STRYPER: Concert Review

September 24, 2024. Cedar Park, Texas.

Stryper has never failed to deliver, which is a hard standard to beat, yet they somehow find a way to raise the bar, keep it interesting, and kick bleep. I bleeped myself, but I didn’t really say it. If I did, it’d be in parenthesis. I referenced it. Let’s put it that way. These guys are killing it.

This 40th Anniversary Tour is broken up into two sets (with no opening band – they don’t need it). Besides banter from frontman Michael Sweet that sometimes references age, this is the only hint that they might not be fresh twenty-somethings anymore. They do a blistering classic set with all the hits – chronologically placed from The Yellow and Black Attack all the way through Against the Law.

“Loud n’ Clear”
“Are You Feeling Lonely”
“Soldiers Under Command”
“The Rock That Makes Me Roll”

All these tunes come firing out of this four-piece like they still have something to prove. That’s the mark of a great metal band. I mean, when you have songs that are so good, you could theoretically dial it in and plod along right behind the beat and make a lot of fans happy. But these guys still seem to have a hunger that makes them want to sing.

In “The Rock That Makes Me Roll,” there was some interesting and cool tones in the double or dual guitar solos. Perhaps it was down-tuned a little, which beefs up the crunch and distortion, but it was really cool.

The band tossed out Bibles, but they talked about it while doing so. Michael joked about bloody noses and how Robert used to tape the small New Testaments up so that they would sail farther, but bloody noses weren’t the goal, so they stopped doing that. “In the early days we just tossed them out without any stickers on them, and they’d sometimes be left on the floor afterwards. Then we started putting Stryper stickers on them and never saw one on the floor since. I saw the band prior to the release of The Yellow and Black Attack in 1984 and they had Stryper stickers on the Bibles then, so they must have learned this lesson very early on.

Michael went on to talk about music from the ’80s, claiming it was some of the best music ever. Then they went into one of the songs that widened their audience by leaps and bounds (with lots of MTV airplay).

I was shocked to hear the drum roll kick off the tune “Free,” which they followed up with “Calling On You.” It was fun to be thrown off my expectation, because of course the songs are in reverse order on the To Hell With the Devil album and have always been played back-to-back that way. But not tonight. Kudos to the band for messing with their fans.

They played the title track to that double platinum-plus album next, and Michael belted out the lyrics the way the song demands, and even held notes longer than usual. Powerful. The fiery graphics of flames on all the video screens was cool.

I couldn’t help but think about that feel-good scene in the Electric Jesus movie where all the characters lip-sync along to this tune after they get word that they’re in consideration for the Motley Crue – Stryper Heaven and Hell Tour. Movie scenes will do that sometimes – cementing and syncing themselves into the audience’s psyche.

They powered through “In God We Trust,” which sounds tougher live than on record, followed by a heavier rendition of “Always There For You.” The lead solo sounded really cool and fresh.

“All For One” was the lone tune from the rockin’ Against the Law album, which featured really cool twin guitar solos. I’m not an expert, but I want to guess that it was kind of a tenor-sounding tone that stood out.

There were lots of young people in the audience, but the majority was over 40, I think. So the two nearly 90-minutes sets with an intermission in between were assimilated by the crowd as if they appreciated it. Lots of old friends catch up and reminisce. 30-minutes does seem like a while, though, so when the band took the stage with new outfits on and the pounding sounds of the “Reborn” title track of their comeback album, the energy was right back where it left off. “Four Leaf Clover” brought that classic Stryper melody into the venue. This is a good time to mention how on the background vocals of Oz Fox and Perry Richardson sounded all night. I mean, they were on! They sounded huge, but not fake. Melodic with a bite.

These soaring and trumpet-like notes sustained forever and went right into “No More Hell to Pay.” The band was in metal attack mode and not resting between each sonic blast. I guess that’s another huge benefit of the intermission. The band was recharged and ready to deliver the goods.

“Yahweh,” which Oz explained earlier in the day how it was his favorite song to play because it was so epic. “Like a Cecil B. DeMille movie,” he said. It stood tall and really came off like worship at full volume. I like the song more and more each time I hear it.

Next up were some of Michael’s favorite songs to play live (based on a short Q&A the band gave before the show) – “Sorry” and “The Valley.” These hearken back to the signature sound of Stryper without sounding nostalgic one bit. “The Valley” is one of the coolest adaptations of Psalm 23. Just saying.

“This I Pray” could easily pass for a Poison follow-up to “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” or any country tune on the radio these days. Stryper makes it their own and then makes sure no one accuses them of mellowing out by flying into “Divider.” This band kicks bleep.

Wait. Did I say that already? I’m getting old. I’m older than Michael Sweet, for crying out loud.

The band played another heavy tune – “No Rest for the Wicked” (from The Final Battle). Shortly thereafter Michael and Perry switched pics, which was a funny interchange. The band made it fun as they rocked our faces off.

The band played the title track to When We Were Kings, which was complemented by the video of the song on the giant screens to the right and two split behind the stage. It’s cool to see all that history on screen and realize how much butt kicking this band has done over the past 40 years.

They capped off the night with another classic – “Sing-Along Song,” which could be the perfect concert closer for a band with as many hooks and catchy melodies as Stryper.

Photos by Carl Crowther

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