Concert in your area for Rock, Metal, Folk & Blues, Indie & Alt, and Pop.
Styx is known for their unusual musical style: they meld pop rock with the extreme power of hard-rock guitar and elements of musical theatre. Their style of rock has been described as anything from progressive to soft rock.
The current line-up of the band consists of Chuck Panozzo, James "J.Y." Young, Tommy Shaw, Todd Sucherman, Lawrence Gowan and Ricky Phillips. The band was started by Chuck Panozzo and his twin brother, John, in 1961 whilst the brothers were still in adolescence. The original name of the band was ‘The Tradewinds.’ In 1972 the band signed with Wooden nickel Records and became Styx, producing their first, self-entitled, album which was followed by many more.
The band’s big breakthrough in to the mainstream market, however, did not come until the release of their seventh album, ‘The Grand Illusion’ on 7 July 1977. It reached triple platinum certification. The band then went on to achieve great success from the late 70s and moving on to the 80s.
Following their sudden success, the band suffered a number of splits and reformations, especially throughout the 90s. Various band members were lost and subsequently replaced throughout this period.
To date, Styx are best known for their hit rock songs "Lady" "Come Sail Away" "Babe" , "The Best of Times" , "Too Much Time on My Hands" and "Mr. Roboto", amongst many others.
McCain’s career started out when he embarked on a tour with Hootie and the Blowfish. This fortunately led to him attracting the attention of Atlantic Records, whom he signed with in 1994. He entered the studio the same year to record his debut major label release, “Honor Among Thieves” on the same division, “Lava Records” as Matchbox Twenty, Kid Rock and Jewel. He released his second album, “Misguided Roses” On June 24th 1997. The album went to number 73 on the Billboard 200 chart, and spawned the hit single “I’ll Be” which made it to number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song has since been featured in the TV show “Higher Ground” and the motion picture, A Cinderella Story.
On June 15th 1999, Edwin McCain released the album “Messenger” which made it to number 59 in the Billboard 200. It featured the hit single written by Dianne Warren, “I Could Not Ask for More” which reached number 37 in the Billboard Hot 100. Still on the Atlantic Record Label, McCain released the album “Far From Over” which unfortunately didn’t make it into the top 100, but it did however, feature the single “Hearts Fall” which made it to number 27 on the Adult Contemporary charts.
Unfortunately, between the release of “Lost in America” in 2006 and “Mercy Bound”, McCain didn’t have any commercial success, but he still tours nationally, including performing on board USS John C. Stennis, whilst it was on a Western Pacific deployment in Guam.
Styx are not only know as legendary recording artists, but as legendary rock performers. With such a prolific career it would be easy to see how they could slip over the years. However, I was able to see them recently and I can assure you, they have lost nothing.
I went to the concert a bit skeptical. Could the Styx I love still bring the rock? As I stood waiting for the show to start I noticed the crowd was a lot of young kids and older adults. It’s impressive that a band like Styx can bring together multiple generations. Everybody seemed real fans of the band. No one just standing around with there arms crossed like you see at a lot of concerts.
The second the band took the stage everyone took to their feet. The band didn’t wait a moment to engage us. With a “Are you ready to rock?” they jumped right into “Blue Collar Man”, one of my favorites. From then on the show was an hour straight of all the songs you remembered and some you had even forgot you knew. There was really something for everyone. The concert ended with an energy-overloaded performance of “Come Sail Away” followed by the radio favorite “Mr. Roboto”. Even after the show stopped and the lights came up, everyone was still talking about the set list. While it may sound crazy, seeing Styx live should be something everyone does before they die.
So, I actually got to meet Edwin McCain at a charity golf tournament last year, but I’d never had a chance to see him in concert until now so when one of my friends got tickets, I jumped at the chance.
We saw him at the Tillman Auditorium in Clemson, and it was the PERFECT place to see him. The acoustics were amazing, and the concert felt way more intimate than I would have ever expected. I was surprised that his voice is even better in person than on a CD or on the radio-the man can flat out sing! I’m so used to studio alteration and autotune that it was so nice to hear just a great, smooth voice that didn’t need anything to be perfect.
He was really entertaining throughout the show, making jokes and talking to people in the audience-it made the show feel more personal and really enhanced the experience for me. One of the coolest things was that he would tell little stories about his life and give details about the meanings behind his songs.
It really made me feel like it was more than a concert-it was almost like getting to know an old friend. My favorite song was an a capella version of “I’ll Be” that was so beautiful it literally brought tears to my eyes. It was one of the best shows I’ve ever gone to, and I’ll definitely see him again if I have the chance!
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