In concert: We keep on loving Styx, REO and Night Ranger in Tampa

Not to sound too corny, but after seeing REO Speedwagon live for the third time in about 12 years, the only words that come to mind are: " When I said that I love you, I meant that I love you forever."

And I do still mean it. It's impossible not to still love REO. Even on nights when Kevin Cronin and the boys are a little off.

REO Speedwagon and Styx were the co-headliners Friday night in Tampa at the Ford Amphitheatre, but REO drew the short straw and went on first (well, after a short set by Night Ranger.) All three bands seemed to struggle a little with a sound system that left them sounding muddy and a little light on guitar. Here are the highlights:

STILL ROCKING AMERICA: Give Night Ranger credit. They seem to enjoy every second on stage, even with a 7 p.m. start time (and even if a few of their stories and bits seem a little rehearsed or stale.) "Every band has a na-na song," Jack Blades explained to the crowd after Secret of my Success. Yep, I heard the same schtick word for word a few years ago in Clearwater. Given their short allowance of time on stage, NR used it efficiently, rolling through the hits including Sing Me Away, When You Close Your Eyes, Don't Tell Me You Love Me and Rock in America. Tommy Shaw from Styx came onstage to sing along with Sister Christian, a song that has lost none of its magical powers over the years. If you can't sing along, then your soul is dead.

STILL MISSING DENNIS: I know founding lead singer Dennis DeYoung has been gone from the Styx lineup forever. But they're just not Styx without him. Case in point: Would the Chicago-bred band EVER have been forced to open with Miss America (James Young on vocals) in the old days? With only Young and Shaw remaining in the lineup, the band just feels like a really good tribute band.

TOO MUCH TIME ON THEIR HANDS: There's absolutely nothing wrong with Styx's musicianship. But it feels like they're trying just soooo hard to make fans like them. "Look! We're having fun! We love being on stage! We're happy! We're energetic! You can still like us! Please still like us!"

OBLIGATORY PDA WHINING: It's not a concert review without complaining at "that one couple," right? In this case, it was the heavily boozed up 45-year-old and his 23-year-old date two rows in front of me. By the time Styx got to Grand Illusion, they had broken out some naughty moves I haven't seen since Johnny Castle and Baby Houseman mixed it up in Dirty Dancing. And just like the movie, you get the feeling the night's gonna end with Baby needing to ask her dad to borrow some cash. 

ONE LAST COMPLAINT .. OKAY TWO OF THEM: Styx keyboardist Lawrence Gowan is irritating. Big time. His keyboard is on a swivel so that he can spin it around 360 degrees. Why? So he shake his butt at times Bon Jovi-style. And so he can play the keys -- with his hands behind his back! Again, why? Plus, and I know I'm being a real ass here, but I can't get over the impression that he sounds too much like the Monkees' Davy Jones.

REO GETS REVVED UP: REO opened with Don't Let Him Go, an excellent choice. But they've reworked the song a little -- and not in a good way. It's a few beats slower and less frantic. But "frantic" is what makes the original so much fun. It's a screaming plea, not a plodding anthem. The new version sounds like it's on cold meds.

HEARD IT FROM A FRIEND WHO....: REO, Kevin and the boys seemed to really suffer from the sound system. The guitar just disappeared at times, leaving songs to be carried by the bass and drums. On top of that, REO seemed a beat too slow a few times. Was it intentional? One of the only songs to benefit from it was Take It On The Run, which always sounded too weepy to me on Hi Infidelity. A step slower, it's perfect, transforming itself into the ultimate public kiss-off to a cheating, heart-stomping woman. Who knew that nearly 30 years after hearing it for the first time -- I hated it back in the day -- today this would be the song I'd feel most personally.

MOST CHILLING MOMENT: A huge video screen behind the band worked its best magic when showing clips of REO through the ages. But nothing could top the moment when it turned the clock back to July 13, 1985 -- Live Aid. Hearing news reports of the event, and then a commentator say, "REO Speedwagon is about to play its No. 1 song." And then Can't Fight This Feeling starts. I still get chills thinking about it.

I KNOW IT HURTS TO SAY GOODBYE: Time for Me To Fly sounds as perfect today as it ever has. Can't we sing this before sporting events instead of the national anthem? I'd happily put my cap over my heart and cry like a baby. If I were REO, I'd have made this the final song of the night rather than the now-plodding Riding the Storm Out.

MOST PERFECT SONG EVER: This is going to sound like the ripest of hyperbole, but I want to make a case for Roll With The Changes being perhaps one of the most perfect songs every conceived. It's like a world-record, Olympic relay race, which each band member effortlessly handing off solos to each other. And seriously, when was the last time you found yourself playing "air keyboards" at a concert? Wow. If I had to pick just one REO song to listen to the rest of my life, this is it.

THE CROWD: Looked like a pretty full house at the Ford Amp last night, even though it was a "pavilion-only" show (no lawn seats open). I think I can safely say almost everyone there was in their 40s. As my companion so brilliantly observed at one point, "I think the entire audience is having a mid-life crisis." Hey, present company included! We're not that stuck up!

Despite its flaws, the REO, Styx, Night Ranger tour is still a great night of hits and seriously worth every penny for a ticket. Besides, it'd cost you serious coin to get this lineup of anthems off of iTunes. And what fun is it playing air keyboards alone?

