Styx, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts and Tesla! First off, yes the show was amazing! You really can’t go wrong with any of these bands, and putting them together is just genius!
Since Styx is a Chicago band they always have an exceptionally great crowd when they play in Illinois, and last night was no exception! If you hadn’t heard, this tour is the first time Styx has performed “Mr. Roboto” in 35 years! It was done very well and the fans were really excited to hear it! Last night, the 7th, also happened to be The Grand Illusion’s 41st anniversary! In honor of its anniversary they played half of its tracks! James “J.Y.” Young also mentioned that Styx will be performing at the 200th year anniversary of Illinois! I was thrilled to hear them play a few songs off the new album The Mission! Such as “The Outpost”, “Khedive”, and a personal favorite “Radio Silence”! I have seen Styx a few times last night’s transition into “Too Much Time On My Hands” was rather different and cracked me up! Tommy Shaw called out to Lawrence Gowan “Hey I’m talking to you! You with the magic spinning keyboard machine”! And cue the magical time passing sound! These guys never disappoint! They always sound great and have a crazy amount of energy!
STYX OFFICIAL WEBSITE / FACEBOOK
Joan Jett played all the hits along with a newer song “TMI” and a song she sang but was written by Bruce Springsteen for the movie Light of Day which was also the name of the song. She starred in the movie along with Michael J Fox! We also got to hear some stories about how the Blackhearts had to start their own record label because no one would sign a girl playing guitar with a band of guys.
JOAN JETT OFFICIAL WEBSITE / FACEBOOK
Last but not least one of my personal favorite bands, also the band I have seen live the most Tesla! Even though they performed first and only had a 45-minute slot they still kicked ass! (pun intended) They played as many of their hits as they could! I personally would have loved to hear “Save That Goodness” which they played last year, but they only had so much time. Jeff Keith is just always a riot to watch when he performs! The musicianship is always amazing and I love how they all interact with each other! Oh and one of my favorite things they have been doing at shows lately is Jeff Keith starts off “Signs” wearing a hat and then throws it off when the song says “so I took of my hat and said imagine that…”! A rather tiny part of the show but it always makes me smile! Also walking around before the show I saw quite a lot of Tesla shirts in the crowd! They were definitely ready to kick some serious assss!
TESLA OFFICIAL WEBSITE / FACEBOOK
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