Crowd sails away with Styx during greatest-hits set

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/10/2022 (1180 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A river of vintage power ballads and synthy keyboards ran through Winnipeg on Tuesday night. Styx, the Chicago rock band responsible for some of the most highly recognizable songs of the 1970s and ‘80s, played to a small, but eager weeknight crowd at Canada Life Centre.

It’s been 50 years since the band released its self-titled debut album and the prolific group has put out 16 studio albums in the intervening decades. Tuesday’s set was a night of greatest hits and a celebration of the band’s signature theatrical sound.

While Styx made their mark as an arena band, their last stop on a Canadian tour felt more intimate by virtue of the staging. The venue was halved and the crowd of 3,500 fans filled the floor and lower bowl for up close, personal views of the stage.

Despite the close quarters, and though the rockers are getting on in years (a fact nodded to during the set; most of the original members are in or approaching their 70s), the band delivered a set brimming with big-stage energy.

With a catalogue reminiscent of an epic sci-fi adventure, overblown gravitas is a prerequisite.

The makeup of the group has shifted over the last 50 years and the current configuration includes “golden era” members James “JY” Young, Tommy Shaw and Chuck Panozzo joined by relative newcomers Todd Sucherman, Lawrence Gowan, Ricky Phillips and Will Evankovich.

Returning to Winnipeg for the first time since 2015, the group twirled onto the stage in a varied uniform of tight pants and flashy blazers before launching into The Fight of our Lives, a characteristically cinematic number from their 2021 album, Crash of the Crown. It was a much-needed injection of intensity after a lackluster opening set by a veteran artist.

The night kicked off with an era-appropriate appearance from Nancy Wilson, guitarist and co-founder of American rock band Heart. Along with sister and lead vocalist, Ann, the pair hit mainstream success in the late 1970s but are no longer touring together. According to media interviews, the split was the result of creative differences, rather than ill will between the siblings.

The lengthy and subdued set included a slew of Heart classics — including the vocally ambitious tracks Barracuda and Crazy on You — but it was evident a key component was missing from Nancy Wilson’s Heart. The crowd work was stilted and, aside from taking the lead on several songs, Wilson mostly stuck to the strings.

Vocalist Kimberly Nichole (a Broadway performer and finalist on reality TV show The Voice) stole the show and carried the aforementioned tunes masterfully.

Styx, on the other hand, came out swinging. There were at least a few high kicks and band members took turns traipsing around a two-tiered stage set with black lights, smoke machines and colourful LED screens.

While Styx doesn’t have a lead singer, per se, keyboardist and vocalist Gowan (who happens to be the group’s sole member with Canadian heritage and is known around these parts for his own 1980s hits such as A Criminal Mind, which made Tuesday’s setlist, and (You’re a) Strange Animal) acted the frontman for much of the night. Wearing a sparkly jacket — and later, the requisite touring band Jets jersey — Gowan oscillated between belting it out atop a raised, rotating keyboard platform and dancing frenetically.

An anniversary year is bound to come with reflection. Young, Shaw and Gowan shared a few stories from the road between songs — some of which landed, some of which didn’t. A handful of rowdy audience members seemed more interested in hearing the hits than sitting through the rare quiet moments.

The band delivered in the nostalgia department, playing just over 90 minutes of satisfying renditions of songs from their glory days, such as The Grand Illusion, Too Much Time On My Hands and Come Sail Away. The concert ended with Mr. Roboto and an arena-wide sing-along to Renegade.

eva.wasney@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @evawasney