Hudson Valley DJ (Allegedly) Convinces Styx to Play ‘Mr. Roboto’ in Concert

It finally happened.

After years of campaigning and personally requesting that Styx bring back their greatest song of all time, I've finally done it.

During the first show of their summer tour with Tesla and Joan Jett, Styx ripped through an incredible 14-song set at the Five Points Amphitheater in Irvine, California. Then the band returned for an encore that brought the house down and made all of my hard work and dedication pay off. That's right, Styx finally played "Mr. Roboto."

According to Blabbermouth, this is the first time the song has been played in concert in 35 years. And, quite frankly, I'd like to take full credit.

I've been working at 101.5 WPDH for over 26 years, and during all that time I've been waging a secret campaign to get Styx to bring back "Mr. Roboto." You could say I've made it my life's mission. Whenever Styx has done a local show I've made it a point to mention the "Mr. Robot" snub, and suggest how great it would be if the band would start playing it again.

And every time my request fell on deaf ears.

That is, until two years ago when I had the chance to talk about my passion for "Mr. Roboto" with keyboardists and singer Lawrence Gowan. During a live interview to promote an upcoming show I seized the opportunity to personally convince the band to start adding the song back into their playlist. At the time it didn't seem that my plan was successful.

Or was it?

I'd like to think that my conversation with Gowan sparked the idea to bring back "Mr. Roboto." Because, honestly, why else would they be playing it now? It's clear that the rest of the band hates the song (or just really hate Dennis DeYoung.) The die hard Styx fans, like my cohost Robyn, also hate the song. So why do it? There's no other logical explanation for Styx to revisit the idea of playing "Mr. Roboto" besides me being 100% responsible for bringing up the idea.

Or at least that's the story I'm going with.

While I happily accept everyone's "domo arigato" for finally bringing "Mr. Roboto" back, this story does have a tragic ending. For the first time in a long time, Styx won't be routing their summer tour through the Hudson Valley. In a cruel twist of fate, the closest tour date near us is July 15 at the PNC Bank Arts Center in New Jersey.

Well played, Styx. Well played.