Styx, Bonamassa, Felder – Jones Beach 8.12.23

Ive always wondered how the schedule is decided when two acts can both be billed as a headliner? Does someone call “heads” when the tour has been booked and they switch back and forth? Or perhaps cities are drawn out of a hat? Or maybe even perhaps the demographics are decided on popularity? No matter the reason, whether Joe Bonamassa headlined or Styx, the crowd was definitely there for great music!

The evening began with Don Felder, formally of the Eagles, who treated us to both Eagles music as well as his solo hit from the movie of the same name, “Heavy Metal”. Don warmed the enthusiastic crowd for an hour, which is quite pleasing to see how warmly the crowd greeted him, singing along to every tune. He started out his set with “Already Gone”, and away he went! Toward the end of his set he graciously brought out his famous white double-neck “Hotel California” guitar before being joined by Mr Bonamassa for Stevie Ray Vaughan’s “Pride & Joy”.

After a 15 minute change over, Joe Bonamassa hit the stage! I didnt get to shoot his performance from the pit as I was hoping, however it should be noted that the photographers were instructed to shoot from three different locations for each act. For Mr Felder, we shot from the sound board location, then for Joe, we shot from the House Left location at the far aisle! Not very conducive for great shots! And for Styx, we did get lucky enough to shoot 4 songs from the pit, which having an added song was a treat!

Bonamassa played for nearly 75 mins, including a few “staple” songs from his catalog including “Dust Bowl” and my favorite, a 10 minute rendition of “The Heart That Never Waits”.

For nearly 2 hours, Styx commanded the stage with a few of their classics including “Blue Collar Man”, “Fooling Yourself”, “Crystal Ball”, “Too Much Time On My Hands” along with a few new songs from their last couple albums before their encore featuring “Mr Roboto” and “Renegade”

STYX Setlist:

To Those

Blue Collar Man

Grand Illusion

Lady

Crash Of The Crown

Lorelei

Miss America

Crystal Ball

Rockin’ In Paradise

Our Wonderful Lives

Fooling Yourself