Rockhal, Esch sur Alzette, Luxembourg5th December 2019
Skillet - “Victorious” Tour 2019 - Support: Devour The Day
A band that has existed for 23 years is not only a rarity, but also a peculiarity. SKILLET are a good example of this. They have been touring around since 1996 and manage to increase their success significantly with their latest albums ‘Unleashed’ (2016) and ‘Victorious’ (2019). Together with DEVOUR THE DAY, they visited the Rockhal on Thursday.
Devour The Day
DEVOUR THE DAY is an American Hard Rock band founded in 2012 by singer/ guitarist Blake Allison and bassist Joey “Chicago” Walser after the breakup of their previous band EGYPT CENTRAL. A growing discography and countless gigs positioned the trio to do so. 2014s ‘Time & Pressure’ yielded the Active Rock Top 10 hit ‘Good Man’, which impressively sold 100,000-plus singles. Meanwhile, the band lit up festivals à la Rock on the Range in addition to touring alongside SEVENDUST, THREE DAYS GRACE, IN THIS MOMENT, and many more. 2016s ‘S.O.A.R.’ ignited a flurry of streaming success. The new album, ‘Signals’, was released in October 2018.
Music & Performance
The evening started with DEVOUR THE DAY. The Americans began with the song ‘Respect’ and had the audience in the Rockhal quickly under control. They clapped and jumped on command. After the first five songs not only the band was already in the right mood but also the audience. The question whether the band Nirvana was known to the Rockhal was cheered and so it came that the musicians paid homage to the 1990s cult band with ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’. And yes, somehow one thought for a short time that Kurt Cobain was standing at the microphone and playing his way through the world-famous Grunge song. All in all, the Americans focused on their own music - and that didn’t need to hide. Works like ‘You And Not Me’ or ‘The Bottom’ were riff-heavy and catchy. The 45-minute performance will probably remain in the audience’s memory.
Setlist
01. Respect
02. S.O.A.R.
03. Faithless
04. You and Not Me
05. Headspill
06. Smells Like Teen Spirit (Nirvana cover)
07. The Censor
08. The Bottom
09. Lightning in the Sky
10. Good Man
Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 6
Sound: 7
Light: 6
Total: 6.5 / 10
Skillet
SKILLET is an American Christian Rock band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1996. The band currently consists of husband John (lead vocals, bass) and wife Korey Cooper (rhythm guitar, keyboards, backing vocals) along with Jen Ledger (drums, vocals) and Seth Morrison (lead guitar). The band has released ten albums, with two, Collide and Comatose, receiving Grammy nominations. SKILLET went through several line-up changes early in their career, leaving founder John Cooper as the only original member remaining in the band.
Music & Performance
SKILLET entered the stage at 9 pm and the whole Rockhal club went immediately crazy. The mood was already great by the first note of ‘Feel Invincible’. Everyone sang along, danced and cheered. The band around John Cooper apparently had great joy to heat up the audience and above all to let everyone join in. It quickly became clear that the majority had known the band for a very long time, because no matter which songs were conjured up from their 23 years of history, the audience showed themselves to be lyrically confident. But in general, the performance was very lively. The band probably didn't know the term “standing still”, no matter if the songs were underlined with a cello or with hard riffs.
Beside songs like ‘Legendary’, ‘Awake and Alive’ (with a great keyboard intro) and ‘Back From The Dead’ the classic ‘Hero’ was one of the highlights. The masses could not be restrained anymore and screamed their hearts out. But sometimes you have to catch your breath. Both audience and band could do this with ‘Anchor’. Here they swayed arm in arm and on stage there was a kiss between singer John and his wife and guitarist of the band Korey. And then it went on again full of energy with ‘Victorious’ and ‘Monster’ before it slowly came to an end with ‘Rebirth’. But there should be one more encore that will blow minds. With ‘Resistance’ the rest of the energy was brought out and of course the fans joined in again.
Setlist
01. Feel Invincible
02. Not Gonna Die
03. You Ain’t Ready
04. Whispers in the Dark
05. Legendary
06. Lions
07. Awake and Alive
08. Back From the Dead
09. Save Me
10. Hero
11. Anchor
12. Undefeated
13. Victorious
14. Stars
15. Comatose
16. Monster
17. Rebirthing
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18. The Resistance
Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 8
Sound: 9
Light: 9
Total: 8.8 / 10
All pictures by Elena Arens
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