Apologies up front for a less than pro review, this might be my first time actually submitting a concert review for publication. That said, any future reviews of shows you see from me are likely to be in a similar vein, mostly built around my immediate observances and thoughts, as far as I can remember by the time I get to a computer to write it up. Given that, I take back my apology <insert smiley here>, but I do hope you enjoy my recollection. Unlike a show I attended last month, and meant to write up but never got around to, this is a fresh, same night review, and I think better for the immediacy. But I guess that’s up to you to judge.

This particular trio was supposed to be opening for "Flyleaf" this night at a larger venue across town, until that band’s singer took ill. Rather than canceling, which would have severely bummed out my girlfriend (a "Skillet" fan named Delana Hopkins, for future reference), some fancy logistical footwork was done, and the openers relocated to The Annex, a small club just off the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.

Frankly, I’m glad the switch was made. The original venue is great for concerts, but The Annex is few frills, low stage, bar around the corner from the stage, basically, the ingredients for a good intimate show (except for that massive pole about 10 feet away from the left of the center of the stage). And, more importantly, it’s a place that a band like "Skillet", based out of Kenosha, Wisconsin, can fill even on very short notice.

"Dropping Daylight" opened the proceeding with an entertaining 30 minute set highlighted, for me anyway, by atypical rock band stylings. Singer Sebastian Davin’s keyboards were almost more the lead instrument than his little (and impossibly young looking) brother Seth’s guitar. The elder Davin drove the songs, attacking his rack with nimble fingers, striking often dischordant notes, keeping the audience on its toes. His vocals were way up front in the mix, somewhat off-putting at first, but I got used to it. That was in striking contrast to Seth’s backing vocals – the poor guy was belting into the microphone, but you couldn’t hear anything he was singing. The guitars, too, were way low in the mix near the front of the stage, but they grew more audible when I moved to the back of the venue, near the sound board. I’m not sure if that’s the way it was during the whole set, or if they tweaked the mix at some point. Another highlight for me, personally, was bassist Rob Burke. The guy’s stage movements are a bit goofy, the body moving back and forth and the head and chin repeatedly jutting out to the beat beyond and past the rest of the body, but he was certainly all over his instrument. The guy gets to play some heavy and tasty licks back there in the rhythm section, long fingers flying over his 5-stringed bass, hitting grooves more akin to prog types like Geddy Lee than your typical modern rock outfit.

I enjoyed the "Dropping Daylight" set, but it was more from the standpoint of seeing a decent, and non-standard rock band play live than from a, "this is a band whose CD I’m gonna run over and buy right after they’re done playing," reaction. That description was reserved for the second band to play this night, "Fair to Midland." Now, I had not previously heard any of their music, except for a quick trip to myspace in the afternoon, which proffered a short taste of what they had to offer. It was one of those moments where you hear a song and pretty much know you’re going to be a fan. To the point that I skipped eating before the show because the guy who answered the phone at The Annex at 6:45 PM told me "Fair to Midland" would be playing first, right at 7:30. Liar! So right after the "Dropping Daylight" set, I ran out to the bar/restaurant half of The Annex/Regent Street Retreat complex and ordered some grub.

Unfortunately, the changeover between bands was very efficient, and I missed part of the "Fair to Midland" set. What I did see more than fulfilled the promise of the snippet I’d heard earlier. The band, signed to "System of a Down" frontman Serj Tankian’s Serjical Strike Records (album to be released in June in conjunction with Universal Records, I’m already planning on grabbing that when it comes out), defies easy description. They’ve got heavy elements, they have progressive elements mixed in (always a plus for me), there’s a psychotic frontman (Darroh Sudderth) doing physical pyrotechnics on stage to the point where I hope he doesn’t decapitate himself with his microphone cord someday, there’s a guitarist (Cliff Campbell), who’s so skinny Delana commented, "I just want to take him home and feed him," and you know something, it all worked, and pretty darn well at that. And I’m not entirely sure why.

From what I heard, and saw, standing off to the side of the stage (trying out a different vantage point), they struck a vibe of controlled chaos, with Matt Langely’s (near vertical) keyboards providing sometimes eerie counterpoint to Campbell’s frantic work and Sudderth’s electric vocals. It’s a band that can mix it up with different styles, as dates in the near future opening for bands like "Flyleaf" and "As I Lay Dying" attest. These guys put on a highly compelling live show, and I’d definitely recommend you catch them if they’re playing nearby.

"Fair to Midland" were, indeed, a band whose CD I ran over to buy after their set was done, and I’ve got an EP and a sampler from the upcoming full length "Fables From a Midfly," to tide me over until the disc is released.

For a while there, I thought it was going to be a second straight concert that I attended primarily to see a band Delana was the real fan of, and walked away more impressed by an opening band whose music I’d been minimally or not at all familiar with prior to the show. The first such occasion was when the band "Tyler Read," (see CD review in this issue) stole the show for me from a solid effort by the band "Pillar." However, that turned out to not be the case, as "Skillet" put on a fantastic show, working largely from their newest CD, "Comatose", and its predecessor, "Collide." Frontman John Cooper was really giving the audience his all, sending sweat flying with every percussive attack on his bass, incorporating his between songs coughing into little running jokes with his wife Korey (guitar and keyboards) bringing him water in addition to her musical duties, and then returning the favor with a sweet glance over in her direction when singing the lyric, "waking up to you," during the title track to "Comatose." I don’t know if he actually meant the last part that way, as the song refers to God – "Skillet" is a Christian band with crossover appeal, and their lyrics, especially on their two major label efforts, do a great job of straddling the line of being read both as religious and secular poetry – but it sure seemed that way to me.

