Piano's not exactly considered the coolest instrument to play. I've played since I was 5, and it's not an exaggeration to say that I can't imagine my life without it, but no one's ever said, "oh, that's a sexy instrument," or "ooo, piano players are hot," like they do about guitarists and bass players and drummers. I played in jazz band in school and in a jazz combo with an electric violinist and a drummer, and I always felt like the keyboard was the solid, steady, sensible one to the other instruments' coolness. When I go to a rock concert, there are plenty of air guitarists and air drummers in the audience during solos, but I'm pretty sure I've only ever seen one other person who plays air piano. There's a reason they made Guitar Hero and not Piano Hero. Guitarists get to strut; they get to be showmen and have stage presence and do the Nancy Wilson kick, while the keyboardists are usually stuck behind a stationary piano, frequently sitting. Keyboardists feel the emotion of the music they're playing just as much as guitarists, so why shouldn't they be able to express that emotion through their physicality, too? Not that keyboardists can't have some stage presence, but it's certainly limited. Or so I thought.
Little did I know that there was actually someone out there who had discovered how to combine strutting and dancing with piano playing. If I had discovered the impossible being that is Lawrence Gowan when I was a child, I think I might have announced to my parents that I was going to become a rock star. Albeit a dancing one.
About three songs into the Styx concert I attended a couple weeks ago, where I was happily watching Tommy Shaw right in front of me from my third row seat, I spotted this mesmerizing, mystical being across the stage who was playing keyboard with his back to the instrument (the solo at the 3:50 mark here). From that moment on, I don't think I took my eyes off him. He played over the keyboard, he played with the keyboard spinning, and, most importantly, he was a technical virtuoso while doing it (having trained at The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto), even inserting a classical piano solo into a piano medley he performed. Oh yeah, and when he got away from the keyboard, he was dancing all over the stage. Double pirouette? No problem.
Watching Lawrence Gowan play makes me want to sit (or stand-and-spin) behind (or in front of) the piano for hours, playing until my fingers are numb. The passion and depth of emotion he feels while playing is contagious, and there's not a false note (no pun intended) or contrived pose to be found. So the next time someone you're with is admiring a youtube video of a rock band, talking about how cool the guitarist is, maybe suggest they click on a post-1999 Styx video to see that pianists can be cool too. I'm going to go ask Santa for a spinning keyboard now.
Gowan spinning, strutting, playing backwards, and rocking out to Blue Collar Man (Long Nights): https://www.youtube.
Because sometimes you just need to stand on your keyboard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Wonderfully written! Styx is such a better band with Lawrence's contributions to their live shows. As a result, I have gone back and discovered his entire solo output. What an amazing songwriter too! Thank you for writing this.
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