Side note, my friend August plays (and kinda looks like) Tommy Shaw in Dennis DeYoung's band, so they can play all the Styx songs.
Thanks for that post cclarry! Definitely brought back some memories... My friend (noted above) was in a really good Styx tribute band called Grand Illusion (which is how Dennis found him). When I lived in So. Cal. I used to go see them a lot and even provided some gear with connections I had at the time. In fact, it was at one of their gigs that I got to meet Bob Moog! The same guys were also in a Boston tribute band called Smokin' (the only one in the U.S. as far as we, or Boston themselves, knew of).
After I had moved to the Pacific Northwest, they got a double gig at a nearby casino to play Boston on one night and Styx the next. I pretty much supplied their entire backline and all backup instruments except drums. I even had duplicates of all their rack gear (they emailed me their setups). Well, everything EXCEPT one vocal processor that's used for one Styx song that requires a wide stereo ping-pong effect. Needless to say, that was the ONLY piece of gear that the PDX airport security managed to zap, so the keyboardist stood on one side of the stage while I was on the other each with microphones just to be the echos. It turned out well because the audience thought it was just a fun part of the act and not a last-minute solution to an "OH CRAP!!!" situation! LOL. ?
Oh yeah, I got to be roadie the whole weekend, playing during the sound checks and including running onto stage during the initial intro to replace batteries in August's guitar remote pack. I finished a mere two seconds before he was supposed to hit the first chord! I have a lot of respect for real roadies after that. ?