I’ve been to one prior "Skillet" show, when they opened for "Audio Adrenaline" at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison back in November 2005, and though they rocked the place pretty well that night, it was a whole different feeling seeing them up close and personal in a small venue like The Annex. The previous show was with a band with a more family oriented vibe, and a much larger venue filled with, it seemed, 5000 teenagers crowding the aisles until the security guys came and chased them back to their parents. Naturally, as soon as security went back to their posts, the kids flooded right back into the aisles. The seated nature of that show also made it hard to really get into the music.

This time around, it was an 18+ crowd, GA, small club, the best way to see a band, really, and the crowd was more than into it. John Cooper repeatedly made the comment that the crowd was loud, and it wasn’t one of those typical frontman banter comments, this crowd was alive, and they knew the band’s music, and were singing along, a fantastic crowd, and the band really delivered for it. I stood stage left, second row or people or so, so I wasn’t paying attention much to the crowd, but you could hear them, and you could feel the energy. I’ll tell you this right now, as you might read in my future reviews, if the energy isn’t there, I’m not going to tell you that it’s there. Tonight, it was there, and in spades.

The crowd around me was made up of all types, those who looked like they belonged at a metal show, those who looked like they made a living in an office listening to adult contemporary and "soft rock" stations, and they were all into it. My favorite crowd member was the slightly older, slightly larger woman nearby, probably fitting into that latter category. She couldn’t headbang for the life of her, though she tried a time or two, instead settling for kind of nodding along with the music, except with her whole body, and mostly mouthing the words to herself, sometimes singing out loud, but not at the choruses as might be expected, but at probably just her favorite lines, and looking at times like she was about to break down in happy tears. Just one fan, utterly thrilled to be there watching a favorite band play, having that kind of reaction that every band would love to get out of each of their fans.

That particular positioning put me in front of the massive pillar mentioned before (no obstructed view!), and more importantly, in front of Korey Cooper the whole show, and lemme tell you, that’s one headbangin’ babe there. Wearing artfully torn jeans with a plaid skirt over top, and a shirt with writing on it that I never did figure out because I was too busy being mesmerized by her red-highlighted hair flying and her thrashing all over with her rhythm guitar, she owned her area of the stage. And yet, even when she had a feature part of the music, or she was singing, either backup or the main melody line (the Coopers often split chorus vocals in "Skillet" songs, apparently) very few people in my field of vision were paying attention to her. They were mesmerized instead by John Cooper, he of the attacking bass drive, and charismatic vocals.

I wonder whether, had I not long ago trained myself to really check out all the musicians on the stage, instead of just looking at the most exciting performer (I call this the Geoff Tate syndrome, after the "Queensryche" (just imagine the umlaut in its place, people…and if you don’t know what I’m talking about, just move along) frontman – I saw them play once, and afterwards realized that I pretty much never glanced at Scott Rockenfeld, who I consider one of my favorite drummers), if I would have been doing the same thing. Then again, Korey IS much cuter than John (and I’m sure he’d agree!), so maybe not. But the frontman for "Skillet" does a good job keeping it lively, rocking his instrument, rocking his stage, and even managing to be actually amusing with his banter, so all credit to him.

Behind John Cooper, Lori Peters did a rock solid job of keeping time behind the kit, with no problem keeping with the progressive elements that have crept into the "Skillet" songbook over the years. From my vantage point, I didn’t have a good view of lead guitarist Ben Kasica, but whatever was coming through the speakers sounded good. Standout songs for me on the evening were "Collide" (which Delana informs me I didn’t like when she first played it for me back in 2005. I had the thought, "I guess that’s one just works better live, then!" but I didn’t have the courage to voice the thought), set opener "Whispers in the Dark," and the heavy "Rebirthing," the first track on "Comatose."

Bottom line, it was a good, hard rocking time, and an enjoyable concert. Whatever time restrictions are in place at The Annex once again limited the headliner to just over an hour long set, but given that "Skillet" would probably have played at least three less songs as an opener to "Flyleaf," the relatively short set didn’t bother me as much as on previous occasions at that venue (#1 offender: "Superjoint Ritual", due largely to Phil Anselmo’s drugged out, pointless ramblings taking up what seemed like half their set time). This time around, the set might have been short, but it was sweet, and I’m looking forward to seeing "Skillet" play live again.

I wrote about a favorite crowd member above….had to include a couple of folks from the other end of the spectrum, for laughs if nothing else. First off, there was the really tall guy and his really short skirt wearing girlfriend all but making out prior to the "Skillet" set. I (and about 8 others around me) was glad when they took off a song into the set. But then there was the guy standing front row, dead center, knowing the songs, knowing the lyrics, really into the band, just with this unfortunate problem of having no sense of rhythm whatsofrickin’ever. His girlfriend (or wife) was the Miss Inappropriate dancing girl of the evening, so named by my friend Sarah H. for the woman in the crowd who you just KNOW is doing the same dance-y moves every time she goes out to a concert, regardless of who is playing. That girl is usually dressed in clothes a couple of three sizes too tight or too small, but that part was played by Miss Miniskirt (see above) this night. The dancing girl did nearly make up for it with her highly hairsprayed, layered hair, and she was badly off-rhythm during "Whispers in the Dark." To her credit, she figured it out and pulled it together, but then she was tragically dragged back into the abyss of bad timing by her significant other. I think, whenever I get around (translation: get the courage) to doing an interview with a band frontman for M-R.com, one of the questions is going to be, "How long was it before you learned to ignore the messed up rhythmic gyrations of fans, so that it didn’t screw you up in terms of the music being played at the time?"