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STYX, FOREIGNER, JOHN WAITE In Mansfield, MA With Photos! By Jay Roberts, Massachusetts Contributor Tuesday, August 6, 2024 @ 8:43 AM
On a hot summer night at the Xfinity Center (which should always be rightfully known by its original name The Great Woods Center of the Performing Arts) in Mansfield, MA, the assembled concertgoers didn't offer their throats to a wolf with red roses, but on a night that saw STYX, FOREIGNER and JOHN WAITE rock the house on the latest stop of their "Renegades & Juke Box Heroes Tour", an offer of full throated roaring approval was definitely on display from first note to last.
The fact that I was even at this show is a bit of odd timing and quirks of fate. Until two days before the show, I wasn't even going. But the radio station I listen to at my job was giving away tickets so I tried to win a pair. Sadly, it was not to be as I could never get through to be "Caller #10". So I texted my friend and KNAC.COM interviewer extraordinaire George Dionne to commiserate over my failure to win the tickets. His response to me: "I've got two passes and no one to go with." Two days later, we were taking the road trip to witness some glorious classic rock!
The first thing to mention is that for reasons passing understanding, the show started early. We got there about 30 minutes before the scheduled 7pm start time, but JOHN WAITE hit the stage around 6:45pm or so. We still caught his entire set but it was strange that the show started so early.
I'm not kidding when I said it was hot (and muggy) out on this night. And to see Waite come out in a suit coat and his bass player dressed in a full black suit, I don't know how they weren't just dying up on stage under those lights. Of course, JOHN WAITE lost the suitcoat after a couple of songs.
His set kicked off with "Midnight Rendevous". I will admit that I'm not too overly familiar with THE BABYS catalog but I do know the high points and I do quite like this song as a hard driving number to really kick things off on a high note.
I keep forgetting that the song "Change" is actually John's version of a song originally done by a band called SPIDER. His version having been on both his album Ignition and the Vision Quest movie soundtrack has made the song "his" in my mind and I loved hearing it live.
In the past, John hasn't been overly complimentary about his time in BAD ENGLISH. I don't think they were covered much at all in that The Hard Way documentary they did on Waite a couple years back. But on this night, his version of "When I See You Smile" was something I actually just might like better than the original version. Waite and his band (bassist Tim Hogan, drummer Alan Childs and MATCHBOX 20 guitarist Kyle Cook) stripped away the 80s production sound to the song and made at least the first half of the performance focused squarely on John's vocal with just a bare minimum amount of backing music. The band becomes more prominent about halfway through but it changes the shape and form of the song for me into something I liked even better.
I mentioned that Waite's voice was still so powerful and it was pretty evident as he roared through "Every Time I Think of You". While most of his set list were technically cover songs, his big solo hit "Missing You" was featured nicely. In the live setting, the song retains the charm that made it a #1 hit, but I like the way the band slightly alters the arrangement to give the song a new spin four decades later.
During the performance of "Head First", JOHN WAITE and his band had to fight off some minor audio squeaks during this particular performance but it still came out pretty solid. The band really cut loose on "Back On My Feet Again" as the full bore rocking sound and Waite's exhortations to the crowd got everyone up on their feet and cheering.
JOHN WAITE's set came to a close with a two song cover medley of "Whole Lotta Love" (LED ZEPPELIN) and "Let Me Love You" (Buddy Guy). Make no mistake, the band did a great job on the songs, highly energetic and enjoyable to say the least. But I did wish they'd done some other track that b>JOHN WAITE had been involved with across his lengthy career instead.
That said, let me tell you a secret...one of the main reasons I decided I wanted to go to this concert was because JOHN WAITE was on the bill. I love his work and voice (the No Brakes solo album is pure gold) and I'd only seen him live once before. My expectations were met with plenty of room to spare and JOHN WAITE put on a great show that not only re-confirmed my fandom but got the rest of the crowd fired up for the rest of the concert.
SETLIST
Of course, once the house lights went down (though it was still light outside) and FOREIGNER took the stage, my focus was on the stage and boy was that focus rewarded!
I know that people like to complain that because there are no original members left in the band that this is really just a cover band now. I suppose they might have a point but in all honesty I don't give a rat's ass. Most of the guys have been in the lineup for years, if not decades. For me, on this night at least, vocalist Kelly Hansen, bassist Jeff Pilson, keyboardist Michael Bluestein, guitarists Bruce Watson and Luis Maldonado and drummer Chris Frazier ARE FOREIGNER!
I'd never seen the band in concert before so throughout the set I kept thinking to myself that seeing these classic rock hits (that I've heard so many times on the radio over the last five decades) come to life before me was just SO COOL!
