In the moments before Styx took the stage at House of Blues in Cleveland, “Wake Up Little Susie” by The Everly Brothers played at elevated volume through the sound system. There was significance behind the song choice that likely was unnoticed by most of the crowd in attendance.

Susie Young, wife of longtime Styx guitarist James “J.Y.” Young remains in a Chicago hospital fighting for life after recently suffering an aneurysm, secondary to an arterio-venous malformation.

At J.Y.’s request, the shows have gone on, with Styx playing dates as a four-piece for the first time in Styx history in Virginia and North Carolina.

Styx were fully intact for the Cleveland show with no mention of the situation from the stage, and J.Y. looked like just another one of the boys in the band, ready to deliver a great Styx show.

And they did just that – with a performance that hit all of the marks that Foreigner had missed on the same stage a week prior.

In nearly two hours, Styx rolled out a set that started out in a familiar place with “Blue Collar Man,” “The Grand Illusion,” and “Loralei.” Just when things were starting to feel a bit too deja-vu, things took a giant left turn with Tommy Shaw strumming a mandolin for “Boat On The River” from the 1979 Styx release Cornerstone. A nice curve ball, but not completely out of character for Styx…but then they kept going.

Alone on the stage, Shaw strapped on an acoustic for a quick excerpt of “Man In The Wilderness” and segued into territory that was slightly more familiar with “Crystal Ball,” at which point he was rejoined by the band.

There were a lot of nuggets in the setlist, and also a couple of DeYoung tracks that I don’t remember seeing in the setlist the past few times I’ve seen Styx (“Lady” in particular.)

And oh yeah, how about an appearance from original Styx bass player Chuck Panozzo too?

Very cool!

After seeing Steve Lukather on Friday night at The Winchester, Steve Smith and Vital Information and Dave Weckl/Will Lee on Saturday night, I was a bit tired leading into tonight’s performance from Styx, but they made it worth the trip out, and then some! Hands down, this is the best Styx show I’ve ever seen. Their collective energy is infectious, and drummer Todd Sucherman is yet another great underrated drummer – so unbelievably talented.

Their sense of humor remains, as well – among the t-shirts on sale at the merch stand, was one that said “Classic Rock, My Ass!” on the back, noting that Styx have performed over 1100 shows in the past 10 years.

Lineup:

Tommy Shaw – vocals/guitar
James “J.Y.” Young – vocals/guitar
Lawrence Gowan – vocals/keyboards
Chuck Panozzo – bass
Ricky Phillips – bass/vocals
Todd Sucherman – drums

Setlist:

Blue Collar Man
The Grand Illusion
Loralei
One With Everything
Lady
Too Much Time On My Hands
Snowblind
I Am The Walrus
Boat On The River
Man In The Wilderness (Shaw acoustic)
Crystal Ball (beginning acoustic w/ Shaw only)
Suite Madame Blue
Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man) (Chuck Panozzo on bass)
Miss America
Come Sail Away (Panozzo on bass)

encore:

Everything All The Time
Renegade (Panozzo on bass)

Recommended Listening:

Styx – Man In The Wilderness

Styx – Crystal Ball

Relevant Links:

Styx official website

Purchase the Styx One With Everything concert DVD from Amazon

Purchase Styx Gold (greatest hits) on CD