The Brotherhood of Rock Tour made a stop in Raleigh, North Carolina at the Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek on 7/9/25. The tour features Styx, the Kevin Cronin Band and Don Felder. The show started out with a great performance by Don Felder which was packed with classics by The Eagles. The Kevin Cronin Band was up next. That name may sound familiar because Cronin had been the voice of REO Speedwagon for well over 30 years. It’s kind of a short, but long story that we’ll save for our review of The Kevin Cronin Band’s section of this show. Speaking of Cronin, a storm was approaching before they went on so their set started earlier than first told and it was cut short by a few songs. They were trying to get a show by all the bands in before the storm hit.
Styx started earlier than first mentioned as well. The house lights went down and a bedroom appeared on the large screen behind the stage. Someone comes in the room, flips through their classic albums of that time period and stops on The Grand Illusion. They take the album out, put it on their turntable and the concert begins. This might have looked familiar to those who saw The Grand Illusion/Pieces of Eight Tour in 2010. Wow, I can’t believe that was 15 years ago! I’m not 100% certain, but the footage looked very similar to, if not the exact same, the footage used in that intro. “The Grand Illusion” kicked off the show with the guys sounding like they always do: AMAZING! Tommy Shaw took over on lead vocals next for “Fooling Yourself (The Angy Young Man)” which featured Styx founding member Chuck Panozzo on bass. It was great to see Cuck come out and play but there was introduction to the fans by the band that he was playing. I know they were tight on time, but show the guy some respect. his health keeps him from playing an entire show, so we’re blessed to have him play a few songs at each show. “Sleepless” was next and some of the enthusiasm of the crowd may have been lost a little. You see, the problem with doing an album in its entirety is that some, if not a lot, of the casual fans seem a bit lost when an album cut like this is played. It happens to any band that does this, not just Styx. After that song ended, an announcement was made. That storm that we mentioned earlier was right on the doorsteps of Raleigh and about to bust loose. I’m guessing because of what time it was, Live Nation decided not to do a delay and shelter fans in place like they normally do. They decided to end the show and give fans a full refund. As expected, fans had very mixed reactions to the decision which I can understand (somewhat) from a fan’s point of view. At least they made the decision to fully refund fans instead of making them wait. Yes, If I was a huge Styx fan I would have been disappointed too. At least everyone got 2/3s of a show and great performances from Don Felder and The Kevin Cronin Band…