Styx Joins All-Star Lineup for Coast-to-Coast New Year's Eve Countdown to 2026

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Nexstar’s Coast to Coast Countdown to 2026 is gearing up to welcome the new year with an impressive roster of performers, headlined by the iconic American rock group Styx, originally from Chicago, Illinois.

Emerging in the early 1970s, Styx carved a niche for themselves by skillfully merging hard rock guitar riffs with acoustic elements and synthesizer innovations.

>>Full coverage: Coast-to-Coast Countdown to 2026

Band members, co-lead vocalist Tommy Shaw and vocalist/keyboardist Lawrence Gowan, describe their music as both progressive and vibrant.

“At its core, Styx is a rock band with a diverse and vibrant sound,” Gowan explained. “Our style is akin to a New Year’s Eve celebration—a true confetti of rock music,” he added.

“It’s fantastic, really, to see that many people singing songs that you wrote in a little room by yourself or with it, with each other in a little room, and the, you know, our process of making it into something that we could go on an album and then have it be known by so many people. That’s kind of the biggest payback that you can get,” Shaw expressed.

Styx guitarist James Young also spoke on the importance of playing for a live audience and the joy it brings day in and day out.

“Yeah, a live audience. I mean, when you get to end the day with, you know, looking at thousands of people with big smiles on their faces, arms in the air, and this ecstatic, you know, expression. I highly recommend it as a vocation,” Young said.

The band is honored that their fan base has grown over the years and that many fans claim their music is the soundtrack to their own lives.

“That’s been astounding to witness from the stage. The audience is skewing younger as more and more younger people have embraced classic rock as if it’s, you know, concurrent with their lives when they weren’t even born with the biggest records of that era being made. And yet it just resonates with them in such an incredible way,” Gowan added.

The band is also looking toward 2026 with excitement and will be heading up another residency in Las Vegas.

Catch Styx on Coast-to-Coast Countdown to 2026 alongside Foreigner, Cheap Trick, Mac McAnally, Kevin Cronin Band (former lead singer of REO Speedwagon), UB-40, The Marshall Tucker Band, 38 Special, and Bri Bagwell. Check your local listings for details on how to watch or stream live on this website and enjoy exclusive bonus content not seen anywhere else.