Photo by Jason Powell
Two bands that both got their start in Chicago in the late 1960s are hitting the road together for the first time, and the run stops at the Xfinity Center in Mansfield on Sunday, July 26. Styx and Chicago are co-headlining what they’re calling “The Windy Cities Tour — All The Hits… Your Kind of Tour,” a nod to the fact that between them they’ve got a catalog most bands would kill for. At the Mansfield date, Chicago closes the night.
The tour kicks off July 13 in West Palm Beach and wraps September 6 in Los Angeles, according to Ultimate Classic Rock. Tickets have been on sale since December; the Ticketmaster listing currently shows prices starting in the $40s. Doors are built around a 7 p.m. start.
What You’ll Actually Hear
This is a hits show, and both bands have plenty. No setlist has been published yet — the tour hasn’t started — but if you know these bands, you know what’s coming. Expect Styx to reach for the arena staples like “Come Sail Away,” “Renegade,” “Mr. Roboto” and “Too Much Time on My Hands,” while Chicago leans on the horn-driven catalog — “25 or 6 to 4,” “Saturday in the Park,” “If You Leave Me Now,” “Hard to Say I’m Sorry.”
Styx’s current lineup runs seven deep and still includes two founding members: guitarist/vocalist James “JY” Young and bassist Chuck Panozzo, alongside longtime frontman Tommy Shaw (guitar/vocals), keyboardist/vocalist Lawrence Gowan, drummer Todd Sucherman, guitarist Will Evankovich and bassist Terry Gowan.
A New Album in the Mix
The tour also gives Styx something to promote beyond the back catalog. Their 18th studio album, Circling From Above, came out on the Alpha Dog 2T/UMe label — first as a CD sold at tour stops starting in May 2025, then on digital and streaming July 18, per the band’s press materials and confirmed by Ultimate Classic Rock’s review. It’s 13 tracks, runs about 41 minutes, and was produced by Evankovich, who worked on the band’s last two records before officially joining in 2022.
The band’s PR describes it as another “masterpiece” — the third in a row, they say. Take that for what it’s worth coming from a press release, but the outside reviews have genuinely been warm. The Rockpit called it “nostalgic yet forward-looking,” and the general critical read is that this is a band still writing new material rather than coasting on the hits. That’s not nothing for an act more than 50 years into its career — it’s Styx’s third album since 2017’s The Mission, after a 14-year gap before that.
The Charity Angle
At every stop, Styx keeps up its long-running charity work through Rock to the Rescue, a 501(c)(3) the band co-founded. Tommy Shaw and REO Speedwagon’s Kevin Cronin started it in the wake of the September 11 attacks in 2001, organizing “Volunteers For America” benefit concerts in Dallas and Atlanta. On tour, the group partners with a local nonprofit at each stop, selling $10 raffle tickets for a signed Styx guitar and cutting the partner org in on a share of the sales.
Bottom Line
If you grew up on classic rock radio, this is a fairly stacked double bill — two bands with genuine hometown roots and enough radio hits to fill an evening twice over. Styx also has a reason to slip a few new songs in among the standards, which is more than a lot of legacy acts can say. Full details are on the tour’s official page, and more on the band is at styxworld.com.