On August 21, 2024, the Renegades and Juke Box Heroes Tour rolled into a packed Coastal Credit Union Park at Walnut Creek in Raleigh, North Carolina. The tour is co-headlined by Styx and Foreigner with support from John Waite. That’s well over 100 years of experience between the three artists. After a short but amazing electric set by John Waite (his visit to Raleigh in 2023 was an acoustic performance) that featured his solo material, songs from The Babys and even Bad English, Foreigner was up.
Lead vocalist Kelly Hansen is such an underrated vocalist and showman. He led the charge that resulted in an 80 minute set of hit after hit after hit. The crowd was absolutely loving it! There was a brief changeover and it was time for Styx to close the show. The band played in Raleigh last summer and since then, longtime bassist Ricky Phillips decided to put down his bass and call it a day. He was replaced by Terry Gowan who is the brother of singer/keyboardist Lawrence Gowan. The chemistry that is there seems as if he’s been in the band for years. The band opened with “The Grand Illusion” which led into their hit “Too Much Time On My Hands.”
Founding member Chuck Panozzo joined the band for their next song “Lady.” He played with the band during four songs so it was really great to see him on stage performing so much. Since it was co-headlining, it was a short set coming in at around 80 minutes. That limits what they can pack into a setlist without things sounding rushed. The staple songs such as “Renegade,” “Come Sail Away,” “Rockin’ The Paradise” and “Mr. Roboto” were there. A headline tour would be amazing so that they could expand on their catalog of music of that spans over 50 years.
The band sounded amazing and you could definitely tell that they were having a good time up these and not just phoning it. Lawrence Gowan was the ultimate showman, as usual, as he continues to defy gravity at times using his keyboard stand as an amusement park ride spinning all around. The crowd was fully invested in the show singing along word for word. Yes, they did the handclaps during “Too Much Time On My Hands.” This show was definitely one of the best tours of the summer.
Review & pix by I’m Music Magazine Owner/Editor Johnny Price
Your comments were definitely a blessing this Sunday morning. I’ve seen Styx a few times now, and been to 3 of Todd’s Masterclass drumming, and I don’t drum. These guys are just total professionals and the sweetest guys ever. Thank you for you write up. That was sweet!
Thanks for taking the time to check out the article and for your sweet words. Bands like this are a dying breed. They are definitely the cream of the crop. We totally agree with you!