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Stryper was part of Budweiser\u2019s Rock Empire Tour, featuring Queensryche, Great White, Vixen and (in Texas) Gandhi\u2019s Gun (on Sunday, Sept. 28, 2019).<\/p>\n
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When I heard reports that the H-E-B Center in Cedar Park was discounting tickets at $10, I was worried about a small crowd. All the hard rockers in and around Austin proved that notion wrong by packing the place in. It wasn\u2019t sold out, but the floor and seats were pretty full.<\/p>\n
They were treated to a lots of loud ear candy.<\/p>\n
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Stryper came on after a rousing set by Great White, fronted by Mitch Malloy. \u201cRock Me\u201d and \u201cOnce Bitten (Twice Shy)\u201d ended their time on a high, energetic note.<\/p>\n
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Stryper came on with no announcement and proceeded to launch into \u201cYahweh,\u201d which set the tone with immediate power metal \u2014 chugga-chunk riffs, fiery lead breaks, screaming and a wall-of-sound rhythm section. While Stryper has never ever been weak, they\u2019ve certainly sprinkled lots of pop and polish into their live shows. Not today!<\/p>\n
I got emotional and felt immense pride, pleasure and respect seeing this band declare the greatness of \u201cYahweh.\u201d What does the Bible say about \u201cthe Lord inhabiting the praises of His people?\u201d There\u2019s something about worship that\u2019s mystical. Maybe this song is anointed or something, because it sure is powerful and declares boldly that Jesus is God. It\u2019s like the epitome of Christian heavy metal. Lyrically, it\u2019s a simple fact-telling of Jesus and what He went through on Good Friday. The screams are of the \u201cyaaaahhhh\u201d variety, but there\u2019s no hint of mellow in the riffs. It\u2019s a frontal attack of distortion and it packs a wallop.<\/p>\n
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Without skipping a beat, they slammed into \u201cThe Valley,\u201d which furthered the campaign of musical toughness and biblical lyrics. Anyone that\u2019s heard the God Damn Evil album knew inside that these songs would just kill live. That\u2019s totally the case. The new bass player, Perry Richardson, and drummer Robert Sweet were locked in and Michael Sweet and Oz Fox were just crunching and wailing away \u2014 power chords, leads, power chords, leads. Some of Stryper\u2019s pop metal critics back in the day used to dream of tunes like this.<\/p>\n
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For its third song, Michael paused and asked the audience if they missed 1986. They went into \u201cCalling on You,\u201d which is certainly one of their best and most signature songs. On this night, however, it was missing an essential element \u2014 the background vocals were only about 25% present. Oz brings an invaluable element to the Stryper sound with his pitch-perfect and powerful pipes, yet his vocals seemed to either be mixed a little low or perhaps his voice was suffering some jet lag from their recent slew of shows in South America. Add to that the performer\u2019s decision by Michael to let the crowd (try to) sing along and a massive part of the chorus is just missing. Fortunately, Michael sang a little more than half of the choruses.<\/p>\n
\u201cCalling on You\u201d segued into \u201cFree,\u201d which has got to be one of the greatest transitions in Christian metal (right up there with Deliverance\u2019s \u201cIf You Will\u201d into \u201cThe Call\u201d).<\/p>\n
Michael talked about how the new songs felt as important and vibrant (my words) as the old ones, but then said, \u201cWe\u2019re about to sing an old one, so I don\u2019t know why I\u2019m saying this.\u201d They played \u201cSing Along Song,\u201d \u201cSurrender\u201d and a rarely-played \u201cAll For One.\u201d
\n\u201cSoldiers Under Command\u201d and \u201cMore than a Man\u201d were tight and heavy. There were a lot of Stryper fans in the arena, and they were singing along. The band brought out a third guitarist guest for \u201cTo Hell with the Devil\u201d \u2014 Vixen\u2019s Britt Lightning on guitar.<\/p>\n
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Queensryche came out next and rocked hard. New vocalist, Todd La Torre (ex Crimson Glory), really does sound a lot like Geoff Tate \u2014 not a copycat, but he fills that sonic space well. They played only one song (!) from Operation Mindcrime \u2014 the title track. It sounded great, as did \u201cJet City Woman\u201d and \u201cSilent Lucidity.\u201d They reached back and played \u201cQueen of the Ryche,\u201d which sounded nice and heavy.<\/p>\n
Overall, this was a nice touring match-up of bands. The night sounded well and rocked very hard.<\/p>\n
[Review and all photos by Doug Van Pelt]<\/p>\n
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