The highly anticipated Skillet Alive tour came to the Kent Showare Center on Halloween night. They went on tour with Hawk Nelson, Decyfer Down, and The Letter Black to reveal their new album, Awake. After the huge lines wrapping around the Showare Center dissipated and the stadium was packed, The Letter Black started off with a few songs to set the mood and get people pumped up. Decyfer Down followed them with some of their new songs such as Fight Like This. Once everyone was excited and anxious for the rest of the night, Hawk Nelson took the stage. Their lead singer Jason came out in a bright orange suit, a matching top hat, and a cane. He was obviously ready to have some fun. They played some of their new songs like Live Life Loud as well as many of their old songs that everyone knew. He got the crowd into it by making comments about them and making conversations. At one point he threw his water bottle to someone in the crowd to which one of our youth group’s student leaders, Josh, reacted by shouting, “Swine Flu!” This got some laughs out of the crowd; more than what Hawk Nelson had been getting all night with their attempts at jokes. After Hawk Nelson had finished, the crowd was more excited than ever. The only band yet to play was Skillet. After a short period of setting up for Skillet, the Skillet banner dropped from the ceiling, the lights dimmed, and the Skillet intro began to play. The crowd erupted. They started the night off with Whispers in the Dark. They played what seemed to be every song they know, as they were playing for almost two hours. They played Comatose, The Last Night, Hero, Monster, and so on. Their song Monster also had the growl in it. For those who don’t know that, instead of them singing “Feel like a monster” in their normal voice, they distort the microphone to make it sound like a real monster. Also, in their song, Yours to Hold, the drummer, Jen Ledger, sang a verse from it, which they only do in concerts. They let every band member play their own solo near the end of the night. This included Jen Ledger, and their violinist. The band left the stage, came back, and ended the night in their Halloween costumes. The concert definitely lived up to it’s expectations and it was a joy to be there and experience that with a huge group of other christians.