First Mr. Roboto, now......

[SuiteMadameBlue]

In these times of shameless hypocrisy this makes total sense.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eq9TlMcs7Lk

[yogi]

Damn that sounded GREAT! It really did.

[StyxGuy]

Todd disclosed at one of his drum clinics that they put the song in the setlist because it did well on the charts here in Canada. I suspect because some of the places they played on the tour haven't seen them in 10+ years, they wanted to give the fans a treat. Wish I'd been there!

[Jodes]

I wonder what Todd's response is going to be when he hears what DDY had to say about him (while of course taking a jab at JY). I guess Todd playing "Nothing Ever Goes As Planned" with a few other people merited a response. The whole "I wonder what he's up to now, I'll have to look him up" really left a bad taste in my mouth for some reason. Dennis still has his "people" inside the Styx camp (he's mentioned it in the past) so why even bring it up?

What really gets to me is the people with the knives out for Todd. I guess they aren't working musicians.

[ChicagoSTYX]

In these times of shameless hypocrisy this makes total sense.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eq9TlMcs7Lk

Love it! they sound great! Thanks for posting Suite. Has DDY made his retirement official yet?

[Archetype]

I wonder what Todd's response is going to be when he hears what DDY had to say about him (while of course taking a jab at JY). I guess Todd playing "Nothing Ever Goes As Planned" with a few other people merited a response. The whole "I wonder what he's up to now, I'll have to look him up" really left a bad taste in my mouth for some reason. Dennis still has his "people" inside the Styx camp (he's mentioned it in the past) so why even bring it up?

What really gets to me is the people with the knives out for Todd. I guess they aren't working musicians.

I didn’t interpret that as a slight against Todd at all. It was just a reference to the fact that Todd has been the drummer for Styx for 28 years now and it’s because Dennis fought other band members to get him the gig.

[Monker]

I wonder what Todd's response is going to be when he hears what DDY had to say about him (while of course taking a jab at JY). I guess Todd playing "Nothing Ever Goes As Planned" with a few other people merited a response. The whole "I wonder what he's up to now, I'll have to look him up" really left a bad taste in my mouth for some reason. Dennis still has his "people" inside the Styx camp (he's mentioned it in the past) so why even bring it up?

What really gets to me is the people with the knives out for Todd. I guess they aren't working musicians.

I didn’t interpret that as a slight against Todd at all. It was just a reference to the fact that Todd has been the drummer for Styx for 28 years now and it’s because Dennis fought other band members to get him the gig.

Yes, that has been Dennis' story for years now. But, has Todd, or anybody else in Styx, really commented on how he was hired? He is also Tommy's drummer on 7DZ. The way Dennis tells the story makes it sound like he is a hero for bringing in Todd against everybody else. It seems to me that Todd and Tommy also had some instant karma going on so I would like to hear the story from another perspective.

[Archetype]

I wonder what Todd's response is going to be when he hears what DDY had to say about him (while of course taking a jab at JY). I guess Todd playing "Nothing Ever Goes As Planned" with a few other people merited a response. The whole "I wonder what he's up to now, I'll have to look him up" really left a bad taste in my mouth for some reason. Dennis still has his "people" inside the Styx camp (he's mentioned it in the past) so why even bring it up?

What really gets to me is the people with the knives out for Todd. I guess they aren't working musicians.

I didn’t interpret that as a slight against Todd at all. It was just a reference to the fact that Todd has been the drummer for Styx for 28 years now and it’s because Dennis fought other band members to get him the gig.

Yes, that has been Dennis' story for years now. But, has Todd, or anybody else in Styx, really commented on how he was hired? He is also Tommy's drummer on 7DZ. The way Dennis tells the story makes it sound like he is a hero for bringing in Todd against everybody else. It seems to me that Todd and Tommy also had some instant karma going on so I would like to hear the story from another perspective.

