I saw Styx last week at The London Palladium and they were fantastic and on top form. Great vocals, musicianship and sound and their average age is around 60.
Tomorrow, it's Toto and at they, too, were on top form they last time I saw them at The royal Albert Hall and always deliver. I've seen them countless times since the 80s and I've never seen or heard a naff show. Crystal clear sound.
Two years ago, it was Night Ranger and they, too, had so much energy and delivered a flawless show.
FM, Dan Reed, Foreigner, Journey ( a little hit and miss) etc all seem to be playing well.
Any fans of this genre?
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is it crazy how saying sentences backwards creates backwards sentences saying how crazy it is?
Work of Art's album "In Progress" is, a masterpiece. Their first album (Artwork) is still great but VERY Toto influenced (not a bad thing).
If you claim to like AOR and don't like these songs, there's no hope for you:
is it crazy how saying sentences backwards creates backwards sentences saying how crazy it is?
@bloodandtears - although not an AOR band, did you catch Aaron Buchanan at the HRH gig? That was a performance and a a half. What a frontman!
Harem Scarem are superb and guitarist, Pete Lesperance is a bit of unsung hero. Those first 2 albums are have some very well-crafted songs.
I've heard of the other bands and Work of Art are like the lovechild of Toto and Journey have really lost it. Arnel is good but crikey, no one does Steve Perry like Deen Castronovo and whilst we're there, a thumbs up to Revolution Saints.
There are so many bands, like the once mighty Giant, but I still think this genre has it's supporters and loyal fans and that's also helped by the Frontiers label and Sweden seems to churn out a lot of these bands, too.
As to Tommy Shaw's voice last week, it was stunning and he can still do it. No lowering the key, not reaching the notes and you should check out the rig breakdown for Styx. No amps or cabs on stage and they feed their heads, amp units to Palmer Speaker emulators.
The FM, Dan Reed Network and Gun gig at the end of the year promises to be a good one.
is it crazy how saying sentences backwards creates backwards sentences saying how crazy it is?
think I had a very worn copy of Foreigner 4 too.
these bands were all over Kerrang! mag back on the day, it was very influential.
good on'em, old boys keep rocking!
Danger Danger (Andy Timmons & now, Rob Marcello - great players) and Tyketto - both still going.
If you like this stuff, some mates have a theatre show cover band called Leather and Lace and they're worth checking out on FB for dates as they play all around the country
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Great playing, great sound at Royal Hospital, Chelsea (outdoors) and it works very well.
They're just on a different level!
Anyone else go?
I still like some of the slightly harder rocking stuff - Saraya, Shadow King, Valentine... Winger are still fantastic.
And I'm a big fan of Tommy Shaw's singing, the guy's amazing.
Danger Danger-wise - check out the Defiants. It's Bruno from DD and Paul Laine (ex-DD), plus...Rob Marcello. One album so far, another out this year. It's basically DD type stuff and is possibly even better.
Then there's Ted Poley's (again, Danger Danger) solo stuff. Some isn't so good, some is excellent. When he first left DD, he did a project called Bonemachine and their album Disappearing Inc. is one of my favourites. Think you can still get it now:
I've spent far too long collecting this stuff!
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Thing is, with the HRH stuff, nearly everyone wins tickets (free entry for the weekend) and so it just your accommodation and travel to take care of. I reckon they probably rely on people booking, staying and eating at the holiday camps and around March time, ordinarily, they'd be empty and so it's a winner for them.