Skillet at the Manchester Academy

By Christina Sylvester and Nicolas Howells.

Skillet are not the most familiar band to the UK’s shores, especially not to the city of Manchester and further still, not on a very rainy MCR Friday night. So the first night of their Day of Destiny tour had big big expectations. The anticipation for this show was clear by just how much Manchester Academy had packed in before the opening band had even thought about their walk on stage.

Photo by Christina Sylvester.

Said walk on stage for Eva Under Fire had some very purposeful strides in it. They proceeded to blow the wet right out of peoples hair with one of their key tracks ‘Comatose’. This usually has a feature from Ego Kill Talent’s Jonathan Dörr, but Eva has that much oomph to their live show that it doesn’t remotely suffer without them. The band acknowledge how big a part Skillet have played in their careers and thank them for bringing them out for what is Eva’s first ever UK dates. They move onto the personal favourite and Journey’s ‘Seperate Ways’. A fun fact for this show is that Eva Under Fire is actually the 2nd artist to cover that song in Manchester Academy in the last month, with Daughtry also covering the track on the 25th. Eva has the extra edge in this department though as their voice is perfect for this, and that chunkier sound that they apply to it makes you wonder how the song ever existed any other way. A brief moment is taken between songs to actually celebrate vocalist Amanda Lyberg’s birthday too, which is a great personal touch.

Photos of Eva Under Fire by Christina Sylvester.

After the interval, New Zealand band Like A Storm adds an international flare between the 2 other US acts, and the Brooks brothers and Zach Wood, show 0 signs of rust for what is their first full tour in 3 years. The band were a refreshing change from the style of Eva and Skillet, as they add a southern hemisphere twist to some of their tracks. The stage was adorned with skull and crossbones-like stands for the didgeridoos the band are known for and as stage setups go this was certainly one of the best looking ones for what may have been a hard to execute inclusion. Like a Storm’s lighting certainly has the grungiest look of it, which when Chris Brooks takes a few steps back to the darker parts of the stage to use the didgeridoo makes it seem all the more ethereal as it’s sound is, to an extent, literally coming

out of the dark.

The crowd are especially livened up by the track ‘Become the Enemy’, and stylistically it does put them as peas in a pod with Skillet’s sound. During the set we even saw Chris jump down off the stage and perform an entire song in with the Manc crowd. The passion with which he hauled himself over the barrier has to be commended when playing in a larger venue and if he carries this on throughout the tour then fans in each city are in for a treat. There’s a sense of irony with this set though, as Like a Storm went by “like a flash” despite them being allocated the better part of an hour. They absolutely barrelled through the setlist and by Brooks’ own admission he claimed it to be “one of his favourite shows of his ****ing life”, which is the energy these bands needed after such a long lay-off. One thing is certain, there needs to be a headline effort from these guys next time they’re in town.

Photos of Like A Storm by Christina Sylvester.

The hallmark of a great headliner is the air about their arrival and Skillet has that in spades. The members of the band take turns going on stage one at a time to soak it in, starting with Jen Ledger on drums, then Seth Morrison on guitar, followed by the Coopers. Their arrival on stage sparks an immediate wake up in the crowd, and they are loud for the first track of the night ‘Feel Invincible’.

This choice of track seems quite appropriate as it really does reflect their staying power with the UK fans. By the band's own admittance, save for an appearance at Download over the summer this is the first time in nearly 3 & a ½ years Skillet have played the UK, with even that date being a one off in London. Their second track ‘Rise’, we saw things really kick into gear with him as a frontman and we get even more theatrics during ‘Surviving the Game’ as they strap up with CO2 canisters to blast over the crowd for an amazing visual.

Photos of Skillet by Christina Sylvester.

The very apparent nature of this show is that it moved fast. The 4 members seldom stopped playing for the early portion of the show with ‘Legendary’ and ‘Awake and Alive’ rounding out the first 20 minutes of the set; The only exception is Jen Ledger coming out from behind the kit to provide vocals for the latter track.

The spread of Skillet’s back catalogue that is being covered in the early stages of the set is commendable. The band are a 3rd of the way through the set before playing any two songs from the same album when they dip into 2016’s ‘Unleashed’ to play ‘Back From the Dead’. After this song is the first real time that John Cooper takes a moment to really talk with the crowd. He has an obvious and very necessary point before their next track, that being the reason why it’s been so long since their last UK dates.

The discussion of post-covid touring has been done to death, and Cooper actually looks on the personal side of things about how music had such an anchoring effect for so many in saving their lives. The motivations the band have through religion means they more than understand the idea of something being powerful to the point of saving someone, which is where they move into ‘Hero’. A drum technician takes the seat so that Jen Ledger can again come up front for this one and what’s most clear is how they sound almost indistinguishable from the recorded track. This one is a personal favourite from the band and they must feel a certain urgency to nail it in the live setting given its sentimental value to both them and the fans.

The one two arrangement of ‘Not Gonna Die’ and ‘Whispers in the Dark’, and the lack of vocal effects on Johns voice during ‘Whispers’ is the only place where the band even remotely defer from sounding like they do on record, which is only mentioned again as a means of emphasising the calibre of show Skillet put on. Somewhat of an amusing elephant in the room as they play the excellent ‘Psycho in My Head’ is that this is only the 2nd of two songs they play from ‘Dominion’ which is the album they’re touring.

Photos of Skillet by Nicolas Howells.

There is somewhat of a yo-yo effect to the set as they head down the second half of the show, dipping into 2019’s ‘Victorious’ for ‘Anchor’ & ‘Finish Line’ either side of older offering ‘Comatose’, which is the oldest track of the set.

They round things out with ‘Monster’ at track 15 of the night, which again is a personal favourite. It’s at this point that most headlines would potentially be wrapping up but Skillet do have a couple more for us and the crowd are all for it as they bellow back the eponymous line “Feel like a Monster” which the crew again do a great job of making it near perfect to the studio offering.

The band finished off the main set by hammering into 2006’s ‘Comatose’ one last time with 'Rebirthing’ before walking off stage. The encore doesn’t overstay its welcome too much, but one song effort ‘Resistance’ felt like the entire set could just go again. They say their actual goodbyes and it’s clear why Skillet are lauded for being a workhorse of a band, this set was jam packed, loud and more than worth the price. With them touching on the point a few times in the night, it’s actually a nice thing that Skillet are not a regular feature on the UK touring scene as this show felt very special. It would be a shame to lose that. But when they are next here, we’ll be there.