"Dennis DeYoung" Brings The Music Of Styx To The County Fair

Our weekly River Rhythm concert series took a break this week as the Linn County Fair is running from Wednesday through Saturday.

Opening night saw Creedence Clearwater Revisited take the stage with several members of CCR sounding just like they used to musically, but with a different voice leading the way as John Fogerty is not a part of that group.

That brings us to Thursday night when Dennis DeYoung arrived and tore the place up with the music of Styx.

Naturally, having been ousted by Styx, he cannot bill himself as Styx.  But when most of the Top 10 songs the band performed were with DeYoung on vocals, well guess what?

Surround yourself with competent musicians, and Tommy Shaw is much more replaceable than he'd probably like to believe.

:)

DeYoung rocks through the catalog of hits, and he doesn't sound like his voice has changed a bit since we last heard him on the radio 30 years ago.

Not bad for a 68 year old!

Plus, we get the underrated DeYoung single "Desert Moon" thrown in at no extra charge. ;)

So if you haven't seen Styx in years, this is the concert to see, because this is how they sounded.

Thanks for making the trip down to Albany, and looking forward to next year's fair!

Final Grade: A

"Andy Grammer" Delivers A Great Summer Concert

River Rhythms (1983)

:)

Andy Grammer made his way through Oregon this week, and Thursday night, he stopped in Albany as part of the 32nd Annual River Rhythms concert series.

Since 1983, Albany has hosted this free concert at Monteith River Park in downtown Albany.

The last time I went was sometime between 1989 and 1991.

My how this little event has grown!

Attracting a wide variety of musical talents, there's literally something for everyone each week.

Yes, even for those fans that like Country and/or Western.

However, tonight we rock!

:)

Andy Grammer didn't disappoint as he hosted a lively set of about 20 tunes, and he even got the mellow blanket crowd in the front to stand up and dance around song # 4, and they remained on their feet for the rest of the performance.

He's lively, he's fun, and he's got an amazing band who has a blast on stage playing alongside Grammer, especially when he goes acoustic, and that lets the band have a little fun acting out the song beside him.

His hits are there, and the audience happily and enthusiastically joined in.  He also does a great job on a couple of covers as well. The rest of the set are Grammer songs that his fans know and love, and kept new fans that might be unfamiliar with the songs enjoying the new music and having a great time.

A great concert and a beautiful night for it tonight.

Also a great first concert for a few of my kids who had never attended one before.

Final Grade: A!