My favorite band put on another great show. A little laser magic, and poof JY & TS appeared, as the heatwave from the blast hit my face. It was great to here the "hits" again, and it was great to experience "Queen of Spades" - one of my favorites. OK, here is my one allowed gripe: no "Castle Walls" or any Wooden Nickel stuff(except, of course, "Lady"). I was again faked out by the intro. to "Light Up" before "Lorelei". Tommy played short acoustic versions of "Crystal Ball" and "Man in the Wilderness". He mentioned that his mom & sister were at the concert(from Alabama), and his mom made a guitar switch for him. "Dear John" sounded real good. I think "Dear John" has hit potential, if CMC would ever release the single(and the radio would play it). Dennis did explain that he wrote "Paradise" originally for Styx, but put it in "Hunchback". Either way, it sounds like a good ballad.

Unlike Kansas last year, Pat Benatar sounded good. I might just have to dust off my albums of hers from my days at college.

• "On My Way" - Southern Rock flavor(Tommy Shaw's from Alabama)
• "Paradise" - Ballad somewhat similar to "Show Me The Way" and "Babe"
• "Dear John" - Acoustic tribute to the late John Panozzo, original band member and brother of Chuck

My favorite band showed they are still the great musicians and still can put on awesome concerts! From the concert theme of the "Return to Paradise Theater", to the hard drivin' sounds of "The Grand Illusion" with "Foolin' Yourself" and "Come Sail Away" you were constantly hit with sounds that kept getting better. They also enjoyed performing showing an easy comfort getting personal with the thousands of people. Tommy Shaw even showed his roots with a country number before leading into a punching "Crystal Ball". Tommy related how they met again in a New York hotel and he started playing some old songs ("Castle Walls", "Man in the Wilderness", etc.), and knew they should tour again. At first I thought I would hear "Castle Walls", and I wish they could play all their songs ("Suite: Madame Blue", "Queen of Spades", "Pieces of Eight", "Born For Adventure", "A Day", "Lonely Child", "I'm Ok", "Why Me?", "Don't Let It End", "Man In The Wilderness", "Mademoiselle", "Ballerina", and a bunch of stuff from their early albums("StyxII", "The Serpent is Rising", "Man of Miracles").

Styx also showed-off their musicianship by doing a few songs "unplugged". The "Pieces of Eight" hard-rockin' stuff of "Blue Collar Man" and "Renagade", along with (of course) "Come Sail Away" proved the popular Styx songs still sound original and full of life.