Tommy Shaw – Sing for the Day.jpg)
Eagle Rock Entertainment
http://www.eagle-rock.com/tommy-shaw
Rating: C
I will say upfront….this is going to be a weird review.
There is much right about this concert…and much begrudgingly wrong…from an old rocker standpoint anyway. So…while I am going to admire, and compliment Tommy Shaw on his performance…and the high school kids he is playing with there is more to the story…at least according to me!
Let’s start with the good stuff.
In 2016, Tommy Shaw sat down, center stage, in an auditorium with a bunch of high school orchestra kids and together they performed classic songs from Shaw’s catalog. This includes solo…Damn Yankees…Styx etc. etc.
Here is how it went down…
Shaw teamed up with the Cleveland-based Contemporary Youth Orchestra, under the direction of principal conductor/founder Liza Grossman. The kids learned the stuff and Shaw rocked out with them. Tommy was in great voice. The songs were done masterfully.
There were even a couple of surprises like a guitar/violin battle on “Renegade” and a version of “Crystal Ball” that featured a lost verse that was never recorded. The show also marked the 10-year anniversary of STYX’s original 2006 performance with the Contemporary Youth Orchestra, One With Everything (previously released on Eagle Rock), which was kinda cool.
So far…so good.
And, dammit…it is good.
Tommy Shaw fans tend to be really shiny happy people and they are going to eat this sucker up from the opening note of “Girls With Guns” to the final note of “Blue Collar Man.” They are going to be in heaven watching their hero blast out “Sing for the Day” and even “Boat On the River” with a batch of youngsters backing him up.
This is very much a huge love-fest…and it spans the ages…and it is wholesome…and kind…and good in every which way…Which is why it makes me throw up a little in my mouth.
Look… I get it…STYX were never Black Sabbath. I don’t think anyone would ever call them the bad boys of rock. They were only controversial amongst each other. The general public always loved them…and no one was loved more than that little smiling blonde-haired male answer to Farrah Fawcett named Tommy Shaw.
People loved him…still do. He really is cuddly.
But…and this is a big but…what in the bleep has happened to rock ‘n’ roll?
I mean… I even JUST used the word ‘bleep’ instead of the word ‘fuck.’
Are old rockers growing up?
Finally?
I gotta unleash the fury here…
Something just seems wrong about concerts with high school orchestras from bands that used to get high as a kite every night and bed down groupies.
That’s all I am saying.
It just feels sooooo non-rebellious!
Damn this is a good performance though……great songs…well done production.
Everything about it is right.
It is pure family fun.
But…Rock ‘n’ Roll should NOT be family fun.
Should it?
Oh damn…I’ve got mixed feelings going on.
I knew this would happen…
I am just struggling to find the place of The Rocker in 2018.
Where do we fit in?
Do we even still exist?
I hope our place is not in gymnasiums playing music with our grandkids…but I am kinda worried that it may be.
Enough of this….
Time to grade this thing.
I am giving this release a “C”.
Here is how I justify that grade….
Tommy and Kids do a bang up job.
They get an “A”.
Old rockers like me are dying inside.
Because of that it gets an “F”.
The fair thing here seems to meet in the middle with a solid “C”.
Trust me… you will either love this one…or hate what it for what it represents.
All in all….judged solely on Tommy Shaw’s songs and performance…it’s a very good show.
It is a show, however, that would have never been allowed to happen in 1982.
SING FOR THE DAY! Track Listing:
1. Overture
2. Girls With Guns
3. Too Much Time On My Hands
4. Fooling Yourself
5. Diamond
6. Crystal Ball
7. Boat On The River
8. Sing For The Day
9. Renegade
10. Man In The Wilderness
11. Come Again
12. High Enough
13. Blue Collar Man
Blu-ray Bonus songs:
Down That Highway
The Great Divide
I’ll Be Coming Home
The Night Goes On
By Jeb “Renegade” Wright