I really doubt that Todd would comment on it. Just not his personality at all. Whether the story is exactly as Dennis tells it or not, I don’t think the “I wonder what he’s up to now” remark was intended at all to be a jab against Todd. Just Dennis’ quirky humor.

[StyxGuy]

I wonder what Todd's response is going to be when he hears what DDY had to say about him (while of course taking a jab at JY). I guess Todd playing "Nothing Ever Goes As Planned" with a few other people merited a response. The whole "I wonder what he's up to now, I'll have to look him up" really left a bad taste in my mouth for some reason. Dennis still has his "people" inside the Styx camp (he's mentioned it in the past) so why even bring it up?

What really gets to me is the people with the knives out for Todd. I guess they aren't working musicians.

I didn’t interpret that as a slight against Todd at all. It was just a reference to the fact that Todd has been the drummer for Styx for 28 years now and it’s because Dennis fought other band members to get him the gig.

Yes, that has been Dennis' story for years now. But, has Todd, or anybody else in Styx, really commented on how he was hired? He is also Tommy's drummer on 7DZ. The way Dennis tells the story makes it sound like he is a hero for bringing in Todd against everybody else. It seems to me that Todd and Tommy also had some instant karma going on so I would like to hear the story from another perspective.

https://www.drumeo.com/beat/todd-sucher ... ight-turn/

[SuiteMadameBlue]

https://www.drumeo.com/beat/todd-sucher ... ight-turn/

Todd was hired after his performance on Lady 95. Tommy was not at the sessions. Dennis made the decision and never told Todd about JY’s feelings for obvious reasons. He didn’t want any negatives with Todd and JY. Tommy hired Todd for 7 Deadly Zens after playing the 1996 RTP tour and also recognized Todd’s talent. It was Dennis' decision and a great one.

[yogi]

It was a GREAT one! Mike Portnoy & Todd Sucherman are the two greatest drummers I’ve ever seen.

[Monker]

https://www.drumeo.com/beat/todd-sucher ... ight-turn/

That is an interesting read. It is almost like he avoids mentioning individual band members. But, to me it reads like he was contracted to touring after Lady '95 and then again after John's death. He's not a "member" of the band and part owner of the LLC. He never says, "I was offered to become a member of the band..." It reads more like a band decision that could have been voted down if Tommy, Chuck, and JY had issues with him. It also sounds like it was JY and whoever the tour manager was to actually offer him the contract to tour with them, not Dennis...according to Todd. Dennis probably made the case for him behind the scenes and everybody else went along with it because he was such a good fit.

[LtVanish]

Styx is going soft rock! I hear they will be on the Air Supply Cruise of the Carribean next year so they will most certainly dust off 'First Time' and "Yes I Can"

I have a feeling the new album coming out Styx will reveal will be another covers album this time with a Yacht Rock Theme to it.

[Monker]

Styx is going soft rock! I hear they will be on the Air Supply Cruise of the Carribean next year so they will most certainly dust off 'First Time' and "Yes I Can"

I wouldn't mind that at all. For a chick band, Air Supply is pretty awesome. "First Time" is one of the worst songs Styx has recorded...but I absolutely would like to hear "Yes I Can".

I have a feeling the new album coming out Styx will reveal will be another covers album this time with a Yacht Rock Theme to it.

I was actually thinking about another covers album. I was diving into "The Kinks" on YouTube and there are some songs that definitely fit the Styx sound. This sounds a lot like "Too Much Time", that bass line is too familiar. Their stage antics even remind me a bit of Styx once in a while. Ray Davies voice kinda sucks at times but I can definitely hear Tommy and Styx doing this song:

https://youtu.be/Nvsbk4P3NQ0?si=X3SuYXnI6pqsvNM1

[ChicagoSTYX]

In these times of shameless hypocrisy this makes total sense.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eq9TlMcs7Lk

Looks like The Best Of Times will be in the set all summer according to Tommy. He mentioned what a brilliant song DDY wrote when talking about it in a recent interview.

