Concert Review: STYX @ The Palace Theatre, 05/09/2023

The Palace Theatre in Albany hosted rock and roll legends Styx on Tuesday night. The band, formed in Chicago in 1972, brought down the house with a two-set, twenty-three-song performance. Their blend of progressive rock and theatrical songcraft has been filling venues worldwide for five decades.

The sole, full-time original member of the band is guitarist James Young. He was joined on stage by long-time guitarist and singer Tommy Shaw, who has been with the band since 1975. Original bass player Chuck Panozzo joined the band for several songs. It was nice to see him back on stage. The next longest-tenured member of the band is the incredible Todd Sucherman on drums. Sucherman is one of the best drummers in the world. He joined the band in 1995, replacing original drummer John Panozzo. Sucherman has been repeatedly recognized by his peers as one of the top drummers in rock.   Singer and keyboard player Lawrence Gowan has been with Styx since 1999, when he replaced original singer Dennis DeYoung. Gowan’s charisma and stage presence are second to none. He is one of the most dynamic frontmen that I have seen live. He expertly handles DeYoung’s difficult vocal parts and really shines on the newer material as well. His solo instrumental performance of “Khedive” was one of the highlights of the show for me. Bass player Ricky Phillips joined the band in 2003 after working with the likes of Jimmy Page, Ted Nugent, and John Waite, who he played with in both The Babys and Bad English. Will Evankovich rounds the band out on guitars and backing vocals. Evankovich, who joined the band in 2021, is a successful producer and session musician who has worked with many rock and roll legends. 

The sound and production value on this tour is top-notch. A large riser spanned the entire width of the Palace stage behind Sucherman’s drum kit. Cryo-jets spewed columns of billowing fog, highlighting the impressive light show. Large LED panels on the front of the riser displayed graphics in time to the music. The stage itself extended to the rail in the front row. Most acts kept the orchestra pit portion of the stage lowered, but Styx did not.  This allowed the band members to get up close and personal with the fans in the front row. Gowan used the close proximity to interact with fans. He mugged for photos and even took one fan’s phone on a trip around the stage, filming a one-of-a-kind video that the fan will no doubt cherish forever.

Although most band members are in their 60s and 70s, they do not seem to be slowing down. Tommy Shaw, in particular, totally impressed me with his physical performance. At the end of “Blue Collar Man,” Shaw walked to the center of the stage and leaped nearly three feet in the air with his guitar. He ran from one end of the stage to the other without breaking a sweat.  Young offered up some blistering guitar solos. I admit that as a casual fan, I always assumed that Shaw was behind most of the guitar solos in Styx music, but I was wrong. Young absolutely shreds. As mentioned earlier, Gowan is the ultimate rock performer. When he isn’t singing or playing, he is bounding all over. The man is a ball of energy.

The set list drew songs from nine of the band’s seventeen studio albums, with five songs coming from their latest release, 2021’s Crash of the Crown. Their biggest commercial success was 1977’s The Grand Illusion. That record has sold over six million copies to date. They pulled five tracks from this record. The 1978 follow-up, Pieces of Eight, provided an additional four songs. I was blown away by the four-part harmony that they use in the title track, “Pieces of Eight.” The song was pitch-perfect. They closed the first set out with the MTV-era smash “Too Much Time on My Hands.” That track, released in 1981 as part of the Paradise Theatre album, was the first record I ever bought. I got the 45 single at the old Record Town in Mohawk Mall.

They opened the second set with “Gone Gone Gone” from 2017’s The Mission. The second set is where most of the biggest hits showed up. “Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)” and “Come Sail Away” were both huge hits from The Grand Illusion, and both are still staples on classic rock radio. The crowd sang every word of “Come Sail Away” with Gowan. This closed out the main portion of the show. They returned for a two-song encore. I couldn’t think of a better one-two punch than “Mr. Roboto” and “Renegade.” The over-the-top theatrics of “Mr. Roboto” had nearly the entire crowd on their feet, robot dancing and singing along.  The lyrics in Japanese (どうもありがとうミスターロボット) were displayed on the LED screens behind the band. The band actually dropped the song and did not perform it between DeYoung’s firing in 1999 and 2018, when they decided to bring the song back into their repertoire. I think it was a great choice to bring it back. Now, if they can only bring back “Babe” and “The Best of Times,” I would be even happier. Those two hits haven’t been performed live by Styx since 2007, (according to setlist aggregation website setlist.fm.) “Renegade” has always been a barn burner. From the acapella intro to the driving rhythm and killer guitar riff, nothing about this song doesn’t rock. I couldn’t think of a better song for Styx to end their performance with. The show, from start to finish, was impressive. There was something for every fan, from casual fans like myself to the couple sitting next to me who estimated that they had seen Styx over 100 times since 1978.

The Palace Theatre brought another great show to town. We are spoiled to have a venue of this type in our area. The venue itself is visually stunning, with great sight lines from nearly every seat. Acoustically the Palace is only exceeded locally by Troy Savings Bank Music Hall. The sound quality at the Palace is fantastic. It is a cliché, but they don’t make them like they used to. Get out and see a show here, you won’t regret it.  Upcoming shows include fast-rising singer-songwriter Noah Kahan on May 30, John Mellencamp on June 13, and Jethro Tull on November 4.

Photo Gallery by Claude Sawyer