Comments

[Marcus]

Why don't they sing Babe in concert?

[Matt]

Night Ranger is awesome! Didn't get to see them on this go-round, but I saw them at that BBQ-fest in Clearwater a few years ago, and they put on a great show and were nice guys to boot (I was 'backstage', if you can call it that). Not to mention their Will Farrell-esque drummer is always fun to watch.

[livewiremd]

I am a 40 something fan who came all the way from Baltimore to see this show with friends and I have to say I liked 90% of it. Like others here, when Tommy Shaw came out with Night Ranger WHY NOT play at least ONE Damn Yankees tune?? Coming of Agewould have made their set!
REO still sounds great but they HAVE to stop that political stuff and just play music! I know they lost the crowd at that part of the show and wasted valuable time for another GOOD song.
STYX still sounds great with Tommy and JY kicking it out but I agree that Lawrence tends to be annoying. I also don't understand why they insist on playing that "Walrus" song! It doesn't suit them, I personally hate re-makes and it wasted a space for Crystal Ball or Rockin the Paradise!
The only bad thing about a 3 band show is that it limits each band's playlist by several songs, so their choices are much more important.
All in all, a great show in Tampa.!

[Della Costa]

I was at the show. My comments:
1- Kevin Cronin - Shut up and sing. The spoken intro to Golden Country is tired old and worn. The crowd does not want to hear it.
2- REO - You do not have to have giant flourishes to end every song. Cut 40 seconds off each ending and play In My Dreams or something.
3- Styx - Seriously, I Am The Walrus. Where is Crystal Ball? Where is Snowblind? I understand not playing Babe or Mr. Roboto. How about Boat on a River?
4- I Am the Walrus loses the crowd. People do not come to hear you retread a mediocre Beatles song. You have added nothing new to the song.
5- If Tommy Shaw and Jack Blades are in the same building...why don't you play High Enough?
I'm just saying...

[DerekT]

I agree that Roll With the Changes is an awesome song. A catchy piano start, great guitar work, nice organ playing and altogether tight song. When I saw REO back in 1985, they opened that song like a love ballad with just Kevin on guitar singing, but then played the whole song like it is suppose to. Cool!!

I also wish Dennis DeYoung and Styx would finally bury the hatchet and work together again. Some band members are key to a band while others are more supporting members. I think Journey is not really Journey without Steve Perry, the same with Styx and DeYoung. Tommy Shaw is awesome, but JY, and DeYoung needs to be on stage too to make Styx complete.
I really wish I could see the show. I hope they make their way back to Europe soon.

[Robby]

Scab Styx sucks.

[Eric S]

Have to agree with Steve on this one. Dennis DeYoung is a huge loss for Styx. The group had 8 top hits. 7 of them were written by Dennis. You can't get around that. They put out a live album a couple of years ago and they purposely left out all of the DeYoung hits from it. That is petty. I've seen them about 3 or 4 times. All of them without Dennis. It did seem like it was missing something. I missed them this time around. I am curious if they did that stupid medley like they've done in previous tours. That just annoys me. I don't want to hear short snippets of songs that you aren't going to do all of. I've have also seen Dennis a couple of times at Ruth Eckerd. He puts on a great show. Actually Night Ranger may have opened for DeYoung a couple of years ago.

Some groups can get away with not having all the originals or the classic lineup. Kiss can do it if Paul and Gene are in the group. Night Ranger can survive with Blades, Keagy and Gillis. Dokken isn't the same without George and Jeff. It all depends on the group.

[CHAD]

i'll play devil's advocate here. most of our beloved classic rock bands fall into the same category as styx. there are very few classic bands still around with original members. if fact, the only one i can think of is cheap trick and motley crue. foreigner only has one original member left, but they recently put out a great cd. you can count them down, KISS, reo speedwagon, tesla, night ranger, dokken, kansas, loverboy, survivor, 38 special, and even our beloved journey. how many original members need to still be in the band to be considered legit? if you are using these definitions as a yardstick, then arnel would be considered a scab. of the five members of journey, only two are original. so where do you draw the line?

[Bassnote]

I saw a dvd of Styx in their current line up, and it just wasn't the same band. I had the good fortune to see Styx in 1996 at the Rosemont Horizon in the Chicago suburbs. That was the last tour that DeYoung, Shaw, Young, and Chuck Panazzo did together. The show wound up being recorded for the "Return To Paradise" album. The new line-up just doesn't compare. Like Steve said, They are like a really great tribute band now.

[CHAD]

hold it, there is only one davy jones. i like lawrence gowan, but he's no davy jones. i do rather styx with deyoung, but his head is bigger than the rest of the band's put together.

[Kevin]

Paging Marcia Brady...so Marcia, "dreamy" or "strange animal"? Your call.

[Spears]

I'm late to every party. In fact, I rarely show up at all. Hopefully that changes tonight since there's a few places I gotta be.

But someone tell me he's not Davy Jones. Geesh. I kept waiting for me to break out "Daydream Believer" last night.

[Kevin]

Spearsy, you're late to the party on the Larry Gowan-hate. If you lived in Canada in the '80s, you were forced to endure his solo career. Check out this cheese, and consider that both songs were Top 20 hits on the Canadian charts in 1985:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFTKLEOkCAY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAxlmdTJ7S8