Before and after the band takes the stage, many already have tread there. The guys of Styx move to the front of the stage for one last sweaty bow as the house lights come on for intermission.
Energy ebbs in the crowd, and audience members start strolling toward the bathroom or beer line.
All the tension of the moment is focused in a horseshoe along the boxy walls of the auditorium's stage, where a stage crew waits anxiously. Suddenly, men dressed mostly in T-shirts and jeans fly from their posts onto the stage. Sound engineer Kevin Beckham puts away the headsets Styx used and gets out REO Speedwagon's set. Sound engineer Chris Holt frantically wraps and unwraps cords, putting piles of color-coordinated cables into labeled drawers on stage left. Keith Marks, Styx's stage manager, shouts orders at his six men, who move quickly but calmly to pack up their band's equipment.