https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2024/06/classic-rock-legend-tommy-shaw-talks-50-years-of-styx-dennis-deyoung-rift-rock-hall-snub-more.html?outputType=amp&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR1PmbGY4MMgAzPC-4Apdr4FtSVFeB4MD8O_eFiM9SGu9z0x7jPinUsi_4c_aem_AfjTJqkFWeaDEphwI5WmwGtunYnDJdk5_4fAceA3mGSWF-LMSKD41Q89f6g4EJF4wa54M4iE0MedRsCVb4shYeqC

[fsutall]

"We’re gonna play “The Best of Times,” I played the solo on that, sang, played Vocoder and it’s a brilliant song that he wrote. We’re proud to play it. We give him credit for that, you know? Bravo! I’m honored to play it. The fans are gonna love it."

This is clearly a PR spin. As was the case with Mr. Roboto, the promoters have almost certainly asked the band to perform The Best of Times in an attempt to freshen up the setlist and create some excitement among their rapidly aging fanbase. It IS a brilliant song, but there's no way Tommy and JY would choose to perform it in place of one of their own songs unless they feel like they have to. Can we expect Babe next summer? Or Don't Let It End, perhaps?

[Monker]

"We’re gonna play “The Best of Times,” I played the solo on that, sang, played Vocoder and it’s a brilliant song that he wrote. We’re proud to play it. We give him credit for that, you know? Bravo! I’m honored to play it. The fans are gonna love it."

This is clearly a PR spin. As was the case with Mr. Roboto, the promoters have almost certainly asked the band to perform The Best of Times in an attempt to freshen up the setlist and create some excitement among their rapidly aging fanbase. It IS a brilliant song, but there's no way Tommy and JY would choose to perform it in place of one of their own songs unless they feel like they have to. Can we expect Babe next summer? Or Don't Let It End, perhaps?

Unless it some type of private even where songs are requested, I doubt promoters have anything to do with what songs they play at this point. I also don't think "The Best of Times" is replacing any "new" song that they want to play. "Crash of the Crown" has been out for a long time so it is only natural that some of those songs are going to be cut. Does anybody care to post a set from earlier this year and now? The truth is probably more that playing the same songs over and over again for more than 20yrs probably gets boring and it is simply a song they have not done in a while, so why not?

Also, they have performed it before. It seems I remember seeing it back in the early 2000's. Funny that a long while back the talk was Styx are not playing the 'hits' (but, Dennis IS so you should see him...) Then they shift to playing more of those songs and they get critiqued for that, too. Again, at this point, I doubt they care about the critique and will just do whatever they want. Maybe they'll cover "Desert Moon"...Hey, it's about "Dune" and "Dune" is cool, right? Maybe release a cover of it just before Dune 3 is released in a couple years.

I doubt very much they will perform a full version of "Babe" or "Don't Let it End". Unless they do a DY sorta parody, I think they will stay away from "Babe". I doubt the general public even cares about "Don't Let It End". It would be interesting to hear a new CycloMedly in concert...they can throw songs like these into it. Maybe do an acoustic set...something like "Crystall Ball", "Don't Let it End" and whatever "new" song...maybe "Our Wonderful LIves"....that would be cool.

[fsutall]

Unless it some type of private even where songs are requested, I doubt promoters have anything to do with what songs they play at this point. I also don't think "The Best of Times" is replacing any "new" song that they want to play. "Crash of the Crown" has been out for a long time so it is only natural that some of those songs are going to be cut. Does anybody care to post a set from earlier this year and now? The truth is probably more that playing the same songs over and over again for more than 20yrs probably gets boring and it is simply a song they have not done in a while, so why not?

Also, they have performed it before. It seems I remember seeing it back in the early 2000's. Funny that a long while back the talk was Styx are not playing the 'hits' (but, Dennis IS so you should see him...) Then they shift to playing more of those songs and they get critiqued for that, too. Again, at this point, I doubt they care about the critique and will just do whatever they want. Maybe they'll cover "Desert Moon"...Hey, it's about "Dune" and "Dune" is cool, right? Maybe release a cover of it just before Dune 3 is released in a couple years.

