The Place Bell in Laval is already packed to
the rafters, another sell-out in the books for one of Montreal’s favourite
bands, Styx. As they hit the stage one
by one, the crowd immediately roars to life.
You can’t help but think about the opening verse of their hit song, The
Grand Illusion. “Welcome to the
Grand illusion, Come on in and see what's happening, Pay the price, get your tickets
for the show.” Indeed, the people did
pay the price for their ticket and were now waiting for one of the most
anticipated shows to hit the city this Spring. Styx has been coming to Montreal
for almost 50 years now, and both the band and their vocalist have strong ties
to the city. Lawrence Gowan’s first #1
radio hit came in this city and it was while opening for Styx at a show in 1997
that the seed was initially planted which would lead to him
becoming their new
lead singer a few years later. They
still play with the youthful exuberance of a group of twenty-something’s who
are on their first tour of the city. There
are nothing but smiles from the first note as they looked to be having a great
time up on the incredibly lit stage. And
why not? The Place Bell was filled to
capacity with thousands of people who may just have been secretly wishing they
were a star and most definitely felt the increased pressure of a pounding
heart. Though not their original singer,
Lawrence Gowan has made these songs his own.
They were already great to begin with, but with the added bonus of some
Gowan flair and stare, they come to life.
His voice just as strong on this night as it was in the mid 1980’s. Musically, can there be a better guitar duo
than James Young and the forever young 
Tommy Shaw? Tommy Shaw has one of the sweetest voices in
rock music and can still trade guitar licks with anyone while also flying
around the stage. Having the honour of
photographing him while he sang their classic song “Too Much Time On My Hands” is something that
will go into my mental rock and roll scrap book. There
hasn’t been a new Styx album in some time, their most recent being Crash Of The Crown in 2021, but with a list of hits a mile long,
there are more than enough songs in their back catalogue to fill out a
set-list. The people were more than
happy to hear those old Styx classics on this night. The first photograph was taken at f/3.2, 1/800sec, ISO 3200 at 70mm. The second photograph was taken at f/3.2, 1/500sec, ISO 3200 at 24mm and the third photograph was taken at f/3.2, 1/320sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm. Here are several more photographs I took of Styx during their performance.
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