Styx, Kevin Cronin Band, Don Felder & Donnie Iris – The Pavilion at Star Lake – Burgettstown (A PopEntertainment.com Concert Review)
- PopEntertainment
- Aug 13
- 11 min read
Updated: Aug 16
Styx, Kevin Cronin Band, Don Felder & Donnie Iris – The Pavilion at Star Lake – Burgettstown, PA – August 10, 2025
The Brotherhood of Rock: A Night of Classics at Star Lake
The early August evening in southwestern Pennsylvania on Sunday, August 10, was thick with humidity and nostalgia in anticipation of four generations of rock royalty converging on The Pavilion at Star Lake for The Brotherhood of Rock Tour. On paper, the billing looked like a classic rock fantasy camp: Styx headlining with Kevin Cronin (minus a few of his REO Speedwagon bandmates), former Eagles guitarist Don Felder, and Pittsburgh's own Donnie Iris.
The first note at the stroke of 6 PM didn’t knock – it kicked the door in.
No slow warmup, no easing the crowd into the evening. Donnie Iris and the Cruisers took the Pavilion at Star Lake stage, like they would have if it had not been farmland in the 80s and ripped into “Agnes.” Donnie stepped into the spotlight with that sideways grin he’s had since he was born, gripping the mic stand like his best friend.
He didn’t just sing the first verse; he pounced on it. Iris proudly displayed that even at 81 years old, he is still a Pittsburgh legend and can command the stage with the confidence of a man 50 years younger. Even from the back of the lawn, you could feel this wasn’t a warm-up act. This was Pittsburgh’s own, and he wasn’t opening the show; he was merely going first.
Without missing a beat, they ripped into “Do You Compute?” the band covering all the riffs and synthesizer lead, as Donnie worked the edge of the stage, pointing into the crowd, likely greeting fans who followed him in his days of playing local clubs. “That’s the Way Love Ought to Be” came in swinging, and Donnie delivered it with the same knowing wink he always had.
The opening chime of “Love Is Like a Rock” sent another ripple through the crowd from the first note. It’s a song built for audience participation, and Donnie leaned into the mic, tilted it toward the sea of hands, and let the crowd sing it back to him. Then came that moment…no “Renegade” was still hours away, but the twin guitar riff that opens “Ah! Leah!” sent the crowd into a frenzy like someone had just announced free Iron City beer at the gate. This wasn’t just a hometown favorite, but Pittsburgh’s rock national anthem. People were losing their voices already from singing along, and when the last note rang out, you could feel the applause in your ribcage.
There were quite a few dozen Donnie Iris shirts among the vintage Styx and REO tour tees. Two guys in the pavilion, with Iris shirts and battered Pirates caps, were watching intently. Just before the second chorus, the one yelled “He sounds exactly like he did in ’82.” His friend nodded, and with their eyes closed, they sang along as their minds went back 40 years in four seconds. When the song ended, they departed their seats and never did return. King Cool, Iris’s nickname for years, is still very cool.
The stage went dark, and that is when the sideshow started. Roadies hustled in from the wings like a NASCAR pit crew with 15 minutes on the clock. Drums swapped, amps rolled, cables snapped into place, and the crowd had barely settled down from Donnie Iris, when Don Felder, all white jeans and guitar-slinger swagger, launched into “Already Gone.” Felder is best known from his days with the Eagles, and his 10-song set relied heavily on their hits as he quickly moved to “One of These Nights.” His version was faithful to the original but carried a harder edge. Felder is usually the first one on stage on this tour and therefore sets the pace for the evening. On this particular tour stop, it could be that the crowd was setting the pace with Iris’ energetic set, and Felder was turning it up a notch to pace the crowd.
“The Long Run” strutted in next, and from the size of Felder’s smile, this wasn’t a man coasting on a legacy; this was someone still finding joy in every bend and strum. The deliberate 10-second delay, the anticipatory hush, and then the band stepped up to the mics, and five voices blended into a single, luminous sound. “There are stars in the southern sky…” Perfect pitch, perfect timing. This was one of those old friends the crowd seemed to have forgotten about, but from that one line of “Seven Bridges Road,” the audience was singing every note and harmony, sometimes in multiple keys, right along with the band.
