Toto, Christopher Cross, and The Romantics Deliver a Timeless Summer Night in West Palm Beach

Jade Read
2 days ago
5 min read

Steve Lukather of Toto Live at iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre Review | Sonder Media — Steve Lukather | © 2026 Jade Read via Sonder Media

Jade Read

Editor-in-Chief

August 2, 2026

Over the years, Toto has made West Palm Beach a regular stop on their tours, and as they do every time, they rocked the iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre stage with the perfectionist performance that has become synonymous with the Dogz of Oz.

Opening the evening was Detroit's The Romantics. Led by frontman Wally Palmar, the band brought their new wave style to the stage, giving the crowd the first taste of a night filled with classic hits. Performances of "Talking in Your Sleep" and "What I Like About You" had fans singing along early, setting the tone and warming up the audience for the night ahead.

Christopher Cross at iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre Review | Sonder Media — Christopher Cross | © 2026 Jade Read via Sonder Media

For the calm before the storm, Christopher Cross sailed in with a band fitting for the evening in both style and talent. The backup singers sparkled in purple glitter outfits across the stage, while the instruments featured matching purple finishes. Opening his set with "All Right," Cross established layered vocals with a female vocal trio led by Bella Hicks, adding rich harmonic support throughout the performance.

After his second song, "Never Be the Same," Cross stopped to address the crowd. He commented on the weather and the pleasure of performing in West Palm Beach, even giving a nod to the bands accompanying him while reflecting on his longstanding friendship with Toto.

Through the rest of his set, Cross dedicated "Think of Laura" to a close friend he had lost before sharing a duet with Bella Hicks on "I Know You Well," as she took over the vocals originally laid down by Les Misérables' Frances Ruffelle. By his second-to-last song, "Ride Like the Wind," the crowd was on its feet. He closed his performance with a reprise of "Sailing," as the audience sang along, earning a well-deserved standing ovation before handing the rest of the night off to Toto.

As the backdrop switched to Toto's classic globe, the stage transformation set the band up for what would be another tremendous performance. As the band walked out in full, many fans were delighted to see the recent return of Keith Carlock on drums after time away with Steely Dan, John Mayer, and many others. Then came the rest of the band in its fullest lineup, ranging from future stars to legends of their craft.

Toto Live at iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre Review | Sonder Media — Keith Carlock on Drums | © 2026 Jade Read via Sonder Media

Once the band settled onstage, "Goodbye Elenore" commenced, and the crowd was in awe of the lineup's chemistry and unison after all these years. They were as good as ever and showed no signs of slowing down. That was especially apparent when the second song of the set was the mega hit "Rosanna." To the dismay of Steve Lukather, technical issues interrupted the legendary solo of the Grammy Award-winning masterpiece. Lukather dropped his guitar to the floor and went backstage, allowing time for the show to get back on pace before returning to pick up where he left off with the perfectionist mindset he maintains, ensuring the crowd wouldn't miss a single note of his magic.

Soon after, Lukather made note of the boiling heat that plagues Florida summers, joking that he needed "a nitroglycerin pill and Xanax" just for the sweating. As the band's talent continued to take shape before the crowd, newest member Rai Thistlethwayte was given his well-deserved moment to showcase his ability on piano before leading into "I Won't Hold You Back." As the spotlight shone brightly on him, it was a moment that proved being in this band is one of the greatest honors a musician can have, given the importance of each member in putting together a show like theirs.

To make the band a little more active came a burst of youthful energy in Dennis Atlas as he took over vocals for a song the band struggled to play for 28 years until they found Atlas through a mutual connection with Guns N' Roses guitarist Bumblefoot. The majority of the show saw Atlas manning the keys, but when he took over vocals, flashes of the power belters before him revived a lost genre, ma

king it clear that his future would be that of a star, just as Lukather has said.

Lukather then told everyone in the audience to prepare for the next song by reaching for the "special gummies" under their chairs "to feel good." Though he was joking, what came next was the psychedelic epic "Kingdom of Desire," putting the crowd through a mind-warping performance by every maestro onstage in a showcase of the band's abilities at their fullest potential.

As the band threw jokes back and forth, their personalities shone through, reaching a peak in the way they interacted with the audience. One highlight came when vocalist Joseph Williams took out his phone to join the crowd in waving their flashlights during "I'll Be Over You," the band's ballad for the lovers in the backseat of cars, as Lukather remarked.

That was followed by the introduction of each band member, noting all of their individual successes outside the band and the close connections built throughout the years. Lukather led the introductions with personal messages tailored to each member, noting his "womb-mate" connection with bassist John Pierce and his teenage friendship with vocalist Joseph Williams before turning to his "Swiss Army knife," Warren Ham, whom he sees as one of the band's most versatile members. He proceeded to introduce every member and explain how they became part of his family before handing the microphone to Joseph Williams, who then introduced Lukather himself with a cinematic preface as an alien among us.

This led into a four-song closeout, culminating with the band's golden child, "Africa," uniting the crowd in harmony as openers Christopher Cross and The Romantics' Wally Palmar returned to the stage for one massive ensemble, singing about the rains in Africa that blessed the ears of everyone in attendance.

The show was exactly what it set out to be, and after nearly 1,500 concerts over the years, their recipe remains the same: timeless and always worth experiencing again and again.

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