Styx/Yes

Stix was good, in fact, sounded almost exactly like their old record releases, but I could have watch and listen to YES all night! They were incredible!!! Even Benoit David was a good choice for replacing Jon. I must admit I was a little dissapointed that Rick's son wasn't on keyboards... that would have been interesting, but Geoff did a great job on keyboards - (although there were a few time where I couldn't hear his organ parts). Truly enjoyable....

1. It was ridiculous that Yes opened for Styx. Are you kidding me? Only in the midwest. Yes is by far the most talented and internationally recognized band. It was weird hearing the opening band play last.

2. I think Yes still played for a hour and a half, and Styx barely filled out a 75 minute set. Yes had to chop a half hour off their normal set from other cities when they play second too.

3. I like a lot of Styx songs (although most of their best stuff was penned by Dennis DeYoung), but Yes' professionalism and musical chops were so far superior to Styx's boy band posing and slick leather jacket presentation it was embarrassing in comparison. I didn't know rock bands in their 50s still did the "use the guitar as a phallic symbol thing".

4. Styx did have more of an appeal to the chicks with their simpler pop hits and stage hamming, but its sad that many people still can't appreciate more sophisticated and demanding music that requires more patience. I noticed that even during the better Styx songs from the 70s that were more 'progressive', even the Styx fans weren't quite as into them as they were the simpler song and response pop hits.