No, no, no and no! Please all you german people do not only relie on  one song of Styx, which is of course  "Boat on The River". - Okay, it was a hitsingle in the charts over here. But in America for instance you would find the track just on the B-Side of one of the many other hitsingles, Styx had in the states. And the track  wasn't even worth to mention. And it doesn't get much played by the band 'till the very day.  Styx are definately no ballad - band. And they're never gonna be one. Whether with Tommy Shaw and nowadays without Dennis DeYoung but with Lawrence Gowan. And Styx are not really just a melodic mainstream combo like Journey. No, what is up there, tonight and here and now is a - straight between the eyes hard rockin' group, who knows a 100% how to knock out every Ballad lover and makes  every Heavy Metal band jealous. 

Hey, I don't exaggerate ! This here is the non plus ultra of the absolute Rock'n'Roll show in the truest sense of the spoken word. First of all of course all eyes lean on Tommy Shaw, who hasn't changed a wink visually for the past 20 years. At least it seems so from a certain distance. Andnot even the beard makes him look older.  Even Tommy's beyond his 50s like for instance  James Young who's also an original member of the group and belongs to the puzzle. Todd Sucherman on drums like last time five years ago, and Ricky Phillips on bass. But the clou, the actual centerpoint of the happening is ... no not Tommy Shaw, - like expected from most of the audiance. No it's a man named Lawrence Gowan on keyboard, - and vocals. And I can honestly say, without him a Styx-Show would be half as good, half as funny and half as entertaining and crazy. Wauw, this man is good in every way. Larry plays  his instrument from the front, from behind, from above and underneath, upside down or whatsoever. He luv's it, he rapes it, dances a waltz and goes round in circles, so the poor thing probably gets the impression of a heavy thunderstorm  including seasickness on the sinking Titanic. Inbetween Lawrence, - or you can call him Larry, - leaves his baby alone, takes just the mike and plays the frontman, who he is anyway most of the time. The top of the madness is a brillant version of the W.A.S.P. classic tune "I Don't Need No Doctor". And Blacky Lawless would get nervoes, if he saw it. Like I mentioned before. I don't overdo it. Thousands of fans are celebrating Styx and most of all scottish born canadian sunnyboy Lawrence Gowan. Nop, not a solid, melodic softrock performance, but a freaky hardrock show, which tears down the walls and lets us forget, that many of us just knew "Boat on the River" so far and "Renegade" and maybe some tunes within the 18 tracks medley of Styx Hits. 
Help me, I presume, I just survived at least five highpoints in a row . Sure, Tommy Shaw is Styx most of all and with him the others and - yes, of course don't forget - "Boat On The River". We digged it. But the little top of the icing is..... Lawrence Gowan is god, without exeptions and  complains. 
Larry - I,... no I mean of course we, - do love you.....
                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                         more Live Pics  here

(PS.: You find a portait of the artist Gowan  on this page in the stories section - Just click here)

A quick word to Kansas, who played before Styx, And this was a wise move. Because if they had played second, they'd be smashed down by Styx easily. Kansas are a great band with a high musical level, but somehow today there was no power at all in the performance. At least what I saw of it. And I did not see much, thanx to Larry. 
So end of story - long live Styx, please come back soon with all the spice and chilly in the game. 

                                                                                                    see also  Diary  for some Backstage shots