Boston/Styx concert review June 24 Grand Prairie, Texas

NoahsFaith · Number of posts: 506 Registration date: 2007-04-07

I went to the show at the Nokia Theatre (great venue!) in Grand Prairie on June 24. It was quite enjoyable. See my thoughts below.

Styx set list: 1 hour 15 minutes, no particular order

Blue-Collar Man (first song)
The Grand Illusion
Lorelei
Too Much Time on My Hands
Crystal Ball
Suite Madame Blue
Man in the Wilderness (acoustic)
Miss America
Fooling Yourself
Come Sail Away
Renegade (encore)

STYX : A surprisingly enjoyable set, could have been The Grand Illusion tour. I was so happy they did the old songs. They were clearly the better rock 'n roll show, while Boston was just more technical with a bigger sound. The Dennis DeYoung replacement was not bad, good high voice but not quite the same, but it was adequate. I'm glad he didn't even try singing Lady. He was a little over-the-top with his antics, especially with the spinning keyboard and playing it backwards. As you can see they did a lot of Tommy Shaw vocal material as well as the classic James Young rendition of Miss America. I was hoping they would do Snowblind. And Tommy Shaw did Man in the Wilderness with only his acoustic guitar and no band. It was very good. Except for a little dig at the president regarding the war while introducing this song.

Boston set list: 1 hour 45 minutes, no particular order
(Might have missed one or two songs)

More Than a Feeling (Michael Sweet Lead Vocal)
Peace of Mind(Michael Sweet Lead Vocal)
Foreplay/Long Time
Rock 'n Roll Band
Hitch a Ride
Don't Look Back
the Journey
It's Easy
Feelin' Satisfied
Amanda (Michael Sweet lead vocal)
the Launch
Cool the Engines
to Be a Man (Dedicated to Brad Delp)
Walk on

Smokin' (encore)
Party (encore)

BOSTON: The sound was quite good technically, as would be expected. A very interesting mix in the vocals, the new lead singer Tommy deCarlo sounds quite like Brad Delp but has little stage presence. This is one obvious reason for having Michael Sweet in the lineup, to interact with the crowd. Tommy deCarlo mainly pointed into the audience while singing and otherwise clapped and played the tambourine once in awhile. There was a lot of trading off in the vocals between Michael and Tommy as well as harmonies together. Tom Scholz did a little bit of background vocals and Gary did a little more. The female bassist had one or two lead vocals and did some background vocals. She definitely had the 70s look I was quite impressed with how well timed they were with the vocals with all the trade-offs. Michael Sweet also completed a great triple guitar attack. Michael was really the only one with that rock 'n roll stage presence. He did all the moving around and entertaining. I think he was there to give Tommy more confidence. Another reason I suspect they brought in Michael Sweet is because he is a professional singer and was probably there in case Tommy did not have the stamina to do the whole thing. And of course the most obvious reason for Michael being there was his high end vocals, which worked for me. I would love to know what Boston fans thought about him, those who had never heard him before.

L8T · Number of posts: 4219 Registration date: 2007-03-13

Hey, this is an enjoyable review...glad you had such a good time. I saw Boston a few years ago and it was a Great show....I think I would have loved it even more with MS there.

