Concert Reviews
Stryper Live 2022 Review
The legendary yellow and black attack descended on the city of black and gold in the form of iconic Christian metal band Stryper. The prolific musicians made a stop in Warerndale Pennsylvania, a suburb of the Pittsburgh which is fittingly known for it’s black and gold clad Steelers, Penguins, Pirates teams.
Stryper is crisscrossing the nation in celebration of nearly 40 years of dominance in their market and building anticipation for their new album that is set for a fall of 2022 release. Thus far that band has released two tracks from the yet untitled album; “Rise to The Call”, and “See No Evil, Hear No Evil”. These two tracks follow the trend set by the band’s most recent albums. Though heavier and tighter than their eighties metal anthems these songs continue to capture the instantly recognizable vocal melodies, speaker blowing guitar work, and rhythms that most any band would be willing to make the deal at the cross-roads for.
The new release marks Stryper’s 14th studio album which sees front man Michael Sweet again taking on production duties for the band of all original members, save bassist Tim Gaines who exited the band and was subsequently replaced by Perry Richardson formerly of the multi-platinum selling band Firehouse in 2017.
The band opened the night with the thunderous roar of “In God We Trust” from the 1988 album of the same name. Followed by the twin guitar attack of “Revelation” from the album Hell To Pay.
The band was dressed in much more modern attire. Gone is the yellow and black spandex and big hair, but they pay homage to their “stripes” with tasteful hints of the colors throughout their clothing and of course the guitar and bass designs. Michael sported a black skull cap with a white/grey Stryper logo. They call a “slouchy hat” in their web store and is the single piece of band merch. that I must have.
Next up was the guitar crunch and deafening percussion of “The Rock That Makes Me Roll” and the nearly 40 years old vocal harmonies of “Loving You” pulled from the from the band’s debut The Yellow And Black Attack album. Sticking with the early era the band plowed through several tracks from the To Hell With The Devil album including the hits “Calling On You” and “Honestly”. But before they brought the energy level down with the MTV era ballad “Honestly” they turned it up to eleven and tore the roof off with the rhythm heavy simplicity of “Sorry” from the controversially titled album God Damn Evil.
The band did a great job in including tracks from all portions of their history even including the Against The Law era with the inclusion of the song “All For One”. Followed by yet another hit with the pop-metal harmonies of the slickly produced and radio ready “Always There For You”. Not to corner themselves in, they jumped directly into the modern-rockers “Divider”, “The Valley”, and “Yahweh”. At this point Michael said “Rather than us going over there and off the stage and down the stairs, just to come back and play a couple more songs, we are just gonna stay here and a rock some more for you. Is that OK?” With that they burst into the iconic opening riff of “Soldiers Under Command”. The chorus had the entire audience singing along at the top of their lungs and head banging as Oz Fox and Michael Sweet shared guitar solos. Without missing a beat they burst into the career defining “To Hell With The Devil”, which again had the crowd singing along to every word and enjoying the twin-guitar onslaught of both Oz and Michael. As the song wound down and with the squeal of guitar and thundering drums behind him Michael exclaimed “Stay Safe. Say a pray every day to Him. God bless you all! We love you! Goodnight.” (SEE VIDEO BELOW)
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Marty Friedman is on tour right now with his Live Drama 2025 and he brought Patrick Kennison and Nikki Stringfield on tour with them.
Nikki and Patrick opened up the show with an amazing acoustic set, I’ve got to see both of them many times with their other bands but this was the first time seeing them perform together and it was magical. I loved the way they not only complemented each other vocally with harmonies and more but just the feeling of love on the stage as well. We got to hear some great songs like “Where Demons Lie” and “Numbered” which is about addiction issues and dedicated to Layne Staley. We also got to hear an Iron Maiden cover “Aces High”.
Marty and his band came out on stage and if you’re into high energy and some mind blowing shreds, this is a tour for you. I love that Marty’s band is backed by some amazing Japanese musicians and probably one of my favorite drummers Chargeee, (he’s Insane while playing the drums: he’s like the live action version of Animal from the muppets)
I loved that Marty is from the area and was talking to his band mates about it and the laurel area. There was one time when Marty’s guitar player Naoki played the lead that Marty was supposed to play then they had an argument all in Japanese (the one time I wish subtitles was a real thing) the other band mates gave him the finger then Marty started to shred.
I just the energy that’s on the stage it doesn’t stop and it’s so infectious. The crowd at rams head on the stage were in full capacity for the show and ready to rock and roll with Marty.
We got to hear some of the softer more romantic side of Marty and the band when they played a few songs off the “Drama” album which was fun as well.
It’s insane to watch someone like Marty shred in a small intimate venue, you really get to see how amazing he really is and the passion he has for his craft.
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Apocalyptica is on tour now with Nita Strauss on their PLAYS METALLICA VOL 2.
Nita opened the show and as always put on an amazing show, it’s fun to see Nita on these solo tour when she’s not touring with Alice Cooper. You get to see her shine even more and just put a clinic on with shredding on the guitar. I’ve seen Nita a few times but this night was a little extra special, she brought out Kasey Karlsen of the band Deadlands out to sing a few songs which was great cause normally there’s no vocals at her shows.
This was my first time being able to not only see Apocalyptica but also photograph them. I’ve always been a huge fan of their music and loved the 2 Metallica albums as well. I figured this was more than likely the only way I’ll get to hear Metallica play is with Apocalyptica playing them.
We got to hear an amazing mix of songs throughout Metallica’s career. Opening up with “Ride the Lightning” and “Enter Sandman” you knew you were gonna rock out.
The band is amazing, such awesome and jaw dropping skills on those Cellos. There’s something magical about musicians that come from Helsinki and the Finland area. Eicca Toppinen, Paavo Lotjonen and Perttu Kivilaakso are insanely talented but also demand the stage so well and bring in that comedy as well.
We also got to hear songs like “Creeping Death”, “The Call of Ktulu” “St Anger”, “Blackened” “Master of Puppets”, “Nothing else Matters” and ending the night with “Seek and Destroy” and “One”. This was such a great night in a cool setting at Warner Theater in DC. I loved the atmosphere and the blending of not only music with classical and metal but also the crowd was as diverse as well.
If you get a chance to go out and see this tour, you must you won’t be disappointed.
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ITS THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN WHEN THE POWERS TO BE GATHER FOR THE MOST BAD ASS OF TIME. YES ITS THAT TIME FOR ANOTHER NIGHTMARE AFTER XMAS.
OF COURSE YOU HAVE SPELLBOOK AND WRATH OF TYPHON ON THE BILL, AND HEADLINING PRINCE DIAMOND (This year doing an all Mercyful Fate set) WE ALSO GOT SABBATH WARLOCK AND ZAUBEREI AS WELL.
EMPIRE EXTREME also did another interview with Wrath of Typhon and also an interview with Nate of Spellbook.
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