Spartanburg, SC – If you’ve been to enough concerts, you might be familiar with those type of evenings when seemingly everyone you talk to prior to a show makes the similar comment related to how the line-up for the evening would basically shake the walls off the frames. Well, the Rock Resurrection Tour brought one of those evenings to Spartanburg, SC, and luckily, the Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium somehow made it through and is still standing. Three thunderous bands, Theory of a Deadman, Skillet, and Saint Asonia, took to the just over 3,200 seating capacity theater to deliver a night of highly anticipated performances.
Setting the tone for the night was Saint Asonia with Adam Gontier (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Cale Gontier (bass, backing vocals), Cody Watkins (drums, percussion) and filling in for Mike Mushok was Tavis Stanley (lead guitar). The band utilized their 2015 self-titled debut album to kick off their set with “Better Place” before diving in with “Above It All”. With Adam as the former Three Days Grace front man, the band effortlessly transitioned into Three Days Grace covers, “Never Too Late” and “I Hate Everything About You”, before ultimately closing out their set with “Let Me Live My Life”.
Saint Asonia Website | Facebook | Instagram
After a fairly brief transition and a ton of quick work by the stage crew, the transformation was set for John Cooper (lead vocals, bass), Korey Cooper (rhythm guitar, keyboards, synthesizers, backing vocals), Jen Ledger (drums, backing and occasional lead vocals), and Seth Morrison (lead guitar, backing vocals) to takeover. Skillet was not about to waste any time, igniting their set with “Feel Invincible” and all the fantastic energy the band is known to deliver. 
The set with filled with high-impact movement, light show, rising platforms, and dynamic musicianship, which also included an appearance of Disciple’s Joey West on drums during “Hero” and mixed in cellist Tate Olsen. What about the arm canons? Oh yes, they were most certainly on tap, with John donning these staples for the third song, “Surviving the Game”.
Photos © Carrianne Elizabeth
Skillet Website | Facebook | Instagram
The stage clearing began while fans took this final transition to stock up on some refreshments and load up on last grabs of merchandise. It was not long before the crowd poured back in to the sound of Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” echoing in main theater and met with many singing along.
Canadian rockers, Theory of a Deadman tapped into their eighth studio album, Dinosaur, (released March 17, 2023) to kick off their set with the song of the same album name and eventually followed with “Two Of Us (Stuck)”. Tyler Connolly (lead vocals, lead and rhythm guitar), Dave Brenner (rhythm and lead guitar, backing vocals), Dean Back (bass guitar, backing vocals), and Joey Dandeneau (drums, backing vocals) also offered up a mix of earlier songs and fan favorites, while also showing the crowd their enjoyment of performing.
Theory of a Deadman Website | Facebook | Instagram
Show Date: December 1, 2023
