CALIFORNIA ROCK NEWS

Photography by Alex Kluft

Styx returned to the Pacific Amphitheatre at the OC Fair Thursday (7/27) for the first time since 2019. Last year marked the 50th anniversary of their debut album.  To this day the group continues to tour annually throughout the U.S. and worldwide. Since 2003 the Styx lineup has been founding members James ‘JY’ Young (Guitar/Vocals) and on select dates and songs Chuck Panozzo (Bass) however Panozzo did not perform for this show, Tommy Shaw has been a member 45 years with Crystal Ball (1976) being his first release with the group, Lawrence Gowan (Keyboards/Vocals) became Dennis DeYoung’s permanent replacement in 1999, Todd Sucherman (Drums) joined the group in 1995 while John Panozzo’s health was reclining and became a permanent member after his tragic passing, and Ricky Phillips (Bass) took over for Chuck Panazzo when he first began battling HIV.

Since Styx last played the Pacific Amphitheater, they released a new album in 2021 titled Crash of the Crown. In total they played four songs from that album and the opening song of the show was “To Those” followed by classics like “Blue Collar Man (Long Nights)” and “The Grand Illusion.” Other hits performed were “Lady,” “Light Up,” and “Miss America.” Before “Come Sail Away” the last song before the encore, Gowan usually leads the audience in a sing-a-long of different rock classics but for this tour he is playing “Khedive” from their 2017 release “The Mission,” which features him solo piano and has been in the set since the release of the album and following was a new song “Lost At Sea.” 

Styx returned for an encore starting with “Mr. Roboto.” For over 30 years “Mr. Roboto” was never performed live other than short parts in their old opening medley. On May 30th, 2018 Styx played the song for the first time in its entirety at the Five Point Amphitheater in Irvine, CA which was the opening night of their tour with Joan Jett and Tesla. Since then it has been part of their show every night.  As always the show ended with “Renegade.”  Styx is the type of band that can play not only the same city multiple times a year but even some of the same venues each time and bring in new fans and ones that have seen the group over 10 times like myself. As of now Styx has dates booked all the way through November 9th.