FOREIGNER came out rocking with "Double Vision" as Kelly Hansen set the tone early with a highly energetic whirling dervish control of the stage and/or crowd. The band followed that up with "Head Games" which continued the more rocking side of FOREIGNER's music with steady aplomb.
For me, "Cold As Ice" is one of the best FOREIGNER songs and I loved the way the band moved Jeff Pilson to the keyboard for the song and seemingly extended the song a bit too.
After three straight rockers, the band slowed things down with one of their classic ballad tracks in "Waiting For a Girl Like You" but then raised the roof by launching into the grittier "Dirty White Boy" with it's pedal to the metal pacing and tone.
I have a question for anyone reading this. Is it just me or do band intros seem entirely overblown and over dramatized these days? Look, I really have nothing bad to say about the musical performances I saw on this night. But gawd save me from these band introductions! FOREIGNER could've done an entire extra song (I would've loved to have heard "Say You Will") if they'd shortened or skipped it entirely and for me, I would rather hear more music. Okay, miniscule rant over.
Leading into the next song, Kelly Hansen talked about the origins of the band and the fact that FOREIGNER had finally been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. And then for the second half of the first lyrical stanza of "Feels Like The First Time", the crowd was brought in to add their collective voice to the performance. A tiny bit of a magical moment.
Normally, I get antsy when a band has an overly long musical intro before jumping to the next song in the setlist but I have to say the one FOREIGNER did leading into "Urgent" was pretty invigorating. During the actual song, Michael Bluestein came out from behind the keyboard setup and like an extra guitarist rocked his way through the song with his "key-tar" (only thing I can think to call it).
Ahead of the show, I looked up the setlist online and thought to myself and said to George, "FOREIGNER is only playing a 10-song set on what is billed as their farewell tour...why the hell do they need a drum solo when they could just do another song?" Yes, I'm totally against long instrument solos as I become more of a grumpy old man.
It was at this point I leaned over to George and said that the riser didn't exactly look safe because it really wobbled every time Hansen moved his feet while standing on top of it. I was worried he was going to topple off of it but when I saw a video clip of the show, he's secured to the riser which I'm guessing is a concession to safety standards.
When FOREIGNER returned to the stage for their encore, they started it off with that legendary ballad that hit #1 on the singles chart, "I Want To Know What Love Is". Over the years, I've grown just a little bit tired of the song since I prefer their rocking songs a bit more. Maybe I was caught up in the excitement of seeing the band for the first time or something, but I have to say I really got into this performance. Like they've been doing at other stops on the tour, for the ending portion of the song, FOREIGNER has a local high school youth choir join them onstage to help sing the chorus of the song. I didn't catch the name of the school that was selected but it had to be a thrill for them. After the song was over, Kelly Hansen made sure to thank the choir on stage and make a plea for donations and funding for music and the arts in schools.
To follow that up and to bring their smashing set to a triumphant conclusion, it was only fitting that FOREIGNER set the night on fire with "Hot Blooded". This may be the final tour for the band but it isn't because of a lack of ability. Finally seeing FOREIGNER in concert left no doubt that they put on one hell of a show!
SET LIST
For more on FOREIGNER visit their website: http://www.foreigneronline.com
And what I saw was spectacular! STYX has a killer theatrical flair to their performances, led by the showmanship of Lawrence Gowan in particular. With him, Tommy Shaw and J.Y. sharing lead vocal duties at various points in the show, you never knew what they might be doing next.
The show kicked off with "The Grand Illusion", which is a song I love in its studio form but it takes on a new dimension in a live setting. It was glorious! Lawrence Gowan on a rotating riser behind the keyboard effectively inviting and welcoming people to their show and the band providing ample power, it was the perfect melding of rock and roll and a kind of musical stage number.
Tommy Shaw took the lead vocal on "Too Much Time On My Hands" and then Lawrence Gowan came out from behind the keyboard for the first time after the lead in for "Lady".
Speaking of the keyboards, while I get the showman aspect of playing the keys with your hands behind you and looking out at the crowd, does anyone know why Gowan seemed to play a good portion of the songs with his back to the audience while fingering the keyboards? That struck me odd and I don't know if there's a reason for that or not.
The song "Lorelei" was one that I wasn't too familiar with before the show. But man, when I heard it at the concert, it was freaking awesome! I really got into the performance of this song a lot!
James "JY" Young handled vocals on both "Crash of The Crown" and "Miss America". The former was another song I wasn't overly familiar with beforehand and given that I didn't go crazy when I heard the studio cut, I didn't know if I was going to like it when STYX played it live. I wouldn't say it was my favorite song of the night, but I did like it more than I thought I would. The "Miss America" track was pretty cool too. Though the overdone band intro that followed tended to bog things down for me a bit.
