Opening up for Black Stone Cherry at the OVO Arena Wembley on the most perfect Saturday is Skillet. The wife and husband led band are nothing short of fantastic on a night of unforgettable power. Being the last night of the extensive tour supporting their rock giants comrades, Skillet brought us a set of surprises, rock succulence and smoke.
Skillet – Ayron Jones
OVO Arena Wembley, London – 23 November 2024
Words: Monty Sewell
Photography: Robert Sutton
Skillet
Opening with Feel Invincible, the band gives an instantaneous feeling of Rock ‘N’ Roll power forever as they dominate the stage. It is the perfect head-banging introduction to a set filled with fist-in-fury fun. Rise plays as a dutifully graceful second song reckoning, the arena lights blaring us into heavy music oblivion.
Frontman John Cooper is a tour de force of winning energy as he courses along the stage, switching between bustle-to-the-bone singer and eye-catching showman. Surviving The Game lifts the audience before Legendary tears into the hearts of the beer-slinging folk around us. With a billing this good, the arena is already filling up to catch the action.
Unpopular, Awake And Alive and Hero are equally empowered. If there is one thing to say about Skillet, they know how to keep the administration of guts within live music rife. Whispers In The Dark offers a darker tone, with no less pump from the band as they continue to grasp us in their fix.
As the band plays Psyco In My Head, the only question that goes through my mind is, ‘This is just the middle point of the night?!’ The show is beyond excellent, with every band member onstage enlivening a sense within their audience. An Eleanor Hull cover of Be Thou My Vision is suitably poignant with the band before we get Comatose and hit Monster.
Skillet ends things with The Resistance, but not without some kind of jet-powered smoke blaster. As always, they know how to put on a damn good show. Skillet is pure, Hard Rock entertainment with every kind of sentimental twist we could hope for.
Ayron Jones
The last time we saw Ayron Jones was back in 2023 at the Camden Assembly. Going from that to the OVO Arena Wembley was nothing but fitting for an artist and act with this amount of sizable rock to offer the stage. Opening with the heart-busting Boys From The Puget Sound, the stage was all Jones’ and his rocking-footed band.
Filthy is played out on the big stage as the sultry, heavy-riffed hit that it is. Jones commands the venue with such a Rock ‘N’ Roll presence that it is almost inescapable. For any artist, Wembley Arena is an ambition, but Jones and his band were born for this gig, scooping up every inch of the space.
As they move around each other like a finely tuning Stratocaster, the band moves into Blood In The Water. Brilliant and moving, they take us on a trip of emotive, induced words and heartfelt melodies.
Mercy and Take Me Away finish Jones’ set with a punch and a pound. It was pure delight watching the musician and his brilliant band members perform on the bigger stage. We look forward to seeing them move up and onto the bigger circuits in the headlights of that beckoning arena headline title.