StrypedForever · Number of posts: 343 Registration date: 2007-03-07

I had been looking forward to the Boston / Styx concert for months and now it finally came! Boston / Styx - 8:00pm Nokia Live - Grand Prairie, TX.
It was around 3:00pm and I text Michael to tell him that I was looking forward to the show and that I hoped he was enjoying the start of the tour.
He text back and said that he was having a blast and that the tour was going great and he was glad to hear I was going to make the show! Then he said he was going to have a pair of "After Show" passes waiting at will call for my wife and I! I was in complete shock! What an amazing thing to do! I had been waiting months for the show and now this I was blown away.
The show was amazing Styx put on one of the best shows I have seen, tons of energy and they seem to have a great time interacting with the crowd but, I was there to see Boston and hear Michael sing. After about a 30 minute break between bands to re-set the stage here comes Boston!
Now, I have always enjoyed Boston's song but I have never owned any of their albums till Michael joined them so I was there to enjoy the show but to mainly see and hear Michael perform.
Michael was on lead vocals for around half the songs and did backup vocals all night. He did not avoid any of the high notes during POM and MTAF...he went for them head on and nailed them all. I know people have commented that early on in the tour he wasn't quite going for them but he flat out rocked them all night! He was very energetic and was all over the stage, pure "Rock Star" all night. If I remember right they played for a little over an 90 minutes.
After the show we made are way down to the after show area. I was wondering just how many people there would be? I have been to Stryper after shows and there were tons of people and it was mainly an autograph session. Also the venue held around 6300 people and it was about 85% full, the concert had also been advertised and promoted by 2 local radio station so who knows how many promos might have been won or given out.
Once we got to the back stage area event security guided us to a room they had prepared for all the after show guest. To my surprise there were only 17 people there! Everyone there was by invitation! After a few minutes the band stated coming in one by one! What an honor to meet some of Boston! Tom & Kimberly didn't make an appearance at the After Show. Every one of them were down to earth and very humble, I have a new found respect for them, great guys.
Michael was second to entered the room and was super kind he came over and greeted my wife and I. He said several times thanks for coming out and he was so glad to get to see us. He even apologized twice for not knowing ahead of time that we were coming because he said he would have gotten us great seats, so that we didn't have to spend the $$$ for show. We talked for a few minutes... He talked about the tour, Kyle (he's wife) and the new Stryper single POM and the new album! I can't say enough good things about Michael. He was so generous and completely genuine. I still can't believe that the night even happened! I will never forget it!

Michael did say that the new single POM is one of the more radio friendly rock songs and that there are some heavier more "Metal" songs on the album. He also said Stryper fans will not be disappointed!

I would like to say a big huge "Thank You" to Michael for a wonderful evening that I will never forget!

Here are a few pictures!

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L8T · Number of posts: 4219 Registration date: 2007-03-13

NICE!!!

Thanks SF.

pastorbrad · Number of posts: 492 Registration date: 2007-04-07

Waaaaaaaaaay cool... would love to see Boston--that's ONE band I've never seen... sort feel incomplete without them on my "list"... Crying or Very sad

Maybe they'll come the central PA???

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preacherman777 · Number of posts: 161 Age: 40 Registration date: 2007-05-04

I think it's kind of funny that you have Styx and Boston touring together with Michael Sweet singing for Boston. If Michael's voice is similar to anyone from those two bands, it would have to be Dennis Deyoung. But instead you have Styx using some guy who doesn't have the vocal chops to pull off the Dennis Deyoung songs and Michael singing in a style that is somewhat removed from his his own.

NoahsFaith · Number of posts: 506 Registration date: 2007-04-07

At least the two of us who were actually there agree!

Stryped Forever, I meant to e-mail you before the show so we could meet briefly, obviously you were busy! LOL, lucky you. I'm glad you enjoyed the show.

Preacher Man, unfortunately the Styx vocal gig was already taken, and of course you will not find a singer exactly like Dennis, or Brad Delp for that matter. The lineup worked for Boston. Did you note there were many Tommy Shaw tunes in the set? actually, Styx amazed me more than Boston because I was not expecting a great show. It was fun.

I'm glad I went.

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preacherman777 · Number of posts: 161 Age: 40 Registration date: 2007-05-04

I hope I didn't create the impression that I was being critical of Michael. I think it's great that he is doing the Boston gig and even tho the vocals are a bit out of his style, I think he's doing a fine job. The main reason I brought up the point was due to what seemed to me like a bit of irony, given that Michael sounds more like Dennis than he does Brad. I don't care at all for the fellow that Styx is using in place of Dennis, but I have no doubt they still put on a fine show.

By the way, Dennis is going to be doing a show very close to where I live at the end of this month. God willing I'll get there and if I do, I'll give a report on that.

NoahsFaith · Number of posts: 506 Registration date: 2007-04-07

Preacher Man, I was just trying to be creatively funny. I tried to e-mail you that review but obviously I have an old e-mail address. And yes, the Tommy Shaw and James Young songs were better, but it was great hearing some of the other classics.

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Uncle NecRo · Number of posts: 1472 Registration date: 2007-04-09

...wait...is Michael Sweet giving the bowfinger? Interesting...

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