Skillet Brings 'The Revolution Tour' To The O2 Academy Brixton

Review: Skillet – ‘The Revolution Tour’

The O2 Academy Brixton, April 21^st, 2026

Reviewer / Photographer – Phil Honley

Just when this country is in need of a revolution, Memphis rockers Skillet bring their ‘Revolution Tour‘ to London.

Up first we were treated to French trio Storm Orchestra from the underground Paris alternative scene. Consisting of singer and guitarist Maxime Goudara, bassist Adrien Richard and drummer Loïc Fouquet, they opened the set with the excellent ‘Bright Soul‘ from latest album ‘Get Better’. The three piece grabbed the packed venue by the balls and held them for the entire set. I understand that this was the first time the band had hit these shores and my guess is they will be invited back real soon on the evidence of the night’s short but powerful set.

Setlist:

Intro (Jojo Regie)
Bright Soul
Piece Of You
Drummer
Superplayer
Tones Of The Thunder
Suspect

Skillet brought a massive reaction from the very excited crowd when they hit the stage. The venue was rammed and if it wasn’t a sell out it was close which was very impressive in view of the tube strike hampering everyone’s plans. Whilst waiting outside the venue earlier I would say that the queue to get in took best part of an hour to get marshalled into the venue.

The band from Memphis Tennessee currently consists of husband and wife John Cooper (lead vocals, bass) and Korey Cooper (rhythm guitar, keyboards, backing vocals) along with Jen Ledger (drums, vocals) and Seth Morrison (lead guitar). This band was introducing me to a musical genre that had evaded me for my sixty nine years, ‘Christian Rock’. The music of Skillet, however, was not new to me which is unsurprising as they have been around since 1996, just about to celebrate thirty years in the business, and have thirteen studio albums under their belts. I just never became aware of the religeous association. Having now seen them live, I still don’t get the Christian aspect. John Cooper when introducing ‘Hero‘ mentioned that Jesus Christ was his hero but that was the only reference to christianity.

The setlist included all of the favourites in a ninety-minute full throttle performance. They pulled much of the set from the ‘Awake‘ and ‘Rise‘ albums but surprisingly only two from latest album ‘Revolution’. The best of these was the radio friendly ‘Unpopular‘ and certainly popular on the night. ‘Hero‘ saw Jen Ledger leave her drum stool and join John Cooper front stage, a substitute drummer filling in on drums for the one number.

In summary, an absolute corker of a gig, the band was on top form throughout and coupled with the production which included the usual CO2 blasters and floating risers together with an impressive back drop slideshow the overall experience was something of a large arena production being played out in an intimate atmosphere. There was a very strong connection between the band and audience throughout. This was particularly evident when the band launched into ‘Comatose’ with the entire crowd locked in singing every lyric at the top of their lungs.