Live Photos: Styx in Atlanta May 26, 2019

by Concert CoveragePhotojournalismThe ATL

On May 26, 2019, Styx brought The Styx World Tour 2019 to Cadence Bank Amphitheatre at Chastain Bank. You can find the complete gallery by Chuck Holloway below the review.

James “JY” Young and Tommy Shaw begin their onstage antics

Styx fans are unlike any other breed of musical fandom. We are legion and we are loyal beyond imagining. In the late 80’s and almost the entire decade of the 90’s, Styx could have faded away into obscurity. Instead, the band regrouped, tightened up, and made enough noise to get our attention again.

With the change in the way people began listening to music, Styx reinvented themselves as a touring band that occasionally recorded music, rather than a band that toured on the back of a new album. The model has been a huge success for them. Any given month, Styx is playing somewhere in the US.

This past Memorial Day-Eve, Styx showed up for their annual visit to Atlanta on the hottest day of the year, and lit up (literally and figuratively) the sold out crowd at the Cadence Bank Amphitheatre.

Drummer Todd Sucherman (who replaced John Panozzo after he passed away), and bassist Ricky Phillips provided the strong, relentless rhythm, while guitarists JY and Tommy Shaw, and keyboardist Lawrence Gowan, fronted the band. They showed absolutely no sign of slowing down as they jammed through the classics they’ve been playing for decades.

To start off the show, the band came out to the pre-recorded “Overture,” and then launched into “Gone Gone Gone,” both from their 2017 release The Mission.

The Mission is an amazing aural time machine that producer Will Evankovich was able to build with the band to bring the listener back to the greatest era of Styx’s history. The Mission feels like it belongs somewhere in between Grand Illusion and Paradise Theatre. 

Other tracks from The Mission included “Radio Silence” and “Khedive”. If there was one disappointment for me, it was that Styx only performed these three songs from their latest album. I would have loved to have heard “Time Will Bend” or “The Red Storm”.

The set of classic hits included “Fooling Yourself”, “Grand Illusion”, “Lady”, “Blue Collar Man” and “Too Much Time on My Hands”, to name a small portion. Each hit song was greeted by a roar from the crowd and sung along with from beginning to end.

For their finale, as usual, Styx performed “Come Sail Away” from The Grand Illusion. But, it was the encore of “Mr. Roboto” that had the crowd really excited. Hearing the opening keyboards and robotic voice speaking, “Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto” brought a roar from the fans that put a gigantic grin on my face… I was not alone!

Many of us, including myself, had never had the opportunity to hear “Mr. Roboto” live, due to the band’s history with their former singer, Dennis DeYoung. In 2018, though, the band caved in to the constant pleading from their fans, and added it into their set as an encore, along with fan favorite “Renegade”.

All in all, the show at Chastain will go down as one of the best Styx shows that this writer has been to. Second only to The Grand Illusion / Pieces of Eight tour.

If you ever enjoyed Styx, now is the time to catch them live. You will never regret it.

For more tour dates, visit Styx website.

Styx Cadence Bank Amphitheatre 2019

 

Evanescence (8)

Evanescence and Lindsey Stirling at Chastain Park Amphitheatre August 15th

by Concert Coverage

Chastain Park Amphitheatre hosted an incredible night of music in Atlanta on August 15th, with co-headliners Lindsey Stirling and Evanescence sharing the stage. Fans packed the seats of a nearly sold-out show on the warm summer night, ready to witness the amazing talents of violinist/dancer Lindsey Stirling.

A full orchestra took the stage first, before Lindsey burst into stage dressed in an x-ray leotard, and dancing and spinning as she played “The Arena,” “Moon Trance,” and “Shadows.” A performance like no other, Lindsey was accompanied by talented dancers as well as the incredible orchestra behind her as she played. Evanescence’s Amy Lee joined Lindsey for vocals on “Shatter Me,” much to the crowd’s delight.

A brief homemade video of Lindsey performing to the Evanescence song “Bring Me To Life” popped on screen then, and Lindsey took the time to speak to the audience about once being a kid of 15, and dreaming of performing with her idol Amy Lee. “This is everything I imagined at 15,” she said. She added words of encouragement, “Anyone who is successful has failed on the road to reaching their dreams. Successful people get up and dust themselves off. Just because someone l else doesn’t see your potential doesn’t mean you don’t have it.” The gorgeous “Take Flight” followed the speech, followed by the mesmerizing, crowd-silencing “Crystallize.” The passion for what she does radiated from Lindsey, and every dancer and musician on the stage with her.

Evanescence was met with roaring applause, as Amy Lee came out and took her seat at her piano, beginning with “Never Go Back,” a new version of the song from 2018’s Synthesis. Many of Evanescence’s songs were re-recorded for the album, which features an orchestra on every song, along with electronic additions that create a unique spin. “The End of the Dream” came next, followed by “My Heart Is Broken,” a song that really highlights Amy’s powerhouse voice. The crowd sang along to every word of the stripped down “Bring Me To Life” and “Lithium,” before a surprise cover of The Beatles’ “Across the Universe.” The new song “Hi-Lo” brought Lindsey Stirling back on stage as she performed her violin solo, and was all smiles as Amy was singing next to her.

The amazing “Lost In Paradise” followed, before Amy dedicated “My Immortal” to the fans. “We’ve been doing this 20 years,” she said. “You just keep showing up! Thank you!” The crowd lit up with light for the duration of the song, with everyone standing and singing along. Another new song, the haunting “Imperfection,” closed out the set, before the band returned with Lindsey for the encore, an epic cover of Ozzy Osbourne’s “No More Tears.”

Evanescence and Lindsey Stirling continue their tour of the U.S. through September. More tour dates can be found here.

Lindsey Stirling

Evanescence

 

Live Photos: Duran Duran at Chastain Park Amphitheatre on April 8, 2017

by Concert CoveragePhotojournalismThe ATL

Sometimes life gives us a bit of a challenge. Last month, TAM was given the chance to photograph Duran Duran at the Chastain Park Amphitheatre in Atlanta. Unfortunately, before the photos could be edited and posted, our photographer, Chuck Holloway, encountered some technical difficulties. His computer crashed and hard drive failed.

The good news is that a month later, Chuck has a new computer and was able to salvage some of the photos from that evening.

Special thanks to Holly at Live Nation for putting up with our string of bad luck. We do truly appreciate everything you do for our little volunteer-run magazine.

Duran Duran continues to tour this summer in support of their 14th studio album, Paper Gods. For more information and tour dates, be sure to visit their official site.

Without further ado, here are the photos from that evening: