September 9, 2009

Come Sail Away


I love love love music, pretty much all types, and am playing music all the time - in the house, running, in the car, at work. Lots of new stuff is great, but none of it hits me like the stuff from when I was a teenager. What is it with about the music we grew up with? It has such resonance. And sometimes it just rocks.

The first album I ever bought myself was Billy Joel's 52nd Street. The soundtrack of my early teens was Supertramp, ELO, Fleetwood Mac, Styx, and Elton John. And that stuff is still the best road trip music of all.

In June I saw the amazing Fleetwood Mac "Unleashed" tour. And tonight K and I saw Styx. I was incredibly excited about the show, he came along out of curiosity and because he loves me. And enjoyed the show more then he expected to.

The show was terrific. The band focused on their progressive rock from the 70s (Renegade, The Grand Illusion, Suite Madame Blue) and pretty much skipped their more pop-oriented 80s hits (Babe, Mr Roboto, The Best of Times). OK with me, as I love their whole catalogue, and knew every song, singing along with the crowd at the concert, jumping up and down, knowing all the lyrics.

Styx is five guys including three guitarists, a drummer and a keyboards guy, with several sharing vocals. And and about halfway thru they were joined by group founder Chuch Panozzo, another guitarist. The crowd was on their feet for most of the evening, loving it, feeding off the pounding pulse, bringing the music to life. Everyone totally got into it, especially that scruffy guy with the very unfortunate mullet who is clearly still in 1978 regardless of the show.

Was the magic the music? The shared experience? Or just our collective nostalgia? Probably all of the above. Did I feel like a teenager again? Maybe a little, not sure if that is a good thing. More likely was the comfort of music I know and love, combined with a fresh live exciting show. And damn fine musicians working hard and loving it. Rock on, Blue Collar Man.

1 comments:

ShowBizBuff said...

80's music, here - can't get enough, almost thirty years later! Rock on!

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