Awake & Alive at Wild Adventures

"There is no place I'd rather be, one day after an album release than right here at Wild Adventures!"

- John Cooper

Six years ago, the ever-energetic Christian Rock band Skillet came to Valdosta, Georgia and dropped the curtain on a tradition that hopefully will last for another six years consecutively. 2016 has so far been a pivotal year for Skillet. Right after their cruise with K-Love, John, Korey, Jen and Seth jumped right into the studio with Seth Mosley, Brian Howes and Kevin Churko, some of music's finest producers.

With the release of Unleashed, the band has been busy with radio promotions, interviews and playing acoustic sets and recently celebrated one day after the official release by performing live at a place all to familiar to John and the rest of the band. The sixth time straight Skillet had played in Valdosta was definitely not a let-down. With the word that the show would start at 7:30 PM "on the dot," I quickly ran to my seat once the gates opened. The show didn't start until the original scheduled time of 8 PM but that didn't drain my anticipation and excitement. The night with 'Whispers in the Dark.' If you've been to a show of Skillet's since 2011, you would know that an orchestration of

'Whispers in the Dark' by Tate Olsen and the Cellofourte ensemble was and still is one of their most famous openers, with the exception of their 2013-2014 Dj opener, 'Hero.' Jen Ledger was the first to appear on stage followed by Seth Morrison and Korey Cooper. Finally John Cooper came out and greeted Wild Adventures with a warm welcome. Without the notice of the crowd, Tate Olsen disappeared after finishing his rendition. Within minutes, adrenaline and excitement was high and everyone was dancing around with their hands in the air while Korey was sliding on stage and Seth was bobbing around strumming riffs of fire.

The night consisted of many great hits including 'Awake & Alive,''Sick of it,' and 'Comatose,' ending out with Skillet's biggest hit 'Monster' and 'Rebirthing.' To my surprise, 'Better than Drugs' ended out with a wicked outroduction solo from John and Seth and 'Savior' was added to the setlist. Added onto the setlist were three singles off of the new album 'Unleashed:'

'Feel Invincible,' the rocking 'Back from the Dead' and the worship-filled 'Stars.' The second song of the night brought back memories from the years of Collide. Not only because Forsaken was played but John threw his brand-new Michael Kelly 5-string bass into the air and spun it around his neck to continue playing again. The crowd burst into a huge roar! Myself and I'm sure plenty others had waited years to see that done in person. Personally, I had not seen any footage of John spinning his bass since 2008-2009. That was not the only shock of the night though. When Seth began playing the intro to 'Hero,' Jen Ledger resigned the drumming duties over to her drum tech and came to center stage with John. Cryogenics, known as 'Dry Ice' filled the air with smoke as Jen and John together jumped up and down pumping the crowd up for an outrageous party.

If I had to change a thing or two about the night, I would definitely bring back the pyrotechnics. The

propane flames and popping fireworks had been apart of Skillet's set since 2006-2007 and was last used briefly on the Winter Jam East Coast tour and Winter Jam West Coast tour in 2014. The heat of the engulfing fire during Whispers in the Dark and the intense sound of the fireworks as soon as Skillet walked off stage was greatly missed. Skillet's manager Scotty Rock had discussed with a friend about the high expense of renting a pyrotechnician and such materials and said that Skillet would not be bringing pyrotechnics on the road with them in the future. As Seth Morrison said on twitter once, "Pyro doesn't make a show," and I can't say I disagree with him.

Some of the notable equipment used for the set was the Martin Professional Atomic 3000 DMX strobe. This piece of art gives off 3000 watts of high-energy impact white lighting. Skillet has been known for flashing these strobes frequently throughout their concerts. Four Molefay Thomas 8 Lite Blinders were set up from stage left to stage right. Normally, the 8 Lite blinders are on a steel truss high above the front of the stage used for giving light to the audience and for the use of the band. Multiple par lights also helped illuminate the set, the band and the crowd.

Skillet came to Valdosta with a mixture of instruments. According to a reliable source, a truck which was carrying some stage equipment did not make it to South Georgia in time for the show leaving the production crew having to rent backline gear and Jen without her regular drum set. In 2014, John Cooper retired his chrome, flame in-crested, blood red Traben Phoenix 5 and picked up the flat black Traben Array 5 using GHS Bass Boomers. As soon as Skillet went over seas this summer, Michael Kelly Guitars chose John to test out their newest electric basses and give Michael Kelly Guitars his input. John played the newest basses in Valdosta. Seth Morrison debuted two of his new PRS Tremonti guitars with a Frostbite Fade for one and a Black Gold finish for the other. The notable Charcoal Burst and Black Cherry PRS SC 245's were left in Europe until Skillet returns for their Unleashed Tour in November. Korey Cooper came out rocking her artful, Black, White and Blue PRS Mira exchanging that out for her other two PRS Custom 22's in White and Purple. Jen Ledger originally uses a beautiful arctic white Pearl drum kit with a black sparkle fade which was not available due to the late truck. Jen also uses signature .588 Vic Firth drum sticks.

Skillet kicks off their Unleashed Tour, the first headlining tour for Skillet in four years on September 22nd, 2016 in Clive, Iowa and finishes up on October 23 in beautiful Tulsa, Oklahoma. Tagging along on the road will be Sick Puppies and Devour the Day. Thousand Foot Krutch will also be opening for Skillet for the first seven dates of the tour. Skillet will be traveling to Paris, France to kick off their overseas Unleashed Tour with Red Sun Rising on November 6th. Until December 9th, Skillet and Red Sun Rising will be making stops in Germany, Russia, Austria and many different countries ending in London, United Kingdom.

- For More Information on the Unleashed Tours, please go to Skillet.com/Shows

- Photo credit to Cindy Blankenship, John Willoughby and Gina Willoughby

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