Stryper
Saturday, July 2, 2016
San Antonio, Texas
Stryper rolled through San Antonio, Texas, for the last show on its current leg, touring the heaviest-yet Fallen album. And speaking of heavy, they started off with the song “Yahweh” from said album. It was majestic, epic and heavy. This was a decidedly metal and heavy Stryper. I don’t believe they played a single ballad (What, no “Honestly?”) the entire night. In fact, some of the bigger pop metal tunes, like “Calling On You” and “Free” were played as a shortened medley.
It was almost as if Stryper were paying its dues and stepping up to the plate for the “prove something to me” metal crowd. Only thing is, judging by the response and energy of the crowd, they didn’t have to. Granted, there was still a nostalgic feeling in the air as the band cranked out hit after hit. They were as bold as ever lyrically, but the standout takeaway might’ve just been the technicality of their precise and intricate playing. These guys jam and certainly kick the lead out.
It was quite special hearing songs like “Rock the People” and “All For One” from the Against the Law album. Other standout tunes not heard from these guys in a while included “In God We Trust,” “Always There For You” and a cover of the Van Halen classic, “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love.” Their other covers were played back to back from The Covering album — “Heaven and Hell” and “Shout it Out Loud.” Both were awesome.
They finished the night with a rousing sing-along of “Soldiers Under Command” and came back later to finish it off with their medley and then “To Hell With The Devil.”
As showmen, all four original members were on and seemingly in the moment. Michael interacted with the crowd a lot and did the most cool shredder rock guy poses. His double lead solos with Oz were few and far between, but spot on and jaw dropping, as usual. Robert played mean and lean. Tim was in the pocket and the vocal harmonies were strong. Stryper brought it. Was it their most passionate show ever? Certainly not, but even an average show by these guys is world class and really, really good.
All of these photos were taken by DVP, but Teresa took a bunch of photos, too. We’ll display those in a photo gallery later.
Is that a glass eye on the stage?
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