When those in the professional wrestling or weightlifting industries speak of athletes who are the strongest pound for pound, it means they can lift more than those with more menacing muscle girth. In other words, those who should be able to lift more than them but can’t.
That’s Skillet on stage.
A band that personifies what a live rock show should be by erupting with energy and fury every time it steps in front of the curtain and never lets up despite not receiving the same type of notoriety as a Metallica or an Iron Maiden.
Skillet’s latest display in the Alamo City came Sunday night as co-headliners with Theory Of A Deadman, plus openers Saint Asonia, on the Rock Resurrection Tour at the Boeing Center at Tech Port (see 80-photo gallery).
Touring in support of February’s release of Dominion, Skillet’s quartet of vocalist/bassist John Cooper, his wife, rhythm guitarist and keyboardist Korey Cooper, lead guitarist Seth Morrison and uber-talented British drummer/vocalist Jen Ledger rocked everyone’s socks off in an energetic, smoky and inspiring 70-minute set. And let’s not forget cellist Tate Olsen, who’s been rocking with Skillet for roughly 15 years.
On this night, Skillet was the middle band on the bill as Theory Of A Deadman closed out the night with its own 70-minute set. But Skillet’s undeniable and invincible energy was not even close to being matched.
Theory Of A Deadman and Skillet partnered with Plus 1 to ensure $1 from each ticket would go toward the Alzheimer’s Association, yet that’s where the similarities between the two performances ended.
Skillet stormed to the stage with “Feel Invincible” off 2017’s Unleashed. The band kept the intensity up on “Rise” and former World Wrestling Entertainment “Monday Night Raw” theme song “Legendary.”
Watch them in action via ATM’s Facebook Live footage of 2009 tracks “Awake and Alive” and “Hero,” which bookended John Cooper’s version of a State of the Union address. Not only are Ledger’s vocals on display during these tracks, but you’ve gotta give props to the band for allowing Olsen to not only play his cello in front of the stage, but to run across the podium mid-song and hop on board one of the two risers that Korey Cooper and Morrison were utilizing as well.
Skillet was especially cooking (sorry, couldn’t resist) on all cylinders during “Whispers in the Dark” and new tune “Psycho In My Head.” They also gave fans a treat by having Saint Asonia’s Adam Gontier join them on “Finish Line” as he does on the latest album. The rest of Gontier’s band was in the back of the GA section looking on while chatting with Kingdom Collapse vocalist Jonathan Norris.
Casual Skillet fans — or at least the many who raised their hand when John Cooper asked how many were watching them live for the first time — might have difficulty distinguishing songs when an artist has tunes called “Rise” and “Rise Up” plus “Invincible” and “Feel Invincible.”
But there was no double-take necessary when Skillet pulled out the menacing podium that possessed glaring eyes and blew smoke for another 2009 hit: “Monster.” Skillet ended its powerful set with “The Resistance” before quickly paving way for Theory Of A Deadman.
TOAD definitely had a tough act to follow, and many artists would’ve been hard pressed to match Skillet’s energy and intensity. Just so happened that TOAD was the final band to perform on this night, and in comparison, yes, they unfortunately fell flat overall.
TOAD’s music is always entertaining to listen to and rock out to, particularly the tracks that deal with the perils of relationships. Vocalist/guitarist Tyler Connolly has a talent for weaving his anti-relationship lyrics into ways that can make listeners simultaneously relate to, laugh along with and throw one’s horns up at while enjoying those songs.
With Skillet having just upped the ante during its 70-minute showing, TOAD could’ve only approached the same type of performance if it had come out blazing with the heaviest song in its arsenal and smashed its guitars on stage. Alas, that didn’t happen, and it shouldn’t have either given that such an act is not in the band’s character.
However, TOAD compounded the difficulty of keeping the crowd’s attention and enthusiasm throughout its own 1 hour, 10-minute stanza by playing long parts of, or the entirety of, a slew of cover songs. And they came after nearly each one of their own tunes.
