people claim styx to be a "hard-rock" band. I have never seen that. They started progressive, then became a standard arena rock act, adapting their style for the times, and then broke up.

 

I think a sore point is that the remaining members see styx's greatest hits package sell less than some of the harder rockers of the day and blame that on the member who wrote the softer hits.

 

As for Gowan, I am Canadian so I don't really mind Criminal Mind as it was the big hit of my youth. Other than Grand Illusion, I don't care for his versions of the other Dennis songs he sings.

 

 

[Boomchild]

I think a sore point is that the remaining members see styx's greatest hits package sell less than some of the harder rockers of the day and blame that on the member who wrote the softer hits.

If they are truly putting that blame on DDY it's a big load of crap. It's my understanding that each member of the group had a vote on band decisions. So if that is how they feel, then they should be looking at themselves. I'm sick of hearing how they feel victims of DDY's input and direction of the band. They could have shot down the things that DDY suggested but didn't. They could have not asked him to come back when they pushed him out in '79. They know what we all know, it was DDY's input and direction that was putting the band on the map. It really boils down to the fact that it helped make all of them a ton of cash and that is why they agreed on the decisions that were made.