Album Shows Bring Styx and Fans Full Circle

By Doug Fox

A long time ago, in bedrooms not so far away, vinyl albums were how fans experienced the music of their favorite bands.

In time, this medium of choice branched out into 8 tracks, cassettes and CDs — but even so, albums were still primarily recorded, presented and consumed as a singular complete entity. A full listening experience, carefully sequenced and segued for maximum impact from beginning to end, often across two distinct but complementary sides.

However, digital streaming — with its emphasis on individual songs over full albums — has slowly chipped away at the album experience for younger listeners, who, in fairness, may not fully realize what they’re missing while building out their Spotify playlists.

Thankfully, many bands remain dedicated to preserving the majesty of the full album experience, not just as nostalgia, but as something still very much alive. Styx has not only released three new studio records in the past nine years, but also embraced the trend of performing entire albums in concert.

With last year’s full summer run performing “The Grand Illusion” and January’s Vegas residency stint delivering “Pieces of Eight,” it felt like a good time to chat with the guys, not only about their love for the album as a complete entity but also in the unique challenges involved in bringing those classic works of art to the stage.

Before the lights go down and the first note hits the stage, however, it’s worth remembering where the connection to these albums began — not in an arena, but in a much quieter, more personal setting.

Vinyl Immersion

The genesis for this edition of The Stygian Chronicles actually sprang from a discussion with keyboardist/vocalist Lawrence Gowan last May, previewing Styx’s then-forthcoming studio album, “Circling From Above.” Gowan recalled the joy of not only discovering new bands through complete albums, but losing himself in them through repeated vinyl immersion.

“I could just enter this other world through these albums,” he said. “I never thought of it this way before, but it's almost like in the past an album to me was as addictive as Instagram is today, where you found that the time just kind of evaporated when you fell into it really deeply. The difference being that I can do 40 minutes of scrolling on Instagram and not be able to remember half of what I saw 20 minutes ago. Whereas with an album, one piece whet your appetite for the next piece, and that whet your appetite for the next. And so the whole experience was very nourishing.”

Gowan pegged the beginning of albums as an art form to the era of the Beatles.

“For me, it's somewhere in a hazy bit between ‘Rubber Soul’ and obviously ‘Sgt. Pepper’s.’ Somewhere in there, instead of being a collection of singles, there was this idea that an album had a loose but palpable theme to it,” he said. “And loose was important because the theater of the mind that kicked in when you gave yourself 40 minutes to listen to an entire piece of music … I think that’s what was beautiful about the album as an art form, and probably why I’m so drawn to progressive rock. It invites you to kind of go on a little bit of your own mental journey almost parallel to what the album is doing.”

Gowan thinks many in the younger generation have latched on to the thrill of full albums during their own listening journeys. In the past year, especially, as Styx has performed “The Grand Illusion” and “Pieces of Eight,” he noticed younger members of the audience singing all the words to deeper album cuts as well as the singles.

“They must have discovered them because they know the whole albums,” he said. “I find that younger people will often have a favorite Styx song that was not a single at all. It might be ‘Man in the Wilderness’ or it might be ‘Pieces of Eight’ or something that was not a single but was actually something on the album. And that tells me — or at least I interpret that to mean — that they’re listening to the entire record and discovering something.”

A ‘Styxtoury’ Album Concert Primer

To date, Styx has taken three different albums and brought them to life in full onstage. The first jaunt was the limited-run combo “Grand Illusion/Pieces of Eight” tour in 2010, which spanned 21 shows over the course of a month. That double performance enjoyed a two-show reprise in Las Vegas in 2012.

Next up was the full-album recreation of 2017’s concept record, “The Mission.” That space-age production debuted with a single performance in Las Vegas in January of 2019 and followed with three additional shows later that year in Boston and Long Island, NY.

The band jumped back to doing full “Grand Illusion” performances at its Vegas residency in 2025 and then took the complete album production on its expansive summer tour, along with the Kevin Cronin Band and Don Felder. The album was also presented at the final night of the “Rockin’ in Paradise with Styx + Friends” festival in Miramar Beach, Fla., in October.

The spotlight then turned to “Pieces of Eight” a few months ago for this year’s Vegas residency.

One of the biggest challenges — and honestly, one of the greatest joys — is dusting off deeper album cuts that have not typically been performed live. Getting them stage-ready is a months-long process, with songs being honed and incrementally perfected in pre-show dressing rooms and soundchecks across the country.

“We’ve got people who are dead serious, and they want everything to be right,” said guitarist/vocalist Tommy Shaw. “And if it’s not right, then let’s talk about it and let’s work on it. And then you practice that. And by the time you get up there, you’re a lot less likely to make mistakes.”

According to Shaw, a lot of the organizational credit behind the scenes goes to guitarist/vocalist Will Evankovich, who also serves as band director. He evaluates everyone’s progress in the overall band concept and works with members individually until everything’s clicking.

