A Long and Windy Road
Members of Styx run through a final show rehearsal at the iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach, Florida, on July 12, 2026. “The Windy Cities Tour,” featuring Styx and Chicago, kicks off at the venue tonight. (Photo by Jason Powell/Styx)
For more than 50 years, Styx and Chicago traveled remarkably similar paths. ‘The Windy Cities Tour’ finally brings those parallel journeys together on one stage.
By Doug Fox
Styx and Chicago have spent more than half a century traveling remarkably similar musical paths. Both bands emerged from Chicago, became arena-rock institutions, and built enduring careers that have spanned generations of fans. Yet for all they've shared over the years, one thing has never happened.
Until now.
Tonight, “The Windy Cities Tour” opens at the iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach, Florida, marking the first time the two legendary bands have shared the same stage. The 25-city co-headlining tour will carry them across the country before concluding at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California, on Sept. 6.
For Styx, however, this isn't simply another co-headlining summer tour. It's an opportunity to perform alongside a band whose music inspired many of the musicians they would one day become. Years before they became members of Styx, James “J.Y.” Young, Chuck Panozzo, Tommy Shaw, Todd Sucherman, Lawrence Gowan, Will Evankovich and Terry Gowan were fans first — listening to Chicago records, studying Terry Kath's guitar work, marveling at Danny Seraphine's drumming, and in some cases performing those songs in school bands while dreaming of musical careers of their own.
If one theme emerged consistently while talking with the members of Styx about this tour, it wasn't anticipation about ticket sales, production or even sharing a bill with another legendary band. It was gratitude. Nearly every conversation quickly turned to the Chicago albums, songs and musicians that first ignited their own passion for making music.
“I’ve never seen Chicago live, but when they came out, it was just perfect for the age that I was,” said Shaw. “Man, I was listening to those records and listening to Terry Kath. Terry on guitar was like, good Lord, just amazing! I never could play a whole Terry Kath solo. He just had his own style.”
Shaw wasn't alone in that admiration. Lawrence Gowan recalled that same era with equal enthusiasm.
“I am a huge Chicago fan,” he said. “I went to their shows starting way back in the Terry Kath days. The first time I saw them live was just after ‘Chicago V’ had come out and they played at Varsity Stadium in Toronto.”
More than five decades later, two moments from that 1972 concert remain vivid in Gowan's memory: Kath singing “Dialogue” and the band’s performance of their brand new hit, “Saturday in the Park.”
“I was a gigantic fan of the band,” he said. “They’ve continued on despite all of the member changes. They are still as top-notch as ever. I’m looking forward to hearing them play.”
Chicago's influence runs deep within the Styx family. As the band's youngest member, Evankovich was born three years to the month after the release of Chicago's debut album, yet the band became part of one of his earliest musical memories.
“One of the first records I was old enough to hold at the age of 2 was ‘Chicago II’,” he said. “My father listened to Chicago and so I listened by default. Terry Kath is one of my favorite guitar players, and I’ve played with Danny Seraphine and with some different members. I’m very much looking forward to this tour and this is going to be a real treat because it’s music I grew up listening to.”
Evankovich wasn't the only member whose introduction to Chicago began almost as soon as he could walk. For Sucherman, original Chicago drummer Seraphine became his first musical hero, leaving an imprint that has lasted a lifetime.
“Danny Seraphine was my first drumming hero,” said Sucherman. “I would sit, as literally an infant in diapers, playing ‘Chicago II’ on my Mickey Mouse record player over and over and over again. Chicago in those early records is as important as the Beatles are to me insofar as formulating my earliest musical notions on composition, counterpoint, lyrics and ensemble playing. You know, those are my earliest musical memories.”
For other members of Styx, Chicago's influence wasn't confined to the family stereo. It extended into rehearsal rooms, concert bands and school auditoriums, where performing the band's music became part of their own musical education.
For the Gowan brothers, Chicago's influence eventually moved from the turntable to the stage. During high school, Lawrence's concert band performed a medley of Chicago classics, and he was tapped to perform Kath's iconic guitar solo from "25 or 6 to 4" — a moment he still cherishes all these years later.
“That remains a phenomenal memory for me,” Lawrence said.
But Lawrence wasn't the only Gowan brother transformed by that performance. His younger brother Terry remembers sitting in the auditorium watching the concert and realizing he had found his calling.
“It was another one of those signs that the universe is telling me, ‘This is what you are going to do. There is no chance you are doing anything other than this because you are just so enamored and lit up by it,’” Terry said. “I couldn’t get enough of it. And Chicago was a big part of that at that time in my life.”
That inspiration soon found its way onto Terry's own stage. Eventually joining his own school band, the younger Gowan experienced firsthand the excitement of bringing Chicago's music to life.
“It was such an exciting thing to start playing the bass parts,” he said. “You know, you’re in grade nine or 10 and the band’s doing the best it can with this music. But it was so exciting to suddenly play that music and hear it, and feel it come out of the instruments. I just radiated joy and excitement.”
Perhaps that's why the pairing feels so natural to the members of Styx. For musicians whose earliest musical memories are so closely tied to Chicago's songs, sharing a stage with one of their formative influences feels less like an unexpected collaboration than a long-overdue reunion.
Founding guitarist Young believes the co-headline pairing succeeds because both bands helped define the soundtrack of an era.
"The music of the '70s was sort of the soundtrack to many people's glorious misspent youth,” said Young, “and Chicago was part of that as well. 'Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?' and on and on. We're trying to keep the fun factor here, and it should be fun playing with those guys."
For Sucherman, the joint adventure feels almost inevitable.
"I think it's going to be an incredible night of music, an incredible night of hits, and being that both Styx and Chicago hail from Chicago, it makes sense that this is finally happening,” Sucherman said. “I'm almost surprised it hasn't happened sooner."
More than five decades after Styx and Chicago first began carving parallel paths through rock history, those paths finally converge tonight. For fans, “The Windy Cities Tour” promises an evening of classic songs from two legendary bands.
For the members of Styx, it offers something even more meaningful — the chance to perform alongside the band whose music helped shape their own musical journeys.
Members of Styx run through a final show rehearsal at the iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach, Florida, on July 12, 2026. “The Windy Cities Tour,” featuring Styx and Chicago, kicks off at the venue tonight. (Photo by Jason Powell/Styx)
