Black Stone Cherry/Skillet - OVO Hydro, Glasgow 20th November 2024

But onto our opening act Skillet. Not a regular visitor to our fair shores and that was referenced during the set when frontman John Cooper mentioned that the last time they played the UK was with Nickelback in 2013. The 4-piece hit the stage and it was obvious that a fair portion of the crowd had come to see them. Plenty of fists in the air and the appreciation was loud. A nice 11 song set and plenty of lights were afforded to the band. Guitarist and wife of frontman John is the bands purple haired whirling dervish tonight. While the band are labelled as a Christian Metal band there is nothing along the Stryper lines of lyrics that make it obvious. There are touches of industrial and grunge rock in here as well and some uber melodic songwriting. John even had a moment to adorn a smoke wielding “flame thrower” contraption for one of the songs that he didn’t play bass on. Unfortunately, due to the poor sound in the Hydro, a common theme sadly, you didn’t miss the bass as it was inaudible for most of the night. A great set though and I’d like to see the band come back but play in a smaller venue more suited to them headlining.

On to the main act Black Stone Cherry. 17 years ago, the burst onto the Glasgow stage as youngsters bring their riff laden music to our ears. And hailing from Glasgow, Kentucky a bond was made straight away. After numerous tours the band reach us on what is the final leg of their Screaming At The Sky tour. Playing a mixture of new songs from the album, the trusty “have to play” songs and some that haven’t been heard for a while. Spanning a vast amount of their catalogue the band are on it from the drop of the massive white curtain hiding the stage set.  

Me And Mary Jane is a strong fan favourite and it’s obvious from the get go that this is going to be a hard-hitting night. On the big stage that any hair metal 80’s band would be proud of guitarist and energy bunny Ben Wells covers all of it….4 ramps and an upper stage at the back are adequately run over countless times. His Fitbit must have been worn out never mind him! “New” bass player Steve Jewell also must have dropped a few pounds in weight as well and he gave Wells a run for his money on the steps gained front. And none of the energetic movements detracted from the playing. With frontman Chris Robertson handling most of the lead guitar work tonight he was centre stage mostly leaving the 2 to run around everywhere. Credit also to John Fred Young who was also a flurry of arms thanks to his drumming style. He must be one of the most under-rated drummers out there. Even when he dropped a stick he never missed a beat. Impressive work.

So, bone crunching heavy riffs were laid down all night with hit after hit until we got to the emotion laden Things My Father Said which Robertson stood and sung on his own with some stunning guitar work. He did say that this song is different every time…. sometimes if brings him to tears in memory of his late father, yet other times just makes him smile in appreciation.

We are treated to a Kentucky version of American Horse as originally done by The Cult and Ayron Jones and John Cooper join the band onstage to give us a trio of vocalists.

Finishing off the night are bangers White Trash Millionaire, Lonely Train and Blame it On The Boom Boom. Boy this was epic to say the least. After a short break and the inevitable “Here we, Here we, Here we f**king go!” chants Robertson and Wells return to the Glasgow stage for a lighter version of Peace Is Free. In this age of wars, conflicts and general unrest in the world the message in this song is clear. Peace IS free and can we just not get on with each other. Robertson gets into the thick of the crowd and delivers part of this song in amongst the rock faithful before making his way back to the stage where the song is finished with all 4 blasting it out before taking their bows.

Black Stone Cherry are UK favourites and especially in Glasgow and we were treated to a non-stop balls our rock show tonight. With new material in the works, we probably won’t see them for a couple of years but they will be welcomed back with open arms.