Styx opened its summer tour by closing the set with one of the band's biggest hits, "Mr. Roboto," a song the band hadn't performed live in over 35 years.
While sections of "Mr. Roboto" — from the band's 1983's concept album Kilroy Was Here — have appeared in the band's live medley's over the years, Styx has long avoided performing the song in its entirety.
That all changed Wednesday night at the FivePoint Amphitheatre in Irvine, California, when Styx played all five-and-a-half minutes of "Mr. Roboto" to begin the encore.
Styx is on tour all summer with Tesla and Joan Jett & The Blackhearts. Get all the dates here.
Why Styx has largely removed "Mr. Roboto" from its live sets is unclear. Kilroy Was Here and the ensuing tour was apparently a contentious one among the band members. Guitarist Tommy Shaw supposedly disliked the theatrics of the band's live shows on the tour in support of Kilroy and left the band at the end of the trek in 1983. By 1984, Styx had completely disbanded.
Current Styx vocalist/keyboardist Lawrence Gowan said in a 2016 radio interview that, since "Mr. Roboto," predates his tenure in the band, he wasn't sure why the band never included it in the set list.
He said he believed his bandmates have been more concerned with pushing the rock side of the band's sound over the past few decades.
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