For example, after opening with the title track to latest album Dinosaur and one of Connolly’s fun masterpieces in “Bitch Came Back,” the frontman told the crowd that he and his mates wanted to play another song from the new album — only to have it be their cover of “Two of Us (Stuck)” by Grover Washington Jr. and Bill Withers.
Normally at this point you’d say the hits kept comin’. In TOAD’s case, you’d have to say the covers kept comin’ in the form of Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game,” a sing-along to “Friends In Low Places” and a brief “Paradise City” jam.
The only cover that mattered was an instrumental version of Alice In Chains’ “Nutshell” inserted between “Lowlife” and “Santa Monica” (ATM Facebook Live footage of all three here). The band performed an acoustic version of the 1993 Jar of Flies EP hit during the 2013 Fiesta Oyster Bake, an occasion during which Connolly sat down with yours truly for a preshow interview (watch here).
Connolly, guitarist Dave Brenner, bassist Dean Back and drummer Joey Dandeneau finally turned it up a notch during seventh song and new track “Ambulance”. But the bevy of covers and non-TOAD moments was a bit too much and unexpected on the wrong side of the ledger.
Connolly catered to the fans by tossing out four T-shirts and a koozie before the group played two of its mainstays to end the show: “Hate My Life” and the song that arguably helps fans identify with this band: “Bad Girlfriend.” Surprisingly and disappointingly, they left off one of their first smash hits in “So Happy,” and when you consider the number of covers played, omitting that tune was definitely a no-no.
The show kicked off with Saint Asonia, and first things first: referring to this band as a supergroup would be a misnomer.
Saint Asonia is a kickass rock band through and through. It has gone through a few lineup changes since debuting in San Antonio in 2015 at the Aztec Theater, a gig in which vocalist Adam Gontier and then-rhythm guitarist Corey Lowery sat down with ATM for a fun chat (watch here).
These days, Gontier has enlisted 75 percent of Art Of Dying to round out the band — including his cousin. Cale Gontier plays bass, Tavis Stanley handles lead guitar, and Cody Watkins takes care of the skins. Adam Gontier has taken on guitar duties as well with Lowery having moved on to Seether and Mike Mushok returning to the road with Staind, and the result Sunday night was a rockin’ start to the evening. Click here to watch ATM’s interview with Cale Gontier and Stanley from 2016, along with Art Of Dying vocalist Jonny Hetherington.
After opening with “Better Place” and following with “Above It All” and forthcoming single “Wolf,” it was nice to see Adam Gontier embrace, rather than shy away from, his Three Days Grace past. He performed “Never Too Late” by himself on guitar, then the rest of the guys joined in on “I Hate Everything About You.” Watch the group via ATM Facebook Live footage of the track Gontier did originally with Apocalyptica: “I Don’t Care.”
Saint Asonia also played “Devastate” before ending the set with the best song from its self-titled debut album, “Let Me Live My Life.” As exhibited in the aforementioned interview clip, even eight years later, Gontier’s bellowing of “I can go get my knife, or I can pull out the one that you stuck in my back” still resonates.
Afterwards, Saint Asonia spent the rest of the evening in the balcony watching Theory Of A Deadman’s set — mostly undisturbed. That is, until the show concluded, and the guys graciously turned it into a small meet-and-greet with those upstairs who had left them alone, at least until the final note had sounded.
But this particular evening was mostly about Skillet.
Whether they’ve played the inaugural River City Rockfest in 2013, the Fiesta Oyster Bake in 2017, opened for Alter Bridge in 2019 or this show, Skillet continuously sets the bar high for many artists by putting the studio version of its songs on steroids with props, risers, icy smoke blowing out from John Cooper’s arms, and bringing their songs to life energetically — some of which feature Cooper and Ledger trading their contrasting voices symmetrically.
If only the Boeing Center allowed pyro. Because that was about the only thing missing from a mostly riveting night of rock. Resurrection style.
