Review and Photos by Fred Kuhlman
Promoter: Danny Zelisko Presents (https://dzplive.com/ )
Venue: Celebrity Theatre (https://celebritytheatre.com/ )
Date: Tuesday February 26th, 2025
STYX is one of those bands that seem to love touring and performing for their fans. They have been doing over 100 shows each year. It has become an annual affair that each winter STYX comes back to the Valley of the Sun to perform 2 sold out shows at the Celebrity Theatre here in Phoenix, Arizona. Danny Zelisko (Danny Zelisko Presents) is personal friends of the band and he invites them to come and play at this unique venue. For those that don’t know, The Celebrity Theatre is on the National Register of Historic Places and is one of the few theatres built in the round. It has a round stage that turns during the performance. For STYX this is perfect. The only equipment on the stage is the drum kit and Gowen’s keyboard. Otherwise, all of the mics and guitars are wireless and run through the PA system. This allows the band members to roam around the entire stage and sing to different parts of the audience as the stage rotates. Think about this, STYX can easily perform at larger venues of 6 to 10 thousand, but here there are only 2500 fans and you are only 100 feet maximum from the stage. STYX loves the Celebrity Theatre and each year they ask Danny to schedule them there.
The seven men comprising STYX are James “JY” Young (lead vocals, guitars), Tommy Shaw (lead vocals, guitars), Chuck Panozzo (bass, vocals), Todd Sucherman (drums, percussion), Lawrence Gowan (lead vocals, keyboards), Will Evankovich (guitars), and Terry Gowan (bass, vocals). Because of Chuck’s medical condition, he only comes out for a few songs.
They opened the show with the high energy song, “The Grand Illusion”. From there they played hit after hit (see setlist below). With 17 studio albums, they have a very large catalog to draw from. But they played some the fan’s favorites including, “Too Much Time on My Hands”, “Lady”, “Lorelei”, “Miss America”, “Rockin’ the Paradise” and my personal favorite “Blue Collar Man (Long Nights)”.
I can’t remember which song it was, but for some strange reason, the feed from the band’s sound mixer to the house PA got lost. The band did not seem to realize because their ear pieces (from their mixer) still provided them with sound, but the only thing the crowd heard was the drum kit. They did get the problem resolved prior to the song ending. This is one of the problems with using house PA system, but the overall benefits outweigh this rare occurrence.
Their set ended with “Come Sail Away”. Everyone was on their feet and singing alone with the band. After a very short break, they came back for a 2-song encore. The first song was the Mr. Roboto which was written for the rock opera Kilroy Was Here. They ended the night with their mega hit “Renegade”. It was great to see the multiple standing ovations and the fans singing along with the band.
Overall, it was a fantastic show. Personally, I can’t think of a bad STYX concert I have seen at the Celebrity Theatre. I have seen every show there for the last 10 years. If you like classic rock and just fun music, the I highly recommend seeing STYX. You can see if they are coming to a city near you by checking out their social media pages below. Hopefully I will see you rockin’ out next year. Until then, happy concert going and enjoy the music.
Jay Psaros was the opening act tonight. He is a singer songwriter. His style is a mixture of country and indie. You can check him out on his website: https://www.jaypsarosmusic.com/ .
Danny Zelisko Presents and St. Mary’s Food Bank have teamed up to auction signed guitars at all of their Celebrity Theatre concerts. Tonight, it was STYX turn to have a guitar signed by all of their members auctioned off. The bidding started off slow, but eventually ping-ponged between 2 people and finally went for $8000. Since both parties placed such amazing bids, Danny got a second guitar signed by STYX and both parties got one for a total of $16,000 collected for St. Mary’s Food Bank. St. Mary’s Food Bank is a local charity that helps feed the less fortune people of the valley. Between cooked meals at their location and food baskets they help feed many people and families. Each dollar raised helps create 5 meals. So just tonight they can provide 80,000 meals. If you attend one of Danny Zelisko’s concerts at the Celebrity Theatre, please bring your credit card (or cash) and bid on a signed guitar by your favorite artist and help out this wonder charity in the process.
STYX Social Media sites:
Website: https://styxworld.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/styxtheband
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/styxtheband/
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/styxtheband
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thebandstyx
STYX
Photos © Fred Kuhlman 2025, All Rights Reserved
STYX Setlist: (Album)
The Grand Illusion (The Grand Illusion)
Too Much Time on My Hands (Paradise Theatre)
Lady (Styx II)
Lorelei (Equinox)
Miss America (The Grand Illusion)
Crash of the Crown (Crash of the Crown)
Crystal Ball (Crystal Ball)
Rockin’ the Paradise (Paradise Theatre)
Our Wonderful Lives (Crash of the Crown)
Superstars (The Grand Illusion)
Blue Collar Man (Long Nights) (Pieces of Eight)
The Best of Times (Paradise Theatre)
Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man) (The Grand Illusion)
Khedive (The Mission)
Come Sail Away (The Grand Illusion)
Encore:
Mr. Roboto (Kilroy Was Here)
Renegade (Pieces of Eight)
