Nearly 25,000 sail away with Styx

Review by Joshua Maloni
Photos by Mike Freedman
Lewiston Porter Sentinel, August 19, 2006

Styx performed for nearly 25,000 Tuesday at Artpark.

Watching James Young, Tommy Shaw and Todd Sucherman strut around the Artpark stage on Tuesday, one thing was evident: Styx is what rock and roll is all about. Sure, the music was loud, and the crowd of nearly 25,000 even louder, but it was the band’s ’80s-meets-modern-day attire, spinning keyboards, sharp-edged backdrop and piped-in smoke that set it aside from just about every other band “Tuesday in the Park” has hosted this season.

Four decades after the band formed, Styx has mastered its stage show, a rock carnival of swagger, sweat and style. Moreover, despite a career performing for arena-size crowds, the band’s vocals sound as strong as ever.

“You can’t beat this,” said Randy Duncan of Lewiston. ‘This is the best place to be all summer.”

The longtime Styx fan was watching the band perform for the first time. “These guys are great!” he said.

The renegade rockers hit the stage at 8 p.m. and wasted no time getting the record crowd into a fever pitch with classics “Blue Collar Man (Long Nights),” “Lorelei,” “Too Much Time on My Hands” and “Lady.”

As the set unfolded, Young peeled into a story of Buffalo days gone by.

“As the sun slowly fades, we think of Rich Stadium – the glory days gone by,” he said. “Jim Kelly; lake effect snow coming in at every angle.” The popular tale flowed into “Snowblind,” a Top 25 hit from 1981.

Styx vocalist Tommy Shaw.

Around 8:45 p.m., smoke billowing and lights flashing, the band ripped into “Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man),” and another statement from Young, who asked, “Are you ready for some more rock and roll power? Are you ready for ‘Miss America?’ ” That was followed, of course, by the song he sings lead on.

A half-hour later, lighters in full effect, Styx closed its set with “Come Sail Away,” with Sucherman calling for the crowd to sing along and standing on said spinning keyboard.

The band came back for an encore, with Shaw saying, “You know why you get stuck with Styx tonight? Because you were awesome!”

He asked if the band could perform a few more songs. With the crowd’s approval, Styx staged “I Don’t Need No Doctor” off of its 2005 album “Big Bang Theory.”

“Was it good for you?” Shaw asked. “Then let me hear you say ‘Yeah!’ ”

“We love you so much,” he said. “We don’t want to go – we’ll just stay all night!”

Of course, the band had to sail away to Pennsylvania for a show the next night. As such, the night ended – with the crowd’s biggest pop, however, as Styx rocked out with “Renegade.”

Assemblywoman Francine DelMonte, D-Lewiston, presented Artpark and Company Board of Directors Chair Thomas J. Fatta with a check for $2.5 million. The money will be used for capital improvements at the state park.