“Here come the boys from the Puget Sound,” spits Ayron Jones as they arrive onstage. There is a certain irony to the next line: “Can you hear me?” given the ridiculously early midweek start time and rush-hour traffic in the rainy city, but nonetheless, MV has been in place since 6 p.m. waiting for this.
Let’s cut straight to the chase. Ayron Jones’ “Child Of The State” album is one of my favourite records of the last few years, and this is my first opportunity to see him play live.
And those boys from Seattle, Washington, they don’t let me down.
There is a raw power to Jones’ work, both musically—where it must be said the blues never rock as heavy—and lyrically, where it’s never sounded quite so urban.
They are sensational. “Filthy” is only just eclipsed by a quite wonderful “Blood In The Water,” and there’s almost blood on the stage, so powerful is this performance.
Those last two are on the album he put out last year, but it’s back to “…State” for the closing pair of “Mercy” and “Take Me Away,” and the overriding feeling is one of relief: both to have seen him and to have him be this good. Ayron Jones is doing something different. He’s got an undeniable star quality, even at tea time.
Ok. Look. MV paid for our ticket and is under no obligation to even review this, but I love music and, even more, I love writing about it.
This is a roundabout way of saying this: the only thing I knew about Skillet before this was the phrase “Christian Rock”. Now, hats off if you have faith. Equally, respect my right to say that I am from a family of atheists and looked forward to watching a “Christian Rock” band about as much as I would root canal surgery.
However, it would be wrong of me not to say this too: an hour in Skillet’s world was pretty good fun.
They are big, heavy, brash North American rock. They belong in arenas, and what’s more, they know how to play arenas, and for an hour, they do just that.
When they perform “Surviving the Game,” frontman John Cooper shoots dry ice from his arms, and the new song “Unpopular” is as huge-sounding as you could want. Likewise, “Awake and Alive”—which begins with a cello—is made for places like this.
The message is relentlessly upbeat, but who here can’t get on board with the idea that rock ‘n’ roll drives negative thoughts away? Which is the premise behind “Hero,” which also sees drummer Jen Ledger (from just up the road in Coventry) up front with Cooper.
“Comatose” and “Monster” keep the energy high, and by the time “The Resistance” has ended things, you can consider this: the only reason bands get to tour the world for a quarter of a century is that they’re good at what they do. Skillet is most definitely that. And faith in rock ‘n’ roll is a less defined subject than I might have imagined.During the aforementioned Skillet set, John Cooper—who appears later in the headline show on a cover of The Cult’s “American Horse” along with Ayron Jones—had spoken movingly about a young man in the crowd who had asked to meet them before the show and told them about how Skillet’s music saved his life.
In September 2021, Black Stone Cherry played the Academy in the city centre and I had, let’s call it, a moment. It began a recovery, but it also means that Chris Robertson and the lads are more special to me than most bands.
And you can forget the hits for a minute, the big singles, the bombast. In the middle of this, they play “Like I Roll” and—for the first time that I can remember—”Stay” as a full band.
In that moment, you realise how good a band this truly is.
Sure, you’ve got “Me And Mary Jane”, “Burnin'” and “Out Of Pocket” (the latter from last year’s “Screamin’ At The Sky”), but it’s more. It’s the vibe. The feeling.
They go right back to the early days for “Rain Wizard” and almost there for “Blind Man,” and you realise that it’s not far off 20 years they’ve been coming here. In 2007, when we saw them, did you know they were this good? Yes. And if I’d reviewed gigs before 2010, I’d have said so.
“Cheaper To Drink Alone” comes with an added John Fred Young drum solo before Robertson does his solo “Things My Father Said” (first done at that Academy show), and it really is glorious.
After that, in true arena rock style, they do the crescendo to the end. It sort of helps when you’ve got “In My Blood,” “White Trash Millionaire,” and “Blame It On The Boom Boom” to toss out.
That’s before “Lonely Train” and the usual encore of “Peace Is Free,” wherein Robertson—who has the perfect foil in the dervish that is Ben Wells—ends up in the crowd imploring people to let go of whatever they are holding inside. I hope someone did. I’m living proof it works.
More than most US bands, Black Stone Cherry’s platitudes seem real. They have a special relationship with this city, and Birmingham loves them right back.
Of all the bands that have only released records in the 21st century, this one is the best. They prove it year after year.
