Styx: Live at the Orleans Arena Las Vegas Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Styx: Live at the Orleans Arena Las Vegas Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 2, 2016

I have a confession to make: I have on more than one occasion briefly mistaken Styx for Supertramp, for no other reason than both came to my attention when they were both on A&M records and I somehow conflated the two bands in my increasingly addled mind. So, for the record (no pun intended), Styx is the band whose soaring tenor and multilayered instrumental forces gave the world the hits “Lady”, “Come Sail Away” and its only trip to the very top of the charts, “Babe”, not the band whose soaring tenor and multilayered instrumental forces produced "The Logical Song" and "Take the Long Way Home". Kind of interestingly, none of those three big hits is part of the concert which is only one section of Styx Live at the Orleans Arena Las Vegas. While the concert by itself is available as a supplement, the main feature on this release is a combo concert and “backstage” effort that features lots (some might argue too many) interstitial interviews. The backstage element gives a good overview of the band’s history, the rigors of producing such a highly choreographed stage show, and some of the interpersonal relationships, while the concert footage proves that the band still has a lot of energy.

The concert section of the documentary features performances of the following songs:

Too Much Time on My Hands
Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)
Light Up
Crystal Ball
Superstars
Blue Collar Man (Long Nights) (featuring Don Felder)
Rockin' the Paradise
Renegade
Genki Desu Ka

Styx: Live at the Orleans Arena Las Vegas Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Styx Live at the Arena Las Vegas is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Eagle Vision, an imprint of Eagle Rock Entertainment, and Universal Music Group with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78:1. There's a bit of variable sharpness on display in the interview segments, with some of what look like backstage sequences (or maybe the tour bus?) looking slightly softer and less abundantly detailed than some shots taken in what appear to be more brightly lit hotel rooms. The concert footage suffers from occasional (and by now expected) bugaboos including very minor banding and some similarly slight posterizing, all due to the seemingly inescapable choice of concert lighting directors to bathe the stage in deep blue, red and purple tones. The purple light especially tends to rob some shots of detail (see screenshot 3). Close-ups still tend to offer very good to excellent detail levels. There are some weird anomalies, again quite minor, caused by the pinpoint lighting array behind the band, where, for instance, edges of outfits look ragged in midrange shots.

Styx: Live at the Orleans Arena Las Vegas Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

As with most Eagle Rock releases, Styx Live at the Orleans Arena Las Vegas features LPCM 2.0 and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks (the disc is authored to default to the standard stereo track). The surround track really nicely opens up the music segments, though perhaps a bit surprisingly it really doesn't add that much to the low end. Voices are nicely prioritized in the surround track (something that doesn't always occur on these concert discs), and the instrumental forces sound clear and inviting. Fidelity is excellent throughout and of course the talking heads sequences sound fine.

Styx: Live at the Orleans Arena Las Vegas Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• The Concert (1080i; 50:47) presents the concert footage without all of the interstitial interview segments.


• Bonus Interviews (1080i; 16:43)


• Photo Gallery (1080i; 2:13)

Styx: Live at the Orleans Arena Las Vegas Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I was going to get all upset that I had to watch a concert interrupted repeatedly by interview segments (as interesting as some of those segments undeniably are), until I saw that the concert is presented uninterrupted as a supplement, so as Gilda Radner used to say—never mind. The main documentary is okay for what it's trying to do, and Styx fans will no doubt be pleased to hear how the group puts a tour together and survives on the road, but the real calling card is the music, and the good news is the band sounds vibrant throughout the concert. Technical merits are generally strong, and Styx Live at the Orleans Arena Las Vegas comes Recommended.