“We’ve all got to go back and relearn everything,” Shaw said during a November dressing room interview before a show in Nampa, Idaho. “You’ve got to be able to sing it and play it right. We have really high standards and we call each other out if something’s not right. We’ll spend a lot of time in a room like this with a little amplifier perfecting things.”

While records are recorded in bits and pieces, Evankovich said it’s the final sequencing that ends up giving them a life of their own. Playing them all the way through in concert provides band members the opportunity to tap into the vibe of an album like never before.

“You don't get to do that very often,” he said. “So, when you get to play an entire record like ‘The Grand Illusion’ or ‘Pieces of Eight,’ it takes on an energy of its own. I think everybody on the stage and in the audience feels the experience even differently than throwing the record on. It's magical that way.”

Drummer Todd Sucherman concurred.

“It's fun to do because it gives the evening sort of a sense of gravitas, that you're performing a work as opposed to just a collection of songs or a collection of hits. So, it makes it fun because you're presenting 35, 40 minutes of music in one shot, almost like a symphonic movement or something along those lines,” he said. “It's always fun whenever we get to do something like that, which isn't very often at all. It's been sporadic through the years, but I'm always looking forward to doing it again.

“It's a different thing when you play them in sequence. Again, there's a pacing, there's the excitement of the sequence of what’s coming next, and the audience is used to hearing the songs in that sequence. It’s fun to deliver that to the fans.”

After finishing up a run of album shows, it’s common to see a deep track or two remain in the set for a while as band members are reminded just how fun it is to perform. Since the completion of the “Pieces of Eight” residency earlier this year, that honor has gone to “Great White Hope,” the album’s rocking opening track. It will be interesting to see if it remains in the live set carrying into this summer’s “Windy Cities Tour” with Chicago.

‘A Different Trajectory’

While playing an album in sequence is a major part of the charm in a full-album show, a record’s running order presents an intriguing challenge in terms of mood and momentum in concert. Longtime Styx fans readily recognize, for example, that “Come Sail Away” typically closes the main set and “Renegade” is always the band’s tour de force closer.

Those two songs, however, appear in the fourth and eighth slots on their respective albums — leaving them a long way from their normally hallowed late positions in the live show. That creates more of a mental shift than fans might realize.

“I’ll tell you, it’s not as easy as it rolls off from the record because you’re on a completely different trajectory,” said Gowan, specifically citing the appearance of “Come Sail Away” so early in the set. “It’s daunting because there’s a certain energy to that piece. Because it’s usually the last song in the set, it demands that kind of ultimate moment.”

Even the space between songs is something to consider, as the band attempts to match the time between the record’s grooves — and that includes the amount of time to flip a record over and drop the needle on the second side. This was especially notable, Gowan said, when moving from the crescendo ending of “Come Sail Away,” followed by the tranquil droning keyboard opening to “Miss America.”

“There's a moment there where it's like I'm trying to get my adrenaline under control and slow it down to the slowest little pieces on the record — so those things are paced entirely differently than a regular show,” he said. “But after a few nights of doing it, you fall into the pace of the album to where it becomes second nature. Then, when we go back to undoing that and playing the regular show, that feels weird again because it's different from what you've sunk into doing with the album show.”

At the conclusion of regular Styx shows, bassist Terry Gowan said he’ll often approach Shaw as they’re walking offstage after closing with “Renegade,” shake his head and say, “It almost isn’t fair!”

“That song just delivers as a closer,” he said. “Everything about it is just so badass. It’s almost not fair we get to close with it.”

So, naturally, playing it anywhere except at the very end of the night will be a major adjustment.

“It’s always going to deliver as a great moment live — always. But maybe there is a part of you that feels like we haven’t built up to this moment in terms of the show, right? Thankfully, we have an embarrassment of riches in terms of the songs we can choose from.”

He also pointed out that the title track to “Pieces of Eight” follows “Renegade” in the album sequence, which makes for a poignant transition.

“That’s a beautiful way to follow it — and the only way to follow it because you can’t out-rock it,” he said. “So, everybody calms down, and it works.”

Evankovich said performing “The Grand Illusion” and “Pieces of Eight” in such close proximity to each other helped him appreciate the different ways the two albums were sequenced.

Putting his producer hat on, he compared the party vibe of Side I of “The Grand Illusion” with its more serious and introspective second side, with the opening salvo of “Miss America,” “Man in the Wilderness” and “Castle Walls” delivering a major sonic shift.

“I realized it was kind of poignant for them to put ‘The Grand Finale’ at the end,” he said, “because they couldn’t just end on that more serious note. They had to — at least for two minutes — circle back and let everyone know that everything’s OK. So, it’s beautifully sequenced.”

“Pieces of Eight,” however, gradually fades out with the tranquil tones of the instrumental “Aku-Aku.” Evankovich said he appreciated the different ending choices for the two albums.

“Sometimes life isn’t all about ending with a party,” he said. “Sometimes it’s about ending with tucking yourself into sleep at night.”

Fans in the Wilderness

When it comes to deep album tracks, the epic acoustic-to-electric journey offered by the Shaw-driven “Man in the Wilderness” has long been a dedicated fan favorite. But it’s interesting to note that band members made specific mention of that song when talking about the full “Grand Illusion” treatment.

