Bethel, New York, is home to one of the most important music festivals of all time, Woodstock, and just two days before the 54-year anniversary of the weekend of Peace and Love three legendary bands performed just steps away from the holy grounds of music.

Sunday’s show featured Don Felder formerly of the Hall of Fame band The Eagles, Blues guitar virtuoso Joe Bonamassa and the legendary Styx.

Felder was the first artist to grace the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts stage around 6:00 p.m. and jumped into “Already Gone” off The Eagles’ 1974 album “On the Border.”

I really liked Felder’s set. Out of the 10 songs that he played, eight of those songs were Eagles originals with the remaining two songs, “American Rock ‘n’ Roll,” and “Heavy Metal” being Felder originals.

The best thing about Felder’s set was that he still has “it.” He played every song without missing a note, his voice still sounds incredible and his backing band was as tight as ever.

Felder’s setlist went as followed:

1. Already Gone
2. One of These Nights
3. American Rock ‘n’ Roll
4. Seven Bridges Road
5. Witchy Woman
6. Heavy Metal
7. Take It Easy
8. Heartache Tonight
9. Life in the Fast Lane
10. Hotel California

Following Felder, at around 7:15, the semi-hometown man, Joe Bonamassa hailing from New Hartford, New York jumped on the stage and blasted into an hour and 15-minute set that was nothing but the good old Blues.

Backing up Bonamassa was an excellent group of musicians that included Calvin Turner on the bass, Lemar Carter on the drums, Josh Smith on the guitar, Jade MacRae and Dannielle DeAndrea on background vocals and the legendary keyboardist, Reese Wynans of Stevie Ray and Double Trouble.

Bonamassa has always been on my radar of artists that I would like to have seen and of course, going to a lot of concerts, this one, in particular, being my 43rd show, I had always heard that Bonamassa was an excellent guitar player and I am very glad that I was able to finally see him in person.

Being someone that likes the Blues style of rock and some of the artists that come along with that genre (enter ZZ Top and The Black Crowes), it was awesome to see an artist who has been a major influence on Blues rock and roll.

My favorite part of the set came when during the final song, “Just Got Paid,” the band jammed out and included a bit of Led Zeppelin in the middle of the song. As someone who is a big Zeppelin fanatic, it was great to hear a legendary guitarist play classic Zeppelin.

While Bonamassa’s set was two songs shorter than Felder’s, it left room for Bonamassa to grace the Bethel Woods crowd with Blues inflicted solos and jams throughout the song while playing favorites like “Dust Bowl,” “Shout About It,” and “Didn’t Think She Would Do It.”

Bonamassa’s amazing setlist lined up like this:

1. Evil Mama
2. Dust Bowl
3. Love Ain’t a Love Song
4. Shout About It
5. Heart That Never Waits
6. Didn’t Think She Would Do It
7. Just Got Paid

Once the clock reached 9:00, Lawrence Gowan jumped onto the keyboards and Styx jumped into “To Those,” off of 2021’s “Crash Of The Crown.”

I personally love when bands incorporate some of their newer music in their setlist. Styx threw in four songs from their recent aforementioned album. In addition to “To Those,” they included the title track of “Crash Of The Crown,” “Lost at Sea,” and my favorite which features Tommy Shaw on the banjo and lead vocals, “Our Wonderful Lives.”

On top of some of their newer music, of course, the band played fan favorites such as “Blue Collar Man,” and “Miss America,” and the venue went nuts. For the entire set, the fans were on their feet, clapping and singing along to each song.

What I respect most about Styx as to some of the other artists that I’ve seen is that on stage, they are so active. Whether they are interacting with the crowd and throwing guitar picks to the front row, interacting with other band members, or running around the stage, each time that I’ve seen Styx, they have given 110% on the stage each and every night.

Despite the band being around since 1972, they sound great. With 19 studio albums under their belt, they are a well-polished machine and have honed their live show to perfection.

I mentioned this in my last review of Styx when they visited The Capitol Theater in Port Chester, New York, but what is still so cool to see is when original bassist and “part-time” member, Chuck Panozzo joins the band on stage for a few songs every now and then.

When Panozzo jumps on stage for songs like “Lady,” current bassist, Rickey Phillips from Bad English and Coverdale/Page takes a back seat and lets Panozzo walk around the stage and go up front. The respect that Phillips has for Panozzo is incredible and it’s very warming to see.

Since Sunday night was the last night of the tour with these three bands, for Styx’s encore of Mr. Roboto, they brought up Don Felder and Joe Bonamassa to jam on the song. Following Mr. Roboto, they jumped right into The Allman Brothers Band’s “One Way Out,” which wrapped up the concert and the tour.

The amazing setlist that Styx played went as followed:

1. To Those
2. Blue Collar Man
3. Grand Illusion
4. Lady
5. Crash Of The Crown
6. Lorelei
7. Miss America
8. Crystal Ball
9. Rockin’ The Paradise
10. Our Wonderful Lives
11. Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)
12. Too Much Time on My Hands
13. Khedive/Lost At Sea
14. Come Sail Away
15. Mr. Roboto
16. Renegade (with Felder and Bonamassa)
17. One Way Out (The Allman Brother Band cover with Felder and Bonamassa

If you get a chance to see any of these amazing performers live, please do, you won’t leave disappointed.