But I’m more into hard rock than softer stuff, so I liked the more guitar-driven material from the earlier albums that made up the bulk of the set.

I discovered Styx with _Paradise Theater_, and I bought _Cornerstone_ and _Pieces of Eight_ before _Kilroy Was Here_ came out. I was a freshman in high school when that was released.

While I like all those albums (hey, “Lords of the Ring”), I have _The Grand Illusion_ and it’s a mixed bag for me… I really like some of the songs (“Come Sail Away”) and don’t like the others.

I’ve been tempted to pick up their Wooden Nickel recordings, just to see what they were like.

But like I said, nostalgia is a powerful thing, and to me, Styx is DeYoung, Shaw, Young and the Panozzos. That was the lineup on every album I owned, and I never knew back then than there were earlier albums without Shaw.

When that lineup changed, they quit being “the real Styx” in my mind. I probably shouldn’t feel that way, but the songs of my youth sung by the “wrong” people is just weird.

Heh! I saw Styx supporting Deep Purple back in April, one of the factors that helped their barnstorming set blow Purple off stage was the fact that they didn’t play stuff like ‘Mr Roboto’. Most of their set was from their rockier 70s albums rather than their poppy 80s stuff. They didn’t even play their one UK hit, “Babe”.

Also, bands traditionally toured to support albums, and you’re not exactly supporting a new album when you’re charging prices high enough to pay for your entire discography. I’ve run into that… I want to see this band, but for the price of two tickets, I can buy every single album they’ve produced.

Most of the bands that are charging silly prices (The Stones, Elton John etc) haven’t recorded anything new of significance for years, if not decades. They might play a token song of their latest album, but most of the audience is there to hear them run through their greatest hits of 20+ years ago. Most of the audience have all the albums anyway.

I think Deep Purple played one song of their latest “Rapture of the Deep”, and just three songs in the entire set from later than 1973.

I wonder how much of this has to do with that forty-something crowd saying, “I missed out on seeing the Stones when I was younger, and this may be my last chance to see them in concert.” That certainly went through my mind last time Styx toured… and if it’d been the Paradise Theater/Roboto line-up, I’d have been sorely tempted. Nostalgia is a powerful thing.

Also, bands traditionally toured to support albums, and you’re not exactly supporting a new album when you’re charging prices high enough to pay for your entire discography. I’ve run into that… I want to see this band, but for the price of two tickets, I can buy every single album they’ve produced.

Right now there is a divide in the cost of gigs between the Premier League and the cottage industry bands. I saw homegrown prog heroes Strangefish supported by Darwin’s Radio for under a tenner recently.

Given that the crowd at a smaller gig – eg Mostly Autumn, is just as affluent and middle aged as that at a mid size gig like Marillion and the same demogaphic as those at an aircraft hanger or football stadium gig I don’t think it’s about ability to pay. Similarly I’m not convinced it’s about downloads either. I agree it’s about hype, making those gigs into a “must see” event and trading on the past of bands who are already huge.

Personally I’d rather see a bunch of gigs by smaller bands who are in their prime than spend the same amount on a single gig by an older band going through the motions.