Skillet first ever show in Vancouver closes off the summer with an absolute success!
This band should have played at the Commodore across the street – the venue of choice was packed, the stage is to small for a band of this size! Regardless, the show was unforgettable. Vancouver’s own rock band Art of Dying opened, and will be touring with Skillet throughout North America. The band played a fun show, their music fits well with Skillet and they had the crowd going along with them throughout their 35 min set list (which included ‘Hunger Strike’ from Chris Cornell)
I’m not sure what happened after Art of Dying played, but it took nearly an hour to set up equipment on stage for Skillet. A missed opportunity to hear more songs from a great opener. After what seemed like an unnecessarily long wait, the crowd started chanting “Skillet!” ” Skillet!” and the band jumped on stage and kicked off the show with “Feel Invincible” from their recent record, and then switching into three great hits, “Whispers in the Dark”, Sick of it and “Rise”.
With John Cooper at the helm (bass and lead vocals), he commands the audience to ‘party on’ stating how much the band regrets not having played yet in Vancouver. The vocal dynamics between drummer Jen Ledger and frontman Cooper is what make this one of the most unique bands right now, especially evident in their hit single, ‘Hero’ which saw Jen singing and playing drums all while head banging.
Halfway through the show, columns of smoke from the pyro add to the coolness of the intimate show. Skillet were obviously enjoying the Vancouver crowd’s mosh pit antics and adrenaline packed yells and singing. Performing most of their recognizable hits, Cooper also told us the back story of a couple of songs and took selfies of the audience between songs.
The pace picked up as the show hit the halfway point with the addition of a cello player who mysteriously arrived on stage to play a solo I can only compare to a Rammstein “Mein Herz Brennt” something I thought was really cool. Skillet brand themselves as Christian Rock band; all the band members are well involved in their local church communities and bible studies and hold faith in God. Regardless of this, their show did not seem to push any religious agenda – they just wanted to play some good music with a positive message and their recent song ‘Stars’ fits the bill perfectly. After exiting the stage, the audience took up the obligatory chant, and Skillet returned for an encore performing ‘Resistance’
Skillet is one of the better rock show’s I’ve been to recently – their heavy music, diversity of songs and adrenaline charged performance has me recommending this band/tour to anyone who loves rock.
solid 4.8/5
©nightMair Creative.com
all rights reserved
written by Emilio Angel