The Soundtrack of Summer Tour rolled through Orange Beach, Alabama on Saturday, May 25, 2014. The tour is being co-headlined by Styx and Foreigner and includes a special guest Don Felder as the opening act. The warm, humid air made it feel like summer and the bands rocked the crowd at the outdoor amphitheater.
Don Felder the former lead guitarist for the Eagles opened the four hour concert launching into the Eagles “Already Gone” followed by another Eagles hit “One of these Nights.” Don Felder’s set heavily pulled from his Eagles catalog. The third song “You Don’t Have Me” was the only one he played fron his recent solo release Road to Forever. Don quickly returned to the Eagles songbook and delivered a strong rendition of “Those Shoes” before performing a beautiful version of the rarely played “Seven Bridges Road.” After a performance of the Eagles “Witchy Woman” Felder surprised the audience with “Heavy Metal (Takin’ A Ride)” from the film Heavy Metal which came out in 1981.
He finished his set with three more Eagles songs. Obviously he is proud of the songs he wrote with the group and Don wanted to share his versions with the fans. His finale included “Heartache Tonight” and “Life in the Fast Lane.” Don Felder finished as expected with his guitar masterpiece “Hotel California.” However, he gave the fans one more treat as he was joined on stage by guitarist Tommy Shaw of Styx for one of the Eagles best known songs.
During the intermission the sunset but there was plenty of music still to come. Shortly after eight Styx took to the stage with a rocking “Grand Illusion.” They followed with “Too Much Time on My Hands” and the crowd new Styx came to rock. They continued to deliver their classic hits with “Fooling Yourself.” The band was rocking and the stagelights were in full effect. Lawrence Gowan went from piano playing singer to full force frontman on “Lady” which was a crowd favorite. Afterthe hits the band played the rarity “Lights Up” urging the fans to use their cell phones to light up the audience the way lighters used to light up audiences in years gone by. “Crystal Ball” followed which brought Tommy Shaw to the center of the stage. They rocked out on a deeper track from The Grand Illusion album Superstars. The band returned to familiar classic rock radio hits with “Blue Collar Man.”
Then their set was coming to a close when Lawrence Gowan performed a medley of classic rock sing alongs such as The Rolling Stones “Can’t Always Get What You Want,” Paul McCartney’s “Live and Let Live” and Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” before breaking into their monster hit “Come Sail Away.” A great song in a perfect setting at a place called The Wharf and at the beach. Styx would come back for an encore with “Rockin’ the Paradise” which they were doing tonight. Styx came out for the encore with even more energy than they started the show with. The band ended their set with “Renegade” which was enhanced by the images shown on the screens behind the band. The set was similar to the one they played last summer in Baltimore but was a tad shorter and had a few changes. Styx certainly brought the energy with them!
Foreigner was the last band of the night and they came out with a hit filled attack. They launched into “Double Vision” and “Head Games.” Both huge hits in the 80s that were certainly part of my summer soundtrack back then! The hits kept coming with “Cold as Ice” and “Waiting for a Girl Like You.” Then Mick Jones the original guitar player and co-writer of so many of Foreigners hits returned to the stage. The band went into their huge hit “Feels like the First Time.” Foreigner was aided fog and even a laser light show! The band continued with another huge hit “Urgent.” Then the band highlighted Mick Jones on a deep track called “Starrider.” They finished their set with their well known song “Jukebox Hero.” They returned to the stage for an encore and brought a local choir from gulf Shores, Alabama to help them out on “I Want to Know What Love Is.” It will probably be a life long memory for some of the choir members. They rocked out into the night with another rock anthem “Hot Blooded.”
Three bands, four hours of music, rock legends and tons of hits is what the Soundtrack of Summer Tour delivered and their were still plenty of surprises!
Running time: Four hours with intermissions after sets by Don Felder and Styx.
Don Felder, Styx, and Foreigner played one night May 25, 2014 at The Wharf Amphitheater in Orange Beach, Alabama. They will be bringing their Soundtrack of Summer Tour to Jiffy Lube Live-7800 Cellar Door Drive, in Bristow, Virginia on Friday, June 20, 2014.