Chicago with Styx at Morton Amphitheater, Riverside (Kansas City) MO (2026-08-25)

Paris of the Plains, The City of Fountains, the Cradle of Jazz-

All of those are familiar nicknames for Kansas City, but for one mid-weeknight, the metro became Second City, the City of Big Shoulders, and the Windy City. Legendary bands Chicago and Styx have finally teamed up together for the first time on their Windy Cities Tour, which made a stop at Morton Amphitheater, in Riverside, MO.

Both bands originated in Chi-Town and each have each been at it for over five decades (ruling the charts and the radio, especially in their ‘70s/80’s heyday) but this pairing has oddly never been taken on the road before. That’s finally solved on this 25-date summer tour, which will wrap next weekend in LA.

The subtitle of the tour name is “All the Hits…Your Kind of Tour” and definitely lived up to that, as each played all the songs that were on regular radio rotation in the Midwest, as well as managed to insert in a few lesser-known songs.

Chicago believes in the ‘power of ten’, as the ten-member current live lineup, led by trumpeter and co-founder Lee Loughnane bridges the band’s earliest days, to its current lineup. Just prior to this tour, members Robert Lamm and James Pankow both decided to retire from performing live, but the show must go on.

Loughnane anchored the band’s trademark horn section, which is as much or more now, so much of the band’s identity, still making multi-genre hits that blend pop, rock, jazz and orchestral elements, in a way only they can do.

Their set reinforced the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees as a bonafide musical institution, opening strong with 1973’s “Dialogue (Part I & II)” and working in the full “Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon”, Pankow’s 1970 seven-part song cycle epic, early on.

The 80’s Cetera-era still gets additional cheers, with the crowd recognizing all those charting hits of the band; but it’s the longtime purist fans, that really appreciate the early Terry Kath songs, and both sides were rewarded with the career-spanning setlist.

The band showed their appreciation to Lamm and Pankow, thanking them on-screen after one of their songs was played. At other moments, vintage photos of the band montaged like thumbing through a virtual scrapbook (though neither band brought a video crew, so the house screens were dark all night).

Lamm’s penned “Beginnings” took things all the way back to the 1969 CTA-era, followed by a couple of foot-stomping soul covers, and 1972’s “Saturday in the Park” made it feel both like the weekend and the 4^th of July, as a virtual flag breezed in the wind.

New singer Rudy Cardenas vocally honors the band’s history as he sings and was always willing to secede the spotlight during instrumental solos, happily singing harmony as another member would take the lead for a song.

The lineup seems to come together as a whole, realizing the songs transcend any individual member, and maybe time itself, as this band is set to carry on for another five decades plus on the weight of those classic songs.

The familiar horn and guitar combo of “25 or 6 to 4” would end their set and the evening, as on-screen images of spinning clocks and those ten musicians moving and playing in rhythm brought cheers, a standing ovation- proof of why the band is still as popular as it is.

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For Styx, the Paradise Theater remains open, and the band can still deliver live as evidenced on their ninety-minute set that, like Chicago, spanned over five decades of hits. The set began with radio standards, “Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)” and “Lorelei” which found fans singing along to every word, and 1973 power ballad “Lady” was appropriately dedicated to the late Dolly Parton by vocalist/keyboardist Lawrence Gowan.

We caught the band live last summer in NE Florida, touring with REO’s Kevin Cronin and ex-Eagle Don Felder and it’s impressive that the band still releases solid new albums and is not settling as a nostalgia act, including last year’s Circling From Above, which the band marked by playing the record’s melodic single, “Build and Destroy.”

Gowan has been in the band over a quarter-century and has truly made the songs his own, become fully accepted by the fans (Dennis De-who?), and the 2024 addition of his younger brother, Terry on bass, has musically solidified the group even further.

Of course, Tommy Shaw at stage left continues his trademark guitar riffs and distinctive lead and co-vocals. James “J.Y.” Young may be mostly seated but continues to help define the band’s sound (as does drummer of 30 years, Todd Sucherman); and yes, still plays the entire show.

Guitarist Will Evankovich produced and co-wrote the last three records, and the cumulative result is a band that sounds as tight and cohesive as ever, especially as shown on the encore’s “Mr. Roboto” (complete with an on-screen army of the gold figures) and “Renegade” (all that was missing were the Steelers Terrible Towels). The jig is up, the news is out- Styx is here to stay.​​​

​​​​The wait might have been more than five decades, but Chicago and Styx finally together on a single bill, delivered on their “All The Hits- Your Kind of Tour” credo. The celebratory evening is both an appreciative look at each band’s storied past, as well as a nod to the recent times, newer albums, and future generations also becoming fans. With the highway for each band showing no exit sign anytime soon, these winds are still blowing strong.

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