Styx Setlist

Sally and I are heading out to see Styx with Eagles' guitarist Don Felder and REO Speedwagon's Kevin Cronin early next month. 

You'll find the full set list below.

Styx performing in 2017 (via Wikipedia).

The Eagles obviously don't perform together as a band anymore, and in any event, no force on Earth could get Glenn Fry out for another set. I'm still quite looking forward to seeing Felder and his band open this show.

Similarly, REO Speedwagon retired as a band after their last tour. However, former lead vocalist Kevin Cronin wanted to tour again, and here we are. 

I respect Cronin's decision to tour under his own name rather than as "REO Speedwagon" with just himself and a bunch of session musicians. I'm pretty sure that decision will have cost him some money from lost ticket sales. Still, it's an acknowledgement that he himself is not the whole band. 

Not everyone would make that choice. Indeed, if you go see "Foreigner" these days, the entire band has become a bunch of session musicians hired by Foreigner, Inc. to play the hits and keep the IP alive. They play a fun show to be sure, but ticket prices for "Foreigner" cost quite a bit more than they would if the band explicitly billed themselves as a nostalgia/tribute act.

Anyway, Cronin's set includes the entire album Hi Infidelity, which apparently celebrated its 30th anniversary last year.

Styx, of course, still tours consistently, and indeed, they even have a new album coming out later this summer. I find that incredible given that half the band must by now be in their 70s or even in their early 80s, but they -- with some long-term replacements -- have been going strong for a good, long time now. 

The new album, called CIRCLING FROM ABOVE, comes out late this summer, though Styx has already released a single from it called BUILD AND DESTROY. They've also seemingly sent review copies to every Internet rock music reviewer on YouTube in an attempt to build buzz in lieu of old school radio airplay. I've not personally heard the new album yet, but reviewers say that it's stylistically similar to Styx's last two albums, THE MISSION and CRASH OF THE CROWN.

CRASH OF THE CROWN became Styx's pandemic project, and I liked it a lot. It's quite a unique concept album about growing up and leaving home, and in a larger sense, about watching the world fall apart from the perspective of having once been part of the "peace and love" generation. Having said that, the work as a whole eventually finds an uplifting, optimistic vibe, which is amazing all things considered. I quite wish that they'd play the whole thing on tour someday, but I realize that this is probably never going to happen. Alas.

However. Styx is played THE GRAND ILLUSION this summer. Which is awesome. That's my favorite album of all time. In particular, the song MAN IN THE WILDERNESS is a B-side personal favorite that I absolutely *never* thought I'd see live. So that's cool.

The full set list is here:

See you guys this summer!