I doubt very much they will perform a full version of "Babe" or "Don't Let it End". Unless they do a DY sorta parody, I think they will stay away from "Babe". I doubt the general public even cares about "Don't Let It End". It would be interesting to hear a new CycloMedly in concert...they can throw songs like these into it. Maybe do an acoustic set...something like "Crystall Ball", "Don't Let it End" and whatever "new" song...maybe "Our Wonderful LIves"....that would be cool.

I obviously don't know with certainty that they have been asked to perform TBOT by promoters, but Dennis did claim that they were asked by promoters to add Mr. Roboto to the set back in 2018, so it wouldn't be a stretch to assume the same thing occurred this time. (To be fair, the band denied that promoters had anything to do with Mr. Roboto being performed at the time.)

If they simply wanted to mix up the setlist a little, then why pick another song so closely associated with Dennis? They have so many other options to choose from! Why not bring back one of the better tracks from Cyclorama that Gowan was involved in? Or a great older album cut like Man In the Wilderness, Half Penny, Snowblind, etc.? It just seems more likely IMO that they're playing TBOT either because they've been asked to or they think it will generate excitement among the fanbase.

I'm not an expert on these things, but IIRC they only played TBOT back around 2000 during a Japanese tour, and at that time it was specifically due to the request of the promoter of that tour. If they have ever played it since then it's only been a few times.

I was kidding about them playing Babe or Don't Let It End in the future. I can't imagine a circumstance where that would ever happen, even if they're asked to.

I'd be curious to hear Andrew's thoughts regarding the influence promoters can have on an artist's setlist? How common is it for promoters to have a say in what is performed?

[StyxGuy]

I obviously don't know with certainty that they have been asked to perform TBOT by promoters, but Dennis did claim that they were asked by promoters to add Mr. Roboto to the set back in 2018, so it wouldn't be a stretch to assume the same thing occurred this time. (To be fair, the band denied that promoters had anything to do with Mr. Roboto being performed at the time.)

If they simply wanted to mix up the setlist a little, then why pick another song so closely associated with Dennis? They have so many other options to choose from! Why not bring back one of the better tracks from Cyclorama that Gowan was involved in? Or a great older album cut like Man In the Wilderness, Half Penny, Snowblind, etc.? It just seems more likely IMO that they're playing TBOT either because they've been asked to or they think it will generate excitement among the fanbase.

I'm not an expert on these things, but IIRC they only played TBOT back around 2000 during a Japanese tour, and at that time it was specifically due to the request of the promoter of that tour. If they have ever played it since then it's only been a few times.

I was kidding about them playing Babe or Don't Let It End in the future. I can't imagine a circumstance where that would ever happen, even if they're asked to.

I'd be curious to hear Andrew's thoughts regarding the influence promoters can have on an artist's setlist? How common is it for promoters to have a say in what is performed?

As for Mr Roboto - I think Dennis has only claimed that promoters had been asking them to do it for years but they'd always turned it down - in 2018 Styx said that they decided to add it because the band's manager overheard people at the merch booth asking for it at their shows - and they had never done it live (because in '83 it was done to a backing track) so OK let's go and add something new to the show. When they first started touring with Gowan they actually played Edge of the Century and put a "Roboto break" in the middle of the song

Best Of Times seems to have been played at one of their Japan shows in 2000 but it was the unplugged version they'd done over here in North America - same Japanese show where they played Babe at the behest of the promoter.

I actually have a partial bootleg of my first Styx concert from October 2000 which contains the Edge of the Century / Roboto mash up and the unplugged The Best Of Times tracks

https://youtu.be/eB0tqaj7aTQ

[Monker]

I am pretty sure I saw "THe Best of Times" in 2000...I know it was before the Main Event tour in 2003. I know it was early because they played a few BNW songs...but I don't think it was acoustic. I remember because it was a last moment decision to go. We went up to the ticket window at the grandstand at the fairgrounds and the lady said they only had obscure view in the back rows left. We stepped back to discuss it and the lady motioned us back and told us a block of tickets just opened up in the fifth row...so we grabbed them.

