Chicago, Styx

Moody Center

Austin, TX

August 19, 2026

Photos and Review by Roy Vergara

Almost every song played at Moody Center on Wednesday was older than the building itself. Both bands started in Chicago and had never once toured together for more than fifty years. They were splitting the night as headliners, so most of the crowd was already seated and anxiously waiting when the first note dropped at 7:00 pm.

Chicago took the stage and opened with “Introduction,” the first song on the first record they ever made. The band featured three horns up front and the room couldn’t stay quiet for long. Lee Loughnane has been playing trumpet in this band since 1967 and this is the fifty ninth year in a row going on tour. About half way in the set he said the band never gets tired of playing these songs and they know nobody out there is tired of hearing them. “What do you say we go back to the eighties?” The answer was “Hard Habit to Break,” and then “You’re the Inspiration,” with a neon rainbow heart filling the screen behind the band.

A few songs later they asked the crowd to sing and dance to “Higher and Higher” and brought the arena up out of its seats. “I’m a Man” came after it, and when it ended most of the band walked off stage. The only ones that remained were Walfredo Reyes Jr. and Ramon “Ray” Yslas. A percussion battle ensued, the two of them handing one rhythm back and forth and never once letting it drop. “Hard to Say I’m Sorry” brought phone lights up all over the bowl, and when it rolled into “Get Away” people were on their feet again, clapping and dancing next to their seats. Chicago closed the main set at 8:32 pm, came back a couple of minutes later, and finished the encore with “25 or 6 to 4” at 8:45 pm.

Styx came on at 9:19 pm with Lawrence Gowan spinning slow circles on a platform behind his keyboard, silver jacket and tennis shoes to match. By the time they reached “Light Up” the whole place was clapping along. Tommy Shaw came forward with a twelve string and said it was the guitar he wrote the next song on. Sing along if you want to, he told them, and played “Crystal Ball.” “Austin, you know your stuff!” Gowan called out when it ended. He said the song had turned fifty this year and Shaw had just sung it better than he used to. Then he introduced the band and the crowd cheered loudly for drummer Todd Sucherman, who Gowan called a proud taxpaying Austinite and one of the greatest to ever do it. Gowan traded the silver jacket for a gold sequined one and the band went into “Rockin’ the Paradise.”

Then Chuck Panozzo walked out with a bass, one of the founding members of this band coming on for the last stretch of the set. Gowan told the arena they had supported this music all these years and that the band loved them for it, then told everybody to jump in, and “Come Sail Away” started and the whole place stood up without being asked this time.

The main set ended at 10:30 pm and the cheering didn’t let up until the band came back out. “Mr. Roboto” opened the encore and “Renegade” sent everybody home around 10:45 pm.

On a Wednesday in August, Moody Center got a bill that took more than fifty years to come together. Two headline sets and a crowd that started in their seats, left on its feet. Chicago and Styx have been sharing these songs longer than most bands last, and in Austin they handed them over to a crowd that will carry on the memories for the rest of their lives.

Check out the gallery below to relive the night or see what you missed.

Chicago

Styx