“‘Man in the Wilderness’ has such an emotional depth to it that I just love how we play it a little differently,” Evankovich said. “We actually lay back a little further. Todd lays back and the pocket becomes even more emotional — not to say better than it was recorded, but that’s a great moment. I think Todd, Terry and I particularly love to really dig into the emotional nature of that song.”

Terry Gowan enthusiastically related two anecdotes about friends who’ve come to see Styx in these recent full-album shows and came away raving about Shaw’s voice in general and especially during “Man in the Wilderness.”

Terry mentioned a musician friend who approached him immediately after one show. “The first thing he said was, ‘Tommy’s voice is ungodly! He’s one of the last …’ and then I finished his sentence … ‘great singers, period!’ He was standing there going, ‘Just listen to his voice!’”

Terry also mentioned having some friends come see the band last summer, and shared the reaction of their two twentysomething daughters following “The Grand Illusion” album treatment.

“The two daughters had found the music on their own,” he said. “Their father, who’s my age, told me they love it and they love the album. So they came to see us last summer and when I had them all come back afterward … the two girls were like, ‘“Man in the Wilderness” is the greatest thing we’ve ever seen!’ Think of that, though. Tommy still has that effect. Going forward, they’ll be like, ‘I remember watching him.’”

Evankovich shared a couple of other favorite moments during performances of “The Grand Illusion,” including his nightly guitar solo duet with Shaw during “Superstars” and the striking nature of “Castle Walls.”

“In ‘Castle Walls, the whole piece of music is so dramatic,” he said, before specifically citing a show in Austin, Texas, last summer that ended prematurely due to thunder and lightning. “Before it was cut short, there was a torrential downpour. It was really dark and I’m looking down on the fans, and they were being pummeled by rain and we were playing ‘Castle Walls.’ I felt like I was watching ‘The Lord of the Rings.’ It was like a big epic battle scene. I loved the theatrical nature of it.”

Drop the Needle

Looking ahead, could there be other Styx records to get the full concert treatment? By way of a disclaimer, I am not aware of any specific plans nor had discussions on the topic, so this is pure personal opinion on my part. But if the band ever decided to present another album, wouldn’t “Paradise Theatre” be an incredible choice?

The album is currently marking the 45th anniversary of its three-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 charts in 1981. Three songs from the album (“Rockin’ the Paradise,” “Too Much Time on My Hands” and “The Best of Times”) are currently mainstays in the band’s live set, and there are a couple other fan favorite deep tracks that would be killer — looking at you “Snowblind” and “Half-Penny, Two-Penny.”

Plus, who wouldn’t want to see what Tommy Shaw could do with “She Cares” after all these years?

Of course, whether it’s “Paradise Theatre” or any other album that might one day get its full moment onstage, the real magic of these records has always lived somewhere else — in the personal connections they create.

Many of us undoubtedly have great stories about first connecting with our favorite bands and, in particular, favorite albums. As it turns out, Terry Gowan has one about first listening to “The Grand Illusion.”

He was in middle school at the time, and familiar with “Come Sail Away” from an equally entertaining story about hearing it cranked to the max in a friend’s Trans-Am. Few things in life go together as well as teenagers, muscle cars and rock music at high decibels.

“It was kind of like everything in the universe was lining up exactly as it ought to be,” Terry remembered. “It all works, you know?”

Terry’s Styx indoctrination was primed to be taken to the next level. One morning, he showed up to school … well, let’s let Terry pick up the story from there.

“We’d bring records to school all the time,” he said. “We loved our records so much and it was a way to show your friends the records we were all listening to. But it was almost like you didn’t want to leave it at home. It was early in the day, and I remember saying to one friend, ‘So, what are we doing tonight?’ And he pointed at the record he was carrying and he went, ‘This is what we’re doing tonight!’ And it was ‘The Grand Illusion’ album. It was just a cool cover.”

Sure enough, a group of friends gathered in a basement that night for a “Grand Illusion” listening party. Terry happened to walk down the stairs just as the title track was beginning.

“And as I came down the stairs, my friend was sitting beside the big speaker and he was viciously air drumming to ‘The Grand Illusion,’ and swinging his arms. And I remember standing back just loving the majesty of it. As a kid, you had the bands that you really liked, and there was a lot of great music around. And so a band had to prove it to you before you really gave it up for them, right? But that was about the time when I went, ‘This is a band to be reckoned with! This is for real!’ I always thought they had such a clear, distinct sound as well. They just seemed to have that right away, the vocals and the arrangements. You knew it was Styx.”

That indelible teenage memory of the title track is hammered home every night when Sucherman’s drum intro kicks the song off live and he realizes anew what a great opportunity he has.

“It’s never, ever, become something that I ever take even remotely for granted,” Terry said. “It’s something that I treasure. Every single time, I go, ‘This is happening again. I don’t know how, but it’s happening again.’”

Spoken exactly like someone who was a fan first.