September 30, 2004: Styx in Journeyland

Saratoga, CA
Mountain Winery

When Journey went out on tour with Styx and REO Speedwagon in 2003, I subscribed to mailing lists for each band. I didn't post often, but I had met a few members of the Styx list, including some from the Bay Area. I remained on the list after the 2003 tour, so when I came out of lurking to let the Bay Area contingent I'd be at the Styx show at the Mountain Winery, I was asked to report back my perspective. This is what I wrote.

It was a great show! I'm going to start my rave at the end because that encore was just amazing! My mom listened to Ray Charles a bit when I was a kid, so to hear such a wonderful tribute was just incredible. And for the second time in two weeks, Jimi Hendrix was resurrected I'm not sure which has amazed me more Neal Schon's cover of "Voodoo Chile" or JY's cover of "Manic Depression." Holy cow! If I'd closed my eyes I woulda sworn Jimi was on stage! Then the cover of "I Am the Walrus." Okay, I am a HUGE Beatles fan and if someone is gonna cover a Beatles song they'd better do it right or just not do it at all. All I can say is John Lennon would be proud. I really think it's incredible when performers pay tribute to their heroes in this manner!

Okay, so as for the rest of the show.... My friends and I arrived just as Styx hit the stage and were pleasantly surprised when the whole crowd was on their feet immediately. Winery shows can be kind of dead sometimes with that whole "wine and cheese" enthusiasm that comes along, so to have the 1200 or so people on their feet that quickly was a treat. Even more amazing, they STAYED on their feet through "More Love for the Money" (which I was grateful came early in the set so I could do a quick duck out for the restroom -- I really like Cyclorama, but if I have to miss a tune those are the ones I'm gonna choose. Sorry folks!) Though I can't figure out quite why everyone then sat down for "Snowblind." From that point on the crowd was a bit of what I call a "yo-yo" crowd. Up, down, up, down... Considering how cold it was, you'd have thought people would have stayed on their feet and danced just to stay warm. (I was almost as cold as I was at Journey's show at Konocti last week, and if there had been a wind in Saratoga last night, I probably WOULD have been! Getting too cold for outdoor shows now. Bummer!) The crowd was pretty awesome though, singing along with loads of enthusiasm. I wish the Journey crowds would sing along as well! That sound of a thousand voices is just such a rush, I can only imagine what the band feels when they hear that kind of response!

The guys really were having a great time on stage, which always makes for a great show. Tommy and JY doing a do-si-do while Lawrence played a little ragtime piano was absolutely hysterical. The stage was pretty low, so JY came out into the crowd at one point and there was a very obvious die-hard Styx fan right there in the front row, who looked to be in 7th heaven! She was having a GREAT night.

The Mountain Winery is really a fun place to see a show, small, intimate, good sound. My only complaint is that the stage is too low for the folks on the floor since the incline of the floor isn't very steep.* This meant that all I really could see well throughout the whole show was the top of JY's head! LOL! Okay, that's a slight exaggeration, but Tommy was darned near impossible to see from where I was. (And could someone mention to Ricky Phillips that he needs to cut his hair... from the 19th row when all anyone can see are two dudes with long blonde hair covering their faces and white shirts on their shoulders it makes it a little hard to identify who's playing. A couple of times I said to myself "what the heck is Tommy doing on THIS side of the stage and how'd he get there so fast??!" Thank goodness Ricky took off his jacket about half way through the show so I knew if I saw a flash of blonde hair and a black sleeve I knew who I was looking at! LOL! (And as long as I'm in this non-sequitur ramble, man has Tommy's hair gotten long since last summer!) Okay, where was I? The venue, right... I sure wish I could see more shows there, but alas, they put their full slate of shows on sale all on the same day! That means buying tickets months in advance and since they're always $50+, it's a pretty expensive proposition when you want to see 6-8 shows! Of course, it also means I've been waiting SIX MONTHS to see this show!

*The Mountain Winery remodeled their concert venue in about 2008 and it's laid out MUCH better now than it was then. Still a great place to see an intimate show, despite being a hassle to get to and from.

Shew... that's a lot from a lurker isn't it?? In closing, I'd like to say how glad I am that I've rediscovered Styx the last few years and that I've finally had the opportunity to see them by themselves after having seen them 7 or 8 times with my Journey boys. I'd forgotten how much I loved this band back in the day and how due to the vagaries of being a typical impoverished teenager meant picking up the Journey records instead of the Styx ones when forced to choose that ONE album to buy for the year. Now, if only November would hurry up and get here so I can get a full dose of concert fun while cruisin' the Caribbean!

Oh, and before I forget, I'm sure I've seen it posted before but I've never really paid all that much attention to it -- what are all the songs in the medley?* Other than the really obvious, I didn't recognize much and neither did my friends. It was great, but I think I would have enjoyed it more if I was more sure what I was hearing!

*I never did get an answer to this question, so I still have no idea what the medley contained other than parts of one song from each album. The only one I remember now is "Mr. Roboto."