Dennis DeYoung at The Rose – Live Review and Photos

Dennis DeYoung, The Rose, October 19, 2017

October 19^th, 2017 – On Thursday night, Dennis DeYoung brought The Music of Styx to The Rose in Pasadena, one of the newest venues in So. California. The seventy year old DeYoung, who hails from Chicago, is a founding member of the band Styx.

Styx was one of the biggest Rock bands in the late 70’s and early 80’s. From 1977 to 1981, They released four consecutive albums that have been certified Multi-Platinum, for at least 2 million units sold each, by the RIAA: The Grand Illusion (1977), Pieces of Eight (1978), Cornerstone (1979) and Paradise Theatre (1981)

Luckily for fans, DeYoung hasn’t parted ways with The Music of Styx. He has put together a fantastic band that performs songs from both his solo work and Styx. The band captures the mix of progressive, hard rock and power ballads with the flair of the theatrics that Styx fans were drawn to.

DeYoung has definitely not lost a step and still has an excess of energy. He is still undeniably one of the best showmen today. He built a great bond with the audience and also showed his great sense of humor. “Who is seeing me for the first time”, he asked. After applause he stated, “Where have you been for the last forty five years”, noting to us that he is now seventy years of age.

Starting with “The Grand Illusion” and ending with “Come Sail Away,” DeYoung and his band covered just about every Styx hit. He also played one song from his solo work “Desert Moon”.

August Zadra and Jimmy Leahey also gave us sensational lead vocals on several songs. (Most notably “Crystal Ball” by Zadra and “Miss America” by Leahey). August has a great set of pipes of his own and sounded fantastic on the Tommy Shaw penned Styx songs he sang.

DeYoung’s current band includes August Zadra on lead guitar as well as singing Tommy Shaw’s songs, Jimmy Leahey on guitars, Michael Morales on drums, Craig Carter on bass and John Blasucci on keyboards. During the introduction to “Babe”, DeYoung let the audience know that Styx’s biggest hit, wasn’t supposed to be a Styx song at all, but a present for a girl he met at a high school dance. DeYoung then introduced that girl, his wife of forty seven years Suzanne DeYoung, who is also in the band as a backup singer.

The highlight of the night came at the end as the crowd gathered in the front of the stage for two encores and it went from an evening of The Music of Styx to a Rock show and even DeYoung seemed to feed off that energy.

Setlist:
The Grand Illusion
Lady
Lorelei
Blue Collar Man (Long Nights) (August on Vocals)
Desert Moon
Crystal Ball (August on Vocals)
Mr. Roboto
Too Much Time on My Hands
Miss America (Jimmy Leahey on Vocals)
Babe
Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man) (August on Vocals)
Prelude 12 / Suite Madame Blue
The Best of Times
The End (Beatles Song)

Encore:
Renegade (August on Vocals)
Come Sail Away

Four Dennis DeYoung photo galleries by Joe Schaeffer here!

Gallery One:
https://highwiredaze.com/photo-gallery?album=3&gallery=2028

Gallery Two:
https://highwiredaze.com/photo-gallery?album=3&gallery=2029

Gallery Three:
https://highwiredaze.com/photo-gallery?album=3&gallery=2030

Gallery Four:
https://highwiredaze.com/photo-gallery?album=3&gallery=2031

All Images © JOE SCHAEFFER PHOTOGRAPHY 2017

Dennis DeYoung on FACEBOOK