Styx, Kansas Push Nostalgia to the Limit

The hunger for nostalgic fun has its dangers. Like a bad meal repeating itself, the double bill of Styx and Kansas at the Greek Theatre on Wednesday brought up some ugly memories of ‘70s and ‘80s rock at its most distasteful. The reconstituted bands are still hard-working crowd-pleasers, and neither one’s energy level or musicianship seems to have flagged at all since its heyday. But each group’s material remains a singularly wretched blend of pretension, bombast and inanity.

Stacked against an Andrew Lloyd Webber revue or a Vegas floor show, Styx’s headlining set might be considered favorably as fluffy entertainment spectacle. As rock show, it was merely overwrought. The band has always played off its sense of theatricality, and its summer tour is being staged as a return to the “Paradise Theater” show first introduced on its 1981 concept album of the same name. As band members charged through their hits--”Lady,” “Babe,” “Come Sail Away”--in front of painted backdrops and surrounded by faux-velvet curtains, what came through was not drama but a lot of wild histrionics and lame schtick.

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A few songs into the set, lead singer Dennis DeYoung huddled the four best-known members of the touring quintet around him and asked, “Did you ever think you’d see this again?” Well, no.

Kansas squandered away whatever charms its gentle prog-pop once had by making every song a blaring exercise in arena-rock posturing. “Dust in the Wind” is not a song meant to be screeched. Both bands played to a packed house of appreciative fans on the first of two nights at the Greek. But each begged the musical question: How long to the point of no return?

* Styx and Kansas perform tonight at the Glen Helen Blockbuster Pavilion, 2575 Glen Helen Parkway, Devore, (909) 886-8742. 7:30 p.m., $25, $20, $15.