I freaking loved "Rockin' The Paradise"! Even that glittering, overblown and utterly preposterous jacket that Lawrence Gowan donned for the song couldn't take away from the madcap energy he put into the showy performance. I was digging this song so much.
There are many big hits in the STYX catalog and one of my favorites is "Blue Collar Man (Long Nights)". I don't know what in particular makes it so big with me, but I know I love the phrasing of the lyrics in the song's chorus and just the grand energy that song had going for it. So when they started playing the song and Tommy Shaw sang out the words, I was pretty enthused to finally see this come to life before my eyes!
The band brought the first part of their show to a conclusion with a raucous performance of "Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)" and the massively popular hit song "Come Sail Away".
For the encore, STYX rolled out "Mr. Roboto" first. And I can't lie, this was the song that was the first one I had ever heard from the band. Of course, given the history of this song and the strife it caused within the band back in the day, getting to see/hear the song in a live setting was pretty cool. Gowan sounded great and overall the live presentation came about as close to the studio recording as one could hope. Following that, STYX brought their set and the night to a close with "Renegade"!
Call me crazy or whatever, but for a show I hadn't even planned on going to, the Mansfield, MA. stop on the "Renegades & Juke Box Heroes Tour" ended up providing me with one hell of a night of rocking entertainment. The weather was hot as hell and I was sweating like a dog the whole night, but in a way of offsetting the uncomfortable heat, the music from JOHN WAITE, FOREIGNER and STYX was even hotter!
SET LIST
CONCERT FUN FACT #2 - While it was the first time I'd seen STYX in concert, it was the 2nd time I'd seen Tommy Shaw. I saw him when he was part of DAMN YANKEES on the tour for their first album.
CONCERT FUN FACTS (RANDOM EDITION) - The passes George received were really great seats. In the 30 plus shows I've attended at what I still call Great Woods, these were the 2nd best seats I've ever had. So a big shout out to whomever arranged the passes and to George for taking me along.
$20 parking lot T-shirt vs inside Merch Booth $50 (at least) T-shirt...guess which one I went with?
If you are perhaps interested in seeing clips of the show in Mansfield, I found one YouTube account that posted 2 clips from JOHN WAITE's set, clips that covered the entire FOREIGNER set and all but the two encore songs from the STYX set. You can check out https://www.youtube.com/@pennyfleck to see all those clips. To see "Mr. Roboto" from the STYX encore check out this direct link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pb7GMmUEYwM
Check out some more photos from the show!
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Anyway...JOHN WAITE was fantastic! At 72 years of age, you'd think someone who's primary "instrument" is his voice might be slowing down or suffer a drop off in quality or something. But as he rocked through an 8-song set filled with songs he did with THE BABYS, BAD ENGLISH and other cuts, I was struck by just how powerful his voice sounded. And he was rocking throughout.
While waiting for FOREIGNER to take the stage, I ended up talking to someone in the row behind me and learned of a concert venue I'd never heard of before that's a lot closer to home for me. While most of the acts are tribute bands, they do host some original acts including one that I am seriously thinking about going to see...so it wasn't just a great night of music for me but a metaphorically profitable networking experience as well.
But A-HA!, there was a method behind the band's madness. Because following Chris Frazier's drum solo, FOREIGNER closed out the regular part of their set with "Juke Box Heroes" with Kelly Hansen in the middle of the crowd rising into the sky on a riser for the first part of his performance. It was a pretty cool sight to see if I'm being honest. Such a killer all-time classic further enhanced by making it unique for the live setting. As Hansen came down and ran back to the stage he went down the aisle next to where George and I were standing. The band finished an electrifying rendition of the song and left the stage.
Two acts down and one to go. I like STYX. Really, I do. Hell, I've written articles about two of their albums in the past. George is a much bigger fan, having seen them something like six times already. But when I looked up the setlist, I realized that I was actually kind of unfamiliar with three of the songs that they were going to perform. Off to YouTube I went so that when STYX (singer Lawrence Gowan, guitarists Tommy Shaw, James "JY" Young and Will Evankovich, bassist Terry Gowan and drummer Todd Sucherman) hit the stage I would be fully up to speed.
After the dismissal of Dennis DeYoung from the band, it was a long time before STYX played "The Best of Times" in concert. But I'm glad that they have added it back because as much as this is a "Dennis" song (my term), Lawrence Gowan is fan-freaking-tastic at making it "his" song as well.
