SKILLET

This Grammy nominated band is ‘Awake and Alive’ and back in Vancouver after a 7 year absence.

Skillet are back to Vancouver, this time at Vancouver’s legendary Commodore Ballroom with support from Adelitas Way.  Judging by what we saw back in 2020 at the Abbotsford Arena show, we are likely in for a rock’n’roll rager, as this is another sold out show.   That Abbotsford show was my first Skillet show and I remember I wasn’t sure if I would like them.  Turns out, after that performance, I thoroughly enjoyed the energy this band provides and as well as their excitable fans.  Will we see the same sort of performance tonight?

Nothing has changed to the band since that 2020 show, as John Cooper (lead vocals, bass), Korey Cooper (guitar, keyboards), Jen Ledger (drums) and Seth Morrison (lead guitar) are all here tonight.   The one thing that has changed with the band is that they produced a new album since we last saw them which is called Dominion.  Be interesting to see how many songs they play of this new album live tonight.

One thing I will tell you right away by looking at the stage setup, they don’t skimp out on a rockshow.   I see fog cannons and Jen’s drums are on a tall drum riser with a lit up big “S” as with an array of lights all over the place.  They put all that in motion with the first song being “Invincible” which is a highly charged rocker that gets the SOLD OUT audience fist pumping immediately.   “Rise” is the next on the setlist where John says “Tonight we will rise!” and they certainly followed through with the audience on its feet jumping for the lights.

We finally get a new one at song 3 with “Surviving the Game” from Dominion. John makes is a memorable one too, he hooks up the fog guns on his hands and sprays them out towards the audience.   Definitely something you don’t forget, as I think Skillet is the only band I have seen that do this shtick.

They waste no time in reminding their fanbase about past glory with some of their staple songs like “Legendary” when John gets some face to face time with the front barricade fans.  A couple times during the show he talks about how music fights the likes of diseases like Cancer and points out to a couple audience members he talked to prior to the show.

Prior to “Hero” when John gets a little preachy with ‘Jesus” being my hero, in case you didn’t know about the leanings of this Christian centred band.    “Back from the Dead”.  At song 8, Jen gets off from the drum kit to take the mic up front to sing with John on “Not gonna Die” and on “Hero” later on.   She does a lot of singing behind that drum kit and its nice to see her come down and do some vocal work which are still great.    Outstanding on drums too!

If you are wondering who the dude with the Cello is, that is Tate Olsen and we saw him in a handful of songs tonight.   He definitely would fit in with a band like Apocalytica, but its nice to see they like using live instruments over taped.

After song 10 “Whispers in the Dark” we get another from the new album “Psycho In My Head”.  Actually this a catchy song that comes off really good live.   They only played 2 from the new Dominion album tonight which is light, compared to what some bands do to market the new material.   But in a way its good, to get the audience reacquainted because they haven’t been around in this area for close to 7 years now.

This is a really upbeat set for the most part tonight however, as they hit the more popular songs near the end with “Comatose”, “Finish Line” and of course the one everyone wants see is that infectious riff with “Monster”.  They end the set with “Rebirthing” from the 2006 Comatose album which is a song that really exemplifies the song structure Skillet usually produce.

They do 1 encore with “Resistance” that appeases the chants from the fans who screamed “one more song!”.  You can complain here with 19 songs in this setlist!  The band puts out a tonne of energy, as both John and Korey do alot of physically moving about the stage, Seth’s impeccable solo work on each of these songs, and Jen’s aggressive drumming style makes this all a very entertaining performance.  Believe me, no one left unhappy or unsatisfied as they hit all the major songs tonight.   Skillet definitely re-energized their Vancouver fanbase this night and if you are looking for a slick rock show,  you definitely should check them out when they visit your town next!