Styx and Chicago Open Co-Headlining Windy Cities Tour in West Palm Beach
The Windy Cities Tour kicked off July 13 at West Palm Beach’s iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre on a hot, shirt-soaking Monday night, pairing two of Chicago’s Southside natives and classic rock titans — Styx and Chicago — for a massive co-headlining summer tour.
The tour, billed as an all-hits concert, brought out the baby-boomer-aged crowd who disregarded the hot temps and arrived primed to sit back and enjoy the tunes from these two iconic rock bands. Having seen both Styx and Chicago numerous times prior, I had a pretty good idea what to expect. Styx would be a rocking and rolling with a hard-rocking show, while Chicago would bring out the brass and polished vocals and play a more tranquil show. Both bands are classic rockers regardless of their contrasting styles. Given the frequency of a heavy touring band like Styx, who make regular stops in South Florida, it was surprising to see the turnout of the bands’ most faithful on a drenched Monday night.
Styx is comprised of two remaining founding members Chuck Panozzo and James Young along with Lawrence Gowan, Terry Gowan, Tommy Shaw, Will Evankovich, and Todd Sucherman. With these players, there is a great balance of energy and showmanship, especially Gowan, who at times works his keyboard like a Chinese acrobat spinning and balancing on it like a tightrope, and he brought his usual eccentric theatricality to “Mr. Roboto” and a soaring rendition of “Lady.” It is interesting how consistent the band’s music remains; they play a solid live rock show. On this night, the band wasted no time, opening with classic track “Fooling Yourself.” It was Tommy Shaw who shared the spotlight with founding guitarist James “J.Y.” Young and longtime keyboardist/vocalist Lawrence Gowan. Original bassist Chuck Panozzo also made his customary guest appearance, giving the hometown-adjacent crowd an extra dose of nostalgia. With the crowd now poised and at full attention, the band’s sonic secret weapon was longtime drummer Todd Sucherman, whose precise powerhouse drumming anchored the complex arrangements of their prog-rock catalog. Newest band member bassist Terry Gowan (brother of Lawrence) fit seamlessly into the rhythm section.
Styx know exactly what an outdoor amphitheater crowd wants on a sweltering hot night in July: high-tempo singalongs and spotless music. They set the pace early and quickly engaged the crowd with heavy hitters like “The Grand Illusion” and “Too Much Time on My Hands,” getting those fortunate enough to have seats and the crowd in the lawn on their feet immediately. Ripping through a catalog that extents more than 50 years, the crowd ate it up, singing in unison nearly word-for-word. The band’s relentless squealing guitars kept fans playing their own air guitars, making contorting expressions jamming along to the band’s every song. As the crowd settled in, one of the emotional peak of the set arrived with “Come Sail Away,” prompting a massive venue-wide singalong under the South Florida evening sky. After delivering nothing short of the band’s very best, they closed the night out with “Renegade,” driven by Tommy Shaw’s classic opening a capella vocal and J.Y. Young’s biting guitar work…