ONSTAGE
Styx Township Auditorium Columbia October 6, 2019 Styx was welcomed back to Columbia
in a big way by legions of fans who packed into Township Auditorium for an evening with the top 40 giants. During the show, Tommy Shaw mentioned that it had been “about 30 years” since Styx performed at Township Auditorium. The show was one for the books. Due to traffic and other factor, I and fellow freelancer Greg Walling arrived a bit late. The band was already playing their first song, the opening track from their new concept album, The Mission, called “Over- ture,” followed, as on the album, by “Gone, Gone, Gone.” For their third song, the guys pulled out one of their many huge hits, “Blue Collar Man,” which brought cheers up from the crowd. This was followed by another fan favorite, “Grand Illusion” and then a beautiful rendi- tion of one of the band’s first big hits, “Lady.” “Radio Silence” from the new album was next- a great song. The first set also included “Snow Blind,” “Red Storm,” and “Light Up” complete with the audience participating with hand claps. “Foolin’ Yourself (Angry Young Man)”
came next followed by “Rockin’ the Paradise” and the set closer, “Suite Madam Blue.” Somewhere during the set, it was mentioned that drummer Todd Suchermar is featured in Modern Drummer magazine. Cool. With no opening band, Styx were given
the time to do two big sets. Personally, I like it better that way. After all, we are coming to see Styx, not some opening band. Set two kicked off with “Miss America,” and included “Crystal Ball, “Pieces of Eight,” “Too Much
Tommy Shaw (Photo by Tim Shook)
Time on my Hands” and “Come Sail Away.” We were all thrilled when they covered “Come Again” by Damn Yankees, and Lawrence Gowan played “Khedive” from the new album solo on the piano, before surprising everyone with the operatic section of Queen’s “Bo- hemian Rhapsody,” which had the entire au- ditorium singing along. At one point, James Young spoke about how long the band has been around, recalling Styx being sold 8-track tapes. I remember that! For the encore, the band pulled out “Mr. Ro- boto” and ended with “Renegade.” It was truly one smoking hot show by one of Amer- ica’s finest and most enduring rock bands.
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