Felder’s own “Hollywood Victim” added some grit to the set, proving he can bring modern music as well as the classic hits. A nice video behind him, with the lyrics, helped the audience adopt the song. Many fans had forgotten, and some learned on the spot, that Felder had done the theme song to “Heavy Metal (Takin’ a Ride).” The accompanying video jogged a lot of memories, and piqued others as Felder brought the sharp edges of the song to the forefront, despite it being an animated production.
And then Felder shifted his set into high gear and headed down the interstate run of Eagles gold.
“Take It Easy” predated Felder's tenure with the Eagles, yet his performance here paid homage to the song with his guitar work providing the song's backbone. The crowd sang along enthusiastically, filling in the vocal harmonies. “Heartache Tonight” showcased Felder at his most aggressive, as the song's rhythm allowed him to demonstrate the harder edge he brought to the Eagles' sound. It was a nice step up in tempo and tone, as Felder worked the audience despite only having 10 songs.
From the first down beat of “Life in the Fast Lane,” heads bobbed, fists pumped, and the amphitheater was as one before he ever sang the first note. When Felder launched into the song's blistering guitar solo, the years melted away, and instead of the ’80s, this trip stopped in 1977, with one of rock's great guitarists reminding everyone exactly why these songs became classics in the first place.
Finally, the double-necked guitar appeared, and the first notes on the 12-string landed like a memory. Every phone went up. Every voice sang along, and we all went for one more trip to the “Hotel California.” The final notes faded into the hills, and Felder gave a small bow before walking off to a standing ovation.
Enter the pit crew stage techs. In 13 minutes, the crew swapped out the entire stage!
As Kevin Cronin and his band hit the stage grinning two minutes EARLY, he looked like he’d just walked into the best party of the year. As he mentioned early on in the set, he was performing the entire Hi Infidelity album from start to finish. It’s always an interesting concept to do entire albums live, as was evident in opening with “Don’t Let Him Go” and pulling out “Keep on Loving You” second. As was predictable, some of the crowd were scratching their heads as to the running order, apparently having not read the write-ups of this tour other than the date and place.
Despite the head scratching for some, the pavilion became one big slow dance, people swaying in the aisles, couples holding each other like they’d waited decades for this moment. By the time he explained and brought “Follow My Heart” and “In Your Letter,” you could see memory banks searching for a bedroom adorned with neon, gawking at the young lady with the lipstick on the LP’s cover, and learning the lyrics from the vinyl sheet inside.
“Take It on the Run” was next, and Cronin let the first chorus go entirely to the crowd, standing back with a grin as people sang it like they’d been rehearsing for months. The venture to side two of the LP brought smiles for “Tough Guys,” “Out of Season,” and “Shakin’ It Loose.” “Someone Tonight” was a love letter to those who knew every track on Hi Infidelity, and “I Wish You Were There” brought a moment that seemed to land heavier than anyone expected.
Then came the early, deep cuts that Cronin promised when explaining the evening’s concept.
He explained walking the streets, trying to get noticed and get a hit record, and the resistance he was getting. The thought to “Keep Pushin',” became his motto and the inspiration for the song. “Time for Me to Fly,” and “Ridin' the Storm Out” were long-set closers in the REO Speedwagon days. Cronin introduced his band, and with the exception of one or maybe two members, it was the same REO band that had travelled for the past decades.
His encores, predictable in two of the biggest REO hits he had skipped, Cronin delivered “Can't Fight This Feeling,” and “Roll With the Changes” with a smile and somewhat awe of the response. This was only the second stop with this lineup of both bands and setlists, so some trepidation could be expected in performing some of these songs again and maybe leaving a hit or two out in the process.
The thundering ovation that Cronin received was more than enough to let even the most skeptical know that he was still touching the hearts of the fans who had embraced this music, no matter whose name was on the cover of the LP.
Not to overstate the job they did, but 16 minutes after Cronin walked off, the intro video for Styx started. That kind of pacing for a show of this magnitude is simply unheard of in modern day.
The video that Styx showed was most of their record covers, and a hand taking The Grand Illusion LP out and placing it onto the turntable. The lights fell away, and a single sustained note hummed from the speakers, as if a needle dropping on the vinyl version. “The Grand Illusion” came to life as Tommy Shaw stepped forward, like a hero in the final scene of a film.
