I've seen the band several times in the past, including each of their Houston visits since they've reunited this decade. That said, Monday night's Stryper concert was by far the best I've seen the band on stage. Michael Sweet's voice may not be as able to hit the same high notes as in the past, but he still demonstrated the staying power of his vocal chords. And the rest of the band showed that they weren't simply content to go through the motions.
As far as returning 80s metal bands go, the show was as loud and the guitars as crunchy as you'd imagine. Even better, the mix of new songs off of the latest release mixed in very well with the classic material and there didn't seem to be much of a lull for any of them.
Three things that made this show particularly nice, though:
1. Returning in the height of Christmas season after losing four Texas dates in November.
The show was initially scheduled for November 5th and got cancelled very close to showtime due to a flu bug going around the tour bus. Two of the shows were rescheduled, and two were cancelled. I'm not sure what the pressure is in the band's situation to make up shows out of financial consideration, but it certainly seemed a stretch to expect shows to be scheduled for the 21st (Houston) and 22nd (Dallas).
Lead singer Michael Sweet addressed the issue early in the set, suggesting that because Texas was the very first state that Stryper really "toured," they felt a bit of responsibility to make up some of the lost dates. Whether you chalk that up to typical band bantering to appeal to the locals or not, it at least adds something to what made the show a pleasure to see.
The original plan for the tour had been to have Michael's son's band (Flight Patterns) open for Stryper. This time around, that wasn't the case. I'm not sure if Michael's family made this final leg of the tour with him. But given the recent passing of Michael's wife before the tour, the thought did occur to me that the band might be making a bit of a personal sacrifice in stretching it out this close to the holidays. However much of a sacrifice went into it, it certainly was appreciated.
2. Seeing the band in a nice venue.
This was my first time to see a show in the House of Blues. No disappointment in the show itself. The grunge music playing before Stryper's set might be the only real question mark, but that's fairly minor.
3. Jonathan Salas.
Typically, even if the opening act is good, I'll start to speculate on how much time is left before they wrap up. This is especially true when the band is completely unknown going in. I hadn't even made time to preview a few tunes by Salas prior to the show this time. But they could have let him play for a good while longer and I wouldn't have had a complaint. The kid is good and I hope there's a lot more opportunities to catch him around Houston. I've since ordered a couple of his CDs, but I'm not sure that the band he played with Monday night is on either. Of particular importance, whoever the drummer he had with him was phenomenal. And I say that as one who's rarely won over by a drummer.
From the Houston show:
