Last Sunday I made my road trip to the Farm Bureau Live in Virginia Beach to hear  Styx / Foreigner with special guest Don Felder, who brought their "Soundtrack of Summer 2014 Tour" into town for a time capsule night of rock n roll. Opener Don Felder (the former Eagles guitarist/ songwriter) took the stage at 7pm and, backed by a four-piece band, gave the crowd a set full of Eagles songs and a couple of surprises. He opened with "Already Gone", "One of These Nights", and "You Don't Have Me", from his 2012 solo album Road To Forever. Then after "Those Shoes", he said to the crowd that before the Eagles would go onstage, they would warm up their vocals backstage with "Seven Bridges Road" which got a great standing ovation from the crowd. Then Came "Witchy Woman", "Heartache Tonight" and "Life in the Fast Lane".  As his roadie brings out the double neck white SG-Gibson he asks the crowd, “if you know this guitar you should know the song.” Before he begins, he invites Styx’s Tommy Shaw onstage to perform "Hotel California" with him as they trade guitar licks and vocals on the song. I actually had a picture of him from the Eagles "Hell Freezes Over Tour" playing that guitar and as I left the pit, I left it on stage for him. Hope he didn't get pissed, he's a little whiter in the hair now.
        Next up was Foreigner. One by one the band members hit the stage without founding member and guitarist Mick Jones. They opened with a one, two, three punch with "Double Vision", "Head Games" and "Cold as Ice" before lead singer Kelly Hansen jumps from the stage and takes a little run through the pavilion getting close with the crowd. When he gets back to the stage he then says that Jones has been sidelined for health reasons; but then introduces the founding member and Jones walks out to thunderous applause and plays the rest of the evening with the band. Next song was "Waiting for a Girl Like You", where half way through the song the band invites a local Virginia Beach high school choir to sing along with them (like we saw them do here last spring). On "Feels Like the First Time" and "Urgent,” multi-talented Tom Gimbels showed us some incredible saxophone, playing and prancing the stage side to side which made way for Mick Jones to take center stage with an acoustic guitar for an amazing version of "Starrider;"  then switching back to electric to finish the song and ending their set with "Juke Box Hero." After a short break, the band returned to finish out the night with "I Want to Know What Love Is" and "Hot Blooded;" and then giving many thank you's to the crowd before exiting the stage.
        Closing the show, Styx hit the stage with the crowd a little louder now and, the same as Foreigner, opened with an impressive trio of hits: "The Grand Illusion", "Too Much Time on My Hands" and "Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)." And even though Styx tours quite often, at least they switch up their set list a little every tour. Next was "Lady" and then it was time for the newer songs. Guitarist James "J.Y." Young now addresses the crowd in saying, “I don't think we've played this one in 30 years;” and remembers when people would hold up their Bic-Lighters for the song and now it’s all cell-phone lights as they go into "Light Up". Then Singer/guitarist Tommy Shaw says the next song he wrote before he was invited to join Styx was "Crystal Ball" as he starts out with an acoustic guitar before switching to electric. Then the other new one in the set is "Superstars" where Shaw makes a pass through the crowd, as Hansen did, and makes his way back to the stage for "Blue Collar Man." As the band takes a breather, Keyboardist Lawrence Gowan gives the crowd a treat of snippets from the Rolling Stones "You Can't Always Get What You Want", The Beatles "Live and Let Die", and Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" before he starts the initial chords to "Come Sail Away" that just raises the energy level in the house, and ends their first set for the night. After a short break, the band returned and closed out the night with "Rockin' the Paradise," another new song in the set's rotation, and finally closing with their traditional "Renegade". As did Foreigner, Styx gave many thank you's to the crowd for their love and support of the band and said we will see you again soon before throwing many handfuls of guitar packs and drumsticks out to the crowd.
– Gary Crouthamel, Concert Photojournalist