Styx and REO Speedwagon are two of the biggest classic rock bands around, and both made their triumphant return to Florida to the MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre in Tampa, Florida on June 18th.

Both bands came to Florida as part of their latest tour, Live and Unzoomed Summer Tour, along with opening act Loverboy.

This wasn’t just a show by some aging rock bands trying to satisfy the thirst of rock music lovers; many were glad to get out to re-experience two of the most iconic bands that took them back to their younger days.

Opening the night was Loverboy, the Canadian rock band that is comprised of a nearly all-original lineup with the exception of bassist Ken “Spider” Sinnaeve, who replaced original bassist Scott Smith in 2001 after his death in a boating accident. Loverboy came out ready to rock and got the crowd dancing at their seats. They played cuts from three of their biggest albums. Loverboy’s 60-minute set was fun and entertaining. They got the music fans dancing in place during nearly the entire eight-song set. Among the songs played included fan-favorites “Lovin’ Every Minute of It,” “Hot Girls in Love,” and “Turn Me Loose” before closing with “Working for the Weekend.”

Styx was up next and with a great crowd in attendance, it didn’t take long for energetic keyboardist and showman Lawrence Gowan to start spinning his piano like a merry-go-round while having a blast doing so. Certainly Gowan brings a youthful and vibrant stage presence to Styx.

From there, the band jumped into the high-energy guitar-driven rock jam with Tommy Shaw handling vocals on “Blue Collar Man (Long Nights).” Next up was “The Grand Illusion,” followed by romantic ballad “Lady” that featured Gowan on piano. Gowan engaged the crowd, strutting about the stage like the seasoned musician he is. Followed by “Crash of the Crown,” the title track from the new album not known to many fans yet. It has the familiar Styx sound and was released about a year ago. Next was “Light Up,” then back to the new music with “Sound the Alarm.” And then Deep-rooted Styx fans got “Rockin’ the Paradise.”

Appearing on stage for the first time during this show, founding bassist Chuck Panozzo joined his friends on stage for “Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man).” Shaw handled the vocals while showman Gowan played the keyboards backwards, with Young, Phillips and Evankovich adding the riffs. From there Styx transitioned into Shaw singing “Too Much Time on My Hands,” another cut from Paradise Theater, which was then followed by “Khedive” and then Panozzo returning once again for “Lost at Sea.” The last song of the regular set was 1978 former top-10 hit “Come Sail Away” that included Chuck Panozzo joining his bandmates on stage for the final time of the night. With Fans armed with lighters and cell phones in hand, the crowd engaged in a sing-along to every word while they swayed from side to side before the song exploded into the edgier hard-driving part of the fan-favorite tune.

Closing out the their set, Shaw led the crowd into a sing-along that would include Gowan’s continued dancing and contortion movements along with heavy guitar riffs from James “J.Y.” Young and Will Evankovich. The hard-driving song reminded those who remained for the encore that although Styx has reached great success with a handful of ballads, they still remain a hard-driving rock band. After rocking fans for 50 years, Styx remains strong.

Next up, REO Speedwagon, with over 50 years and 16 studio albums under their belts, REO Speedwagon had plenty of music. Digging deep into their extended catalog of tunes, REO’s setlist would include many recognized tunes along with some older material that paved the way on their rise to stardom. With keyboardist Neal Doughty serving as the lone remaining founding member of the band, he was joined on stage by longtime frontman Kevin Cronin, who looks great and hasn’t sounded better. The band is comprised of Doughty, Cronin, bassist Bruce Hall,  guitarist Dave Amato, and drummer Bryan Hitt.

They opened their set with the speedy-guitar heavy “Music Man.” Then they transitioned into more familiar fare like mega-hit “Take It on the Run” off their 10x platinum-selling album Hi Infidelity. Then continued to perform “Keep Pushin’” (1976), “Live Every Moment” (1984), and “Tough Guys” (1981), another cut off Hi Infidelity. After hearing the first few notes of REO’s very familiar romantic piano-driven huge radio hit single “Can’t Fight This Feeling,” the crowd responded by jumping to their feet and slow-dancing while once again joining in unison in singing. From there they continued with “Like You Do,” “Don’t Let Him Go,” “Time for Me to Fly,” “Back On The Road Again,” and “Ridin’ the Storm Out” before playing REO Speedwagon’s only other #1 Billboard chart-topping tune, “Keep On Loving You.” REO closed out their set with a high-energy extended version of 1978’s “Roll With the Changes.” It was an energetic set of 16 songs of their greatest hits.

They delivered what people came for: a great rocking time. After countless years on the road and hundreds of shows in their wake, the demand for REO Speedwagon continues to be there.

It was a great night and some amazing music from these 3 great bands, and it was great to hear all those classic hits that we all grow up on… Hope to have another chance to see this tour, as it was definitely one for the ages.