{"id":1714,"date":"2011-11-20T23:43:46","date_gmt":"2011-11-21T04:43:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.seakingdom.net\/blog\/?p=1714"},"modified":"2011-11-20T23:43:46","modified_gmt":"2011-11-21T04:43:46","slug":"mgm-grand-illusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.seakingdom.net\/blog\/2011\/11\/20\/mgm-grand-illusion\/","title":{"rendered":"MGM Grand Illusion"},"content":{"rendered":"

The conference I was attending had useful presentations and discussions during the days, but on the Tuesday evening, there was to be something called the “Client Event”.\u00a0 There had been no information published in advance about what went on there, and when I asked some people about it, I found that the content of this event is normally kept secret each year at the conference.\u00a0 What I was told was about some of the past ones, many of which had been concerts with surprise performers.\u00a0 The conference materials did indicate that it would be a concert, and that there would be 2 headlining acts, plus a house band.<\/p>\n

News did leak out about the bands, though.\u00a0 Just a few hours before the concert event, I was talking to a trainer (who shall remain nameless), who told me that supposedly the acts would be Styx<\/a> and Sammy Haggar<\/a>.\u00a0 I was excited to see the former (not so much for the latter).<\/p>\n

I got to the concert during the house band’s first set.\u00a0 This was a group called Liquid Blue<\/a> (note: a video will start to play automatically when you load their website) who do covers of all sorts.\u00a0 They were pretty decent, though not super interesting.\u00a0 I eventually made my way near the stage, hoping to be close by in case Styx were the next act.\u00a0 Here’s a pic of LB just as they had finished a song:<\/p>\n

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When they finished their set, the video screens, had the Styx logo appear on them, and the crowd moved over to the larger stage near this small one.\u00a0 I ended up in the front, but over on one side, as the band came out.<\/p>\n

Here’s the crowd, just as excited as me, I think:<\/p>\n

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Eventually, I discovered that the current incarnation of the band only contains 2 of the members I know from the ’80s.\u00a0 Here they are – Tommy Shaw (left) and James Young (right):<\/p>\n

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More pics:<\/p>\n

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Flailing away on the drums is Todd Sucherman:<\/p>\n

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This is current bassist Ricky Phillips:<\/p>\n

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Better picture of Tommy:<\/p>\n

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On the left below is the keyboardist, Lawrence Gowan:<\/p>\n

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He sang lead on several of the songs, with others led by Shaw.<\/p>\n

James Young closer up:<\/p>\n

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Lawrence at the keyboard (which he was able to spin completely around on its stand):<\/p>\n

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For a few songs, the band brought out its original bass player, Chuck Panozzo, who doesn’t perform with the band too much because of his health:<\/p>\n

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I had a lot of fun seeing them, as I’ve liked their music since I was a kid, but never saw them in concert before.\u00a0 Songs they played included:<\/p>\n