STYX / Gowan At The Fillmore

STYX / GOWAN AT THE FILLMORE

"You're Among The Fortunate, My Child..."
From the moment I heard about this event, I wondered how it was going to pan out. For me, STYX had always been one of those bands that sort of accumulated my appreciation without my knowing it. They're very good, but I don't own any STYX albums and until recently, I only had a perfunctory knowledge about the individual members of the band. I did know that Dennis De Young had taken a year off due to illness. The remaining members of the band went ahead with the Summer / Fall 1999 tour, with Canadian superstar Lawrence Gowan filling in for DDY.

For those who are reading this who don't know who Lawrence Gowan is, he's one of the finest musicians that Canada has produced to date. I don't think we have an artist down here in the USA quite like him. His Greatest Hits album was certified Gold in Canada just a short while ago. He's been revered ever since his 'Strange Animal' album in 1985 and as far as I'm able to discover, he has won or been nominated for almost every major music award the country offers. My fervent wish is for Gowan to be as well known down here in the States!

This will ring hollowly for most of the readers, and I beg you to excuse my personal indulgences for a moment, but I should attempt to at least try and explain my discovery and subsequent adoration of Gowan and his music. In 1988-89, I spent part of that winter in an extremely remote area of the Idaho panhandle, less than a hundred miles from the Canadian border. Because the house I lived in was so far north, the Canadian feeds were easy to receive on our satellite dish. One of the first things I saw via satellite was this amazing network called MuchMusic. It was in the dead of winter, and the roads to and from home were difficult when they weren't impassable, and even though the woods where I lived were beautiful, it was nevertheless very cold and still, where the only sound for hours at a time would be the occasional crash of ice from the branches of a tree.

But there on the television was MuchMusic, like Dorothy's rainbow in the middle of her flat, gray Kansas. It was wonderful and bright and entertaining -- an oasis of joy, as it were -- a much-appreciated and desperately needed dose of civilization. And the first thing I can remember seeing on MuchMusic was an in-depth interview special with Larry Gowan. I became an instant fan of his music, and have remained so to this day. These days, I'm a housewife in San Francisco, making a very good life with my lovely husband John (who should have sold me to the gypsies by now but hasn't). But I can still vividly recall what Gowan meant to me then. His music was a sort of warm and vital lifeline for me when I needed it, and the gratitude I feel now is just as strong as it was back then.

On Tuesday, November 9, 1999 I was making my usual online trips through my favorite search engines, in search of a source from which to buy Gowan CDs down here in the USA (which I still have not found yet, so somebody please give me a heads up if you have a source, and I'll include it here) when I came across concert information that stopped me cold: STYX, featuring Lawrence Gowan, was going to be at The Fillmore on Sunday, November 14th, 1999. This threw me into a modified stationary panic, because arrghgh, I hadn't had ANY idea they were going to be in town, and so had not saved up any money for a ticket -- and even if I'd had any money, I thought the venue had sold out, because I couldn't find any tickets for sale via Ticketmaster. I wasn't in a position to pay a scalper or a reseller (no money, you see), and even if I had been, I enjoy telling myself that I would avoid that sort of thing on general principles.

But Ye Gods!! this was GOWAN! In TOWN! In FIVE DAYS! With STYX!! So that's when I decided to take drastic measures: Begging, plain and simple -- I buttonholed a local radio personality and implored him for his help in finding a 'miracle ticket'.

Gods be praised, he found one for me. At last, I'd see Gowan in person.

"I'm Walking On Air..."
November 14th arrived. The show was to begin at eight p.m., with the doors opening at seven. I spent the early part of the day hydrating and taking vitamins to prevent lactic acid buildup in my leg muscles. Later, I fussed and mussed around with my hair for the better part of two hours while getting ready for the show. I picked out an aubergine long-sleeved shirt and a pair of black pants to wear to the event. I pared down the usual cartload of junk that I ferry around in my purse until the essentials were crammed into a small crocheted bag. At 6:15, I'm out the door, with perfect hair and face -- and THAT is when the rain started. Great big ole fat rain. The first measurable rain in weeks, and of course it's falling on the night of the concert. Small change of plans; John would not just slow down and fling me out at the venue, instead he would find parking and join me in line so he could take both umbrellas home with him.

We arrived at the Fillmore at around twenty-five minutes of seven. A word about the Fillmore: In its current incarnation / locale, it's one of the most unassuming buildings in the entire city, at least on the outside. I've been by it dozens of times and hadn't known that was where it was. Then again, I hadn't been looking for it before. All that magickal music history is crammed into one of the plainest-looking buildings for blocks. The rain was pouring merrily on all of the waterlogged people in line. John's amazing parking karma was in evidence, and we found a space just around the corner on that same block, and were able to get to willcall, pick up my ticket, and get in line by twenty of seven. The doors were originally scheduled to open at seven straight up, but the good folks at that venue went ahead and let us in at around 6:45 so we'd be out of the rain. I closed my umbrella, handed it to John, and we kissed bye and he split. He wanted to get home play his music as loud as he wanted to and use the remote without being fenced in by my continual 'wait - go - back - what - was - that's. He claims to have had a nice, quiet evening for a change.

Security insisted on looking in my little crocheted bag; I yanked it open and laughed in their faces. What were they expecting to find in there? Then I turned right and went up the stairs to the first level, where I was asked if I was going to be drinking that night and did I need a 'liquor stamp' on the back of my hand. I smiled and said no, and continued up the stairs to the main event floor where there's a long hallway with dozens of posters from the various shows. I stood out there and read the posters for awhile, just enjoying the history of the name 'Fillmore'.

