When Styx comes to Centennial Terrace on Thursday, the band will bring a light show, killer stage presence, and an amazing roster of hits. 

What else is amazing is the legacy of Styx, which is still going strong after 52 years. The band released its latest album, Crash of the Crown, in 2021, and watched it hit No. 17 on Billboard’s Top Rock Albums.

Loud, bombastic, and filled with the Wagnerian prog rock that has defined Styx for the last half-century, it proved that Styx is far from a nostalgia act. The band is still composing powerful, hard-hitting music that inspires the mind and stirs the soul.

“We are really proud of that record,” said Styx lead singer Lawrence Gowan, pointing to its success on the charts. “People have rediscovered the album format, and we don’t have to be tied to one single.”

Crash of the Crown was a follow-up to Styx’s 2017 album The Mission, and Gowan said it was recorded in a most unusual way thanks to the coronavirus pandemic beginning in 2020. 

“It’s the most unique recording we’ve ever done in our entire career,” Gowan said. “We had all but two of the tracks written and demoed in 2019, and then COVID hit. We initially said, ‘Well, we’ll just wait this out for a few weeks and then we’ll get together.’ And then three months into it, we were like, ‘Well, we need to revisit how we approach this.’”

Gowan said the album was recorded via Zoom and a software program called Audiomovers, which allows recording studios across the world to link up.

“In March of 2020, I didn’t know what a Zoom call was,” Gowan said. “But we used Audiomovers and said let’s try and finish one new song this way, and that went so smoothly that then we were like, ‘Well, hell, let’s finish the whole album this way.’ The songs were about renewal after a cataclysmic event, so they were the perfect songs for the time.” 

Styx formed in Chicago in 1972, and original member Chuck Panozzo is still touring with the band. So is James “J.Y.” Young, who came on in 1970, and Tommy Shaw, who joined in 1975. Gowan has performed with the band for a quarter-century, and has seen Styx’s audience change over the years.

“I’m in my 25th year with Styx, but I’ve been in a very fortuitous position to see not only the resurgence of this band but I’ve noticed younger and younger people coming to Styx shows,” Gowan said. “Young people really love this stuff as much as the ones who grew up with Styx. On any given night, half the audience will be under 40. They weren’t even around when the original songs came out, and yet, they seem to be the most effusive in their response at the shows.”

Gowan said that Styx’s reputation as a brilliant and fun live act keeps them continuing to draw new audience members to their shows. 

“The band has continued to elevate its live core. This music was made to be played in large theaters, and it resonates with people, and that’s why they keep coming back,” Gowan said.

Gowan said he never gets tired of singing the hit songs that have made Styx successful for the past 50-plus years. He especially loves how audiences react to the song ‘Renegade.’ That’s a hit off the band’s 1977 album, The Grand Illusion. 

“’Renegade’ is always incredibly fun to play because it has such a wide appeal to it,” Gowan said. “Tommy [Shaw] sings that song and so I get a chance to really observe the audience, and it’s just the closest thing that comes to real life magic.”

Concert promoter John Nittolo said northwest Ohio audiences will love the Styx show.

“I saw Styx in Florida and I knew I wanted to bring them to Toledo,” Nittolo said. “They just bring such incredible energy wherever they perform and the Centennial Terrace audience is in for a great show.”

First Published July 1, 2023, 12:00 p.m.