STYX in Chicago
Once inside the pavilion, we went toward our seats and were stopped by a staff person who asked to see our tickets. When he saw row A, he was VERY impressed - it was funny! He said, "WOW - how did you get these?" We explained about the web site fan club, and I asked him if he wanted a Styx button, since I had brought them again to give away. He said sure, so I asked him which one he wanted - the one that says "Got Styx?" or the one with the picture of the band. He asked if he could have one of each! So we went on to our seats, and left a happy security guy with two Styx buttons pinned to his shorts!
Not too long after we sat down, another staffer came over and said to me, "Hey, I hear you have buttons?" He wanted one too, and right after that, the staffer standing closest to our section came over and got one too - very cool how popular those buttons were! The third guy chose the button with the picture of the band, said thanks and went back to his spot against the barricade in front of the stage. After looking at the button for a few minutes, he came back over to me and said, "Dennis DeYoung isn’t with them?" MY turn to be impressed - that someone who worked at the venue, rather than someone who had paid to come see the show, could just look at the faces on the button and know that? This was definitely Chicago! I told him Dennis wasn't on this tour and left it at that. He asked about the rest of the original lineup, so we talked for a couple of minutes. He didn't know about John, so I told him about Todd now being the drummer, that JY and Tommy were there, and that I was sure Chuck would be there for a few songs!
This show was like a little convention of Styxworlders! I won’t try to mention all the names, because I will forget someone for sure, but it was nice to see some people I'd met at previous shows, and a lot of people whose names I knew from mailing lists and bulletin boards! With all the people I met, I can't believe how many other people I heard from afterwards who were there that I missed. Next time, I say one of us should just get up on stage while we're waiting for the first band to come out, and make an announcement that the Styxfest is now in progress, and give a section and row number so we can all get in on it! Of course, that would be the center section, front row - right?