Then I went into the main event hall. I've never been to the Fillmore before. And the grandeur and the simplicity and the overall funkyness of the place was a joy to behold. I thought the main event hall was going to be bigger, but it's actually a very intimate place approximately the size of a school cafeteria. You could stand along the back wall, and still be pretty close to the band. Ten chandeliers hang from the high ceiling, and they were in need of a polishing. The stage was set up already, and there were blacklight floods illuminating the area. Smoking was allowed, but fortunately nobody lit up anything nasty near me, and the only thing that I smelled all night was cloves. If there was loco weed in the place, I never caught a whiff (shucky darns!). I could see where the keyboard was on the stage, so I found a patch of rug on that side of the room, and sat down to rest my feet. Some other people sat down next to me; a man in his fifties with his wife. I turned to him and told him I felt as old as the hills because earlier that day I'd been in chat on AOL and had said I was going to go see STYX at the Fillmore, and one of the other chatters wrote back and said 'STYX? Who is that?' And the man laughed and said the exact same thing happened at his brokerage firm when he told his friends he'd just gotten some Limp Bizkit tickets!

"On [My] Own Oasis of Joy..."
At last, the show began. The band came out on stage, and everybody cheered, and my eyes were on Gowan. He looked marvelous. He was wearing black pants, and a knee-length cutaway tuxedo jacket. And he had an interesting albeit un-nerving gimmick -- his keyboard *pivoted* in a 360 degree circle! I've never seen one do that before as part of a stage show, and for the first few minutes, everytime he went around, I thought he was going to misstep and fall into the audience. The entire band looked pretty good for having been on the road all summer long. As "Grand Illusion" began with Gowan on vocals and keyboard, I suddenly realized where I was and who I was listening to and who got me there and it all washed over me at once and I cried. I just plain old stood there and cried with happiness. "Blue Collar Man" (with what I call the most recognizable organ riff in rock), "Lorelei", "Man In The Wilderness" all followed, then "Lady" with Gowan on vocals again. This was followed by "Edge Of The Century", "Snowblind" -- and a surprise for the audience as Chuck Panozzo, the intermittent STYX bassist, joined the band for "Foolin Yourself", then another Gowan vocal, "Queen of Spades."

There was a small changeover, and the band all came to the front of the stage and switched to acoustic instruments, including Gowan, who was playing a 'Harmonium', one of those little 'squeezebox' keyboards. The band did some acoustic songs, including "Boat Lights" (a song that was more popular in Europe than here) "Sweet Home Alabama" (!) and "Best Of Times" with Gowan on vocals. Before the changeover back to electric instruments, the band took time out to bring out a big birthday cake with -- brace yourselves, kids -- fifty candles on it -- for James Young, the lead guitarist. We all sang 'Happy Birthday', and JY miraculously managed to blow out that astonishing firetrap of a cake without collapsing a lung. Then the cake and most of the band were offstage, and Gowan remained to play a song on the keyboard in 'ragtime' sound setting, "King Chanticleer Rag", with the stagehands discreetly moving in the background stage darkness. The rest of the band then rejoined him, and "Rockin The Paradise", with Gowan again on vocals, brought the house down. There were a couple of songs from the new CD (I really enjoyed "Heavy Water"), follwed by "Crystal Ball" and "Too Much Time On My Hands", "Miss America" and finally "Come Sail Away" with Gowan on vocals. Then for their encore, they performed "Renegade". For most of the show, I'd had earplugs in, but finally I dug them out in time to hear "Come Sail Away". They were just a smidge too loud for the venue, in my opinion, but the plugs were making it muddy, so out they came. It was the aural equivalent of having intercourse without using a condom -- probably not the healthiest thing in the world to do, but oh it just felt soooo goood.

The show lasted an amazing two and a half hours, with very little down time. The energy levels of all of the band members were pretty well maintained throughout the show, but Gowan was a madman, and seemed to me to be the most juiced of them all, spinning his keyboard and jumping around and running from one end of the stage to the other. He started the show wearing a knee length tuxedo jacket with black pants, then he removed the jacket to reveal a lovely blue shirt with black stripes, then finally that came off to reveal a black v-neck t-shirt that looked like it had been painted on. We're talking serious eye candy here, my sisters.

The Fillmore crowd itself was one of the most pleasant and enthusiastic I've been a part of in a very long time. I was afraid they would get rowdy after the beer hit, but even after everybody had a skinfull, they were still on good behavior.

So there's my report. I got home from the event, donned my jammies, slept for awhile, got up in the wee small hours of Monday morning, and wrote my experiences down about seven hours after the end of the show. I still smelled the cloves on my hair and on the clothing I wore to the show, my feet were killing me, my ears were still ringing, and I was as physically and emotionally exhausted as I've ever been -- but I felt magnificent because I'd finally seen Gowan in person, and discovered STYX at the same time.

Thanks to Ronn and Susan and Dave and Cynthia, all of whom were involved in the acquisition of the concert ticket for me. I had such a good time there I'm going to write a check to the Bridge School, which is one of Gowan's favorite charities. It may take a little while before I acquire enough fundage to make sure my check won't bounce, but rest assured this is something I -WILL- do.

It was an evening to remember, and I hope I've conveyed some of it to you.

Thanks for visiting.

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