The setup was much like Cronin’s reaction, as Styx morphed into “Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man),” in keeping with the original LP’s running order. Vocals on the song were delicious, as was the sing-along in the crowd. “Superstars” was next and rolled into another megahit, earlier than expected.
“Come Sail Away” provided early highlights, the latter prompting one of the evening's most sustained sing-alongs. You could feel the anticipation as the intro was soft, intimate, the kind of playing that makes you forget you’re in an amphitheater. The first verses hushed like telling each person in the crowd a secret. And then came the break. The drums hit, the guitars came roaring in, and the place erupted for the chorus.
By the time “The Grand Finale” came, the crowd had been on several trips back into memory lane, reliving past lives, loves, and memories set to this album. Styx's commitment to theatrical presentation kept those memories alive while making a new one in the present moment.
The second portion of Styx's set drew from across their catalog, opening with “Rockin' the Paradise,” followed by “Too Much Time on My Hands” and “Lady.” The set picked up steam, headed for the finish line, with “The Best of Times,” its themes of friendship and mortality taking on added weight as performed by musicians now in their seventies. The crowd became one large family gathering, singing the song to each other in tribute.
The epic “Blue Collar Man (Long Nights)” closed the main set, sparking a sustained standing ovation and anticipation of the Pittsburgh theme song yet to come. Usually, the pre-encore bolt to the car to beat traffic starts here, but no one was leaving.
The encore opened with “Mr. Roboto,” complete with theatrical staging and dramatic performance in the mask. There has been so much controversy over this song among the faithful, but this crowd seemed to appreciate it being included.
And then… “Renegade.”
Here, it’s more than a Styx song. It’s Pittsburgh’s own battle cry. It is the Steelers’ fourth-quarter anthem, and the soundtrack to comebacks and glory days. Shaw let the opening verse unspool slowly, the crowd singing every word. The drums kicked in, and the terrible towels came out in unison. It was joy and civic pride rolled into five minutes of pure rock.
The "Brotherhood of Rock" tour succeeded in delivering exactly what it promised: an evening of classic arena rock performed by some of its most important practitioners. By the time the house lights came up, nobody was in a rush to leave. You could see it in the slow shuffles toward the aisles, the way people lingered in their seats, holding plastic cups like they were souvenirs. A guy in a faded Pieces of Eight tour shirt was standing on the lawn with his arm around his teenage daughter, telling her, “That’s how it’s supposed to sound. Right there.”
During the walk to the parking lots, a group of forty-somethings from Wheeling were still belting “Time for Me to Fly” like they were back in their high school gym, the song bouncing off the rows of cars. Down by the fence, a guy in a #43 Troy Polamalu jersey was explaining to a younger fan why “Renegade” will always give Pittsburgh the chills.
Then there was the guy loading a cooler into his truck:
“Four bands, no breaks, all killer. I don’t know how you top that. I really don’t.”
SETLISTS
Donnie Iris: Agnes / Do You Compute? / That's the Way Love Ought to Be / Love Is Like a Rock / Ah! Leah!
Don Felder: Already Gone / One of These Nights / The Long Run / Seven Bridges Road / Hollywood Victim / Heavy Metal (Takin' a Ride) / Take It Easy / Heartache Tonight / Life in the Fast Lane / Hotel California
Kevin Cronin Band: Hi Infidelity (Album Performance) Don’t Let Him Go / Keep On Loving You / Follow My Heart / In Your Letter / Take It on the Run / Tough Guys / Out of Season / Shakin' It Loose / Someone Tonight / I Wish You Were There / Additional Set: Keep Pushin' / Time for Me to Fly / Ridin' the Storm Out / Encore: Can't Fight This Feeling / Roll With the Changes
Styx: The Grand Illusion (Album Performance) The Grand Illusion / Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man) / Superstars / Come Sail Away / Miss America / Man in the Wilderness / Castle Walls / The Grand Finale / Additional Set: Rockin' the Paradise / Too Much Time on My Hands / Lady / Build and Destroy / The Best of Times / Blue Collar Man (Long Nights) / Encore: Mr. Roboto / Renegade
Copyright ©2025 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: August 13, 2025.
Photos by Dave Parsons © 2025. All rights reserved.
