Review of Skillet with The Letter Black, Decypher Down & Hawk Nelson
A great concert review from guest blogger Michael Fulscher. Thanks for sharing with us!!!
Skillet is surging. I saw them last night in Ames, IA at Stephen’s Auditorium. The show was a sell-out. Opening bands The Letter Black, Decypher Down, and Hawk Nelson all did admirable jobs opening up the evening, but Skillet showed the crowd of mostly teens what a real rock show is like.
Skillet and their opening bands are Christian rock bands. We missed The Letter Black. Decypher Down is a heavier band with hints of Korn and Godsmack to their sound. It’s probably not something many of the chaperons were thinking when they agreed to bring kids to a Christian show. Hawk Nelson is definitely a radio friendly Christian pop rock hanging at the mall group. They were bubble gum Green Day with a positive message.
But Skillet… Skillet showed the kids and the grown ups (some of us experienced rockers were mixed in with the crowd) what a rock show should be. Lights? Check. Strobing and flashing lights? Check. Massive strobing light show and cannons shooting compressed air columns around the band and platforms that raise 20 feet into the sky complimenting up to a 7 piece hard rock/metal show with drum solos, guitar solos, violin solos, cello solos, power ballad tributes, hot girls in the band, and a screaming fool leading the way? Check.
Skillet played an array of songs from their new release, Awake, including the rocking track “Alive and Awake“, XM Octane and MTV 2 hit “Monster“, and World Series intro song, “Hero“. They opened with the more progressive sounding rocker “Whispers in the Dark” and played in your face rock from their growing array of concert friendly anthems after that. The band started with just themselves, but were joined on the stage several times by a violin and a cello accompaniment. Another highlight included an acoustic crowd sing along of the chorus of Bon Jovi’s “I’ll Be There for You” before doing a power ballad version of their own “Yours to Hold“. The encore was their older hit “My Obsession” and “Rebirthing“. A few times John Cooper let a touring musician play bass and he got more out front for crowd interaction. He was his normal witty self. He isn’t a fire and brimstone in your face preachy kinda guy, but definitely shares a positive message with the crowd. New drummer, Jen Ledger, was in perfect voice. She was a bit shy when out front singing, but quite comfortable on the drums. Keyboardist and rhythm guitarist Korey Cooper was an absolute wild, high energy maniac on the rocked up songs, dancing, staggering, and jumping all over the stage. Lead axe man, Ben Kasica, was more interactive with the crowd than in previous shows and was also a high energy force. My only drawback is that the vocals for JC didn’t stand out as well as they could have, but when the crowd knows every song well and sings it back to the band, it doesn’t matter so much. There’s so much to cover about the songs and the show that I just recommend catching this tour to experience it for yourself. I’ve seen hundreds of rock shows and this one is easily in the top 10.
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