Styx live!
 

I just discovered their show in 2010, on the great music channel Pallida, where they performed their albums The Grand Illusion and Pieces of Eight in their entirety. "This is the end of side one, now side two!"

I was a fan of Styx in the early eighties, and they were the first band I ever saw in concert. I had a few of their albums. They were a hugely popular band. Over the years my interest waned, and I just forgot about them.

So after finding this show I was reacquainted with the band, barely remembering the songs, and forgot they had three lead singers. I love when a band takes on the challenge of honoring an album by performing all of it in original sequence. They made note of the fact they they were performing, forvery first time, songs they never performed.

Styx fans must have been blown away when they did this. Could you imagine Fleetwood Mac performing the Tusk album in sequence? Or Fleetwood Mac/Rumours, back to back, or Mirage/Tango In the Night?

The Styx show was very impressive. I think it was the original band line up, with no support players in sight. Their singing and playing was really fierce. I believe they are in the same age demographic as Fleetwood Mac; perhaps a few years younger.

I remember buying a Styx t-shirt around 1979 and getting some negative comments about the band. I found the album with the artwork from the t-shirt, which was "The Grand Illusion" and liked a couple of tracks enough (Come Sail Away was on the radio a lot), so I went on to buy more albums after that. They were quite pretentious/high-concept and dramatic and I associate them with Kansas and Queen more than with FM. Like FM though, there seemed to be a lot of personnel changes. I saw them on some tv show 'live' not long ago for what that's worth and agree they are still quite good. So is REO Speedwagon. :thumbsup: