REO Speedwagon/Styx

REO Speedwagon and Styx with special guest .38 Special, three of the hardest working bands in rock n roll, bring the “Can’t Stop Rockin’ 2009 Tour” to DTE Energy Music Theatre on Thursday, July 9 at 7 p.m. The show will feature hit-packed sets spanning the course of these three unparalleled rock legacies. The tour is geared to give the ultimate classic rock experience at a fan friendly ticket price.

Tickets at $65 and $45 pavilion and $20 lawn are on sale now at Palacenet.com, Livenation.com, The Palace Box Office and all Ticketmaster locations. Special lawn ticket four-packs at $60 are also available

Tickets may also be charged by phone to American Express, Discover, Visa and MasterCard by calling 1-800-745-3000.

To celebrate their upcoming trek together, Styx and REO Speedwagon teamed up to record a new single, “Can’t Stop Rockin’,” co-written by REO Speedwagon’s Kevin Cronin and Styx’s Tommy Shaw. “Can’t Stop Rockin’” makes its radio debut in March and will be available for download.

“The world is going through a weird phase, and everybody needs music now more than ever,” said Cronin. “We all need to join our friends, pool our resources, and combine our energies, because there is power in people coming together. That spirit has brought REO and Styx together to write, record and tour together, and celebrate it all with the greatest fans in America.”

Kevin Cronin, lead singer and principle songwriter, keyboard player and founding member Neal Doughty, bass player Bruce Hall, lead guitarist Dave Amato, and drummer Bryan Hitt, are REO Speedwagon. Since the release of their first record in 1971, the band has produced 17 critically acclaimed albums including the monumental 10 million seller, Hi Infidelity, had scored 13 Top 40 singles, including the number one hits “Can’t Fight This Feeling,” “Keep On Loving You,” and “Time For Me To Fly,” timeless classics including “Roll With The Changes,” “Ridin’ The Storm Out,” “Take It On The Run,” “Don’t Let Him Go” and “Keep Pushin.” Their latest album, Find Your Own Way Home, featured the radio favorites “Needed To Fall” and “Smilin’ In The End.” REO Speedwagon has sold more than 40 million albums to date.

Styx - Tommy Shaw, James “JY” Young, Lawrence Gowan, Todd Sucherman and Ricky Phillips (along with the occasional surprise appearance by original bassist Chuck Panozzo), have performed more live since 1999 than all of the previous years of its career combined. Two Super-Bowl appearances, Pollstar Box Office chart-topping tours with Def Leppard, Journey, REO Speedwagon, Bad Company (to name only a few), two more studio albums and no end in sight, Styx continues to conquer the planet, one venue at a time.

Every Styx release throughout the late 1970s earned at least platinum certification (1976’s Crystal Ball, 1977’s The Grand Illusion, 1978’s Pieces of Eight, and 1979’s Cornerstone), and spawned such hit singles and classic rock radio standards as “Renegade,” “Blue Collar Man” and “Fooling Yourself.” Paradise Theater became Styx’s biggest hit album of their career (selling more than three million copies in a three-year period), as they became one of the U.S. top rock acts due to such big hit singles as “Too Much Time on My Hands.” It also marked the first time in history that a band released four consecutive triple-platinum albums.

Donnie Van Zant and Don Barnes co-founded .38 Special in their hometown of Jacksonville, Florida and have been touring relentlessly for the past 30 years. In its early days, the band built its reputation with its brand of Southern boogie and blues-rock before transforming into a more arena-rock-friendly style, selling millions of albums and garnering fans worldwide.

Since 1975, the band has released more than 15 albums, most of which reached gold or platinum status. Among .38 Special’s best-known songs are “Hold on Loosely,” “Caught Up in You,” “Second Chance” and “Rockin’ into the Night.” After more than three decades together, .38 Special is still playing more than 100 shows per year. And at every one of them, thousands of audience members are completely blindsided by the explosive power and muscle of the band’s performance. “When we come out, people are like, ‘Whoa! It’s like a freight train rolling over them…’” says Barnes.

Can’t Stop Rockin’ is dedicated to raising awareness about hunger among American school children by partnering with “Blessings in a Backpack,” a non-profit organization that provides weekend meals to school children in need. Fans attending the Can’t Stop Rockin’ tour will be able to help buy food for this valuable effort.

For more information, visit the band’s Web sites: www.speedwagon.com, www.styxworld.com, and www.38special.com.

“Can’t Stop Rockin’ 2009 Tour” is presented by VH1 Classic and Rock Band ® and is part of the Belle Tire Concert series.