Here is the acoustic version from 1999:
https://youtu.be/oEasNVa0Wu8?t=4488

I also remember this being in the set because DDY fans absolutely hated Gowan singing it

[fsutall]

I am pretty sure I saw "THe Best of Times" in 2000...I know it was before the Main Event tour in 2003. I know it was early because they played a few BNW songs...but I don't think it was acoustic. I remember because it was a last moment decision to go. We went up to the ticket window at the grandstand at the fairgrounds and the lady said they only had obscure view in the back rows left. We stepped back to discuss it and the lady motioned us back and told us a block of tickets just opened up in the fifth row...so we grabbed them.

Here is the acoustic version from 1999:
https://youtu.be/oEasNVa0Wu8?t=4488

I also remember this being in the set because DDY fans absolutely hated Gowan singing it

Wow, they look so young! This version from '99 actually sounds pretty good. I saw them that year in Tallahassee but have almost no memory of the show or what they played, other than that it was very poorly attended.

[fsutall]

As for Mr Roboto - I think Dennis has only claimed that promoters had been asking them to do it for years but they'd always turned it down - in 2018 Styx said that they decided to add it because the band's manager overheard people at the merch booth asking for it at their shows - and they had never done it live (because in '83 it was done to a backing track) so OK let's go and add something new to the show. When they first started touring with Gowan they actually played Edge of the Century and put a "Roboto break" in the middle of the song ...I actually have a partial bootleg of my first Styx concert from October 2000 which contains the Edge of the Century / Roboto mash up and the unplugged The Best Of Times tracks

https://youtu.be/eB0tqaj7aTQ

Wow I had completely forgotten about this mash-up version. I suppose it made sense to perform Edge since Glen was back in the band at the time. Very fun!

[yogi]

I saw Styx in 99 at the Far West Rodeo in San Antonio. It was Gowans first tour with Styx. Show was 2.5+ hours and Styx with Gowan on lead vocals sang The Best Of Times. Same tour JY sang Ricky Martins Livin Lavda Loca. I think his intro was aimed at Tommy Shaw and JY said something like your name isn’t Ricky it’s Tommy. Styx then went into the song. I think it was JY singing but it could have been Tommy. Great concert Gowan stole the show as he has every show since. He owns the stage. Glen was great as was JY and as always Tommy & Todd. They had a blast that night.

[StyxGuy]

I saw Styx in 99 at the Far West Rodeo in San Antonio. It was Gowans first tour with Styx. Show was 2.5+ hours and Styx with Gowan on lead vocals sang The Best Of Times. Same tour JY sang Ricky Martins Livin Lavda Loca. I think his intro was aimed at Tommy Shaw and JY said something like your name isn’t Ricky it’s Tommy. Styx then went into the song. I think it was JY singing but it could have been Tommy. Great concert Gowan stole the show as he has every show since. He owns the stage. Glen was great as was JY and as always Tommy & Todd. They had a blast that night.

Heh yeah - According to setlist.fm there's a few renditions that happened.

In San Antonio it was apparently part of a medley (at least as it was input to the site)

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/styx/199 ... 547d9.html

They also did Vida Loca + Sweet Home Alabama at some shows it looks like

One I would have loved to see was just after Neil Peart of Rush passed, they played Limelight for at least 8 shows.

[Jodes]

Here you go Styxguy!

From Celebrity Theater in Arizona?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AexxaIAppn8

San Jose
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoZfWuQEZv4

[StyxGuy]

Here you go Styxguy!

From Celebrity Theater in Arizona?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AexxaIAppn8

San Jose
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoZfWuQEZv4

Oooh thanks!