Promising new music from their upcoming “Victorious” album, multi-platinum selling rockers Skillet are announcing their headlining Skillet: Victorious Tour throughout Europe this November and December.
Just returning from a heavily sold-out jaunt across Russia, Skillet has amassed an international following in Europe with bookings at some of Europe’s biggest festivals including Nova Rock, Graspop, Volt Festival, Rock for People, Download Festivals, Pink Pop in previous summers. The 27-stop run will embark to Copenhagen, Vienna, Tilburg, London, Antwerp, Paris and more with back-to-back shows in both Budapest and Antwerp.
Tickets for Skillet: Victorious Tour go on sale on Friday, May 17 at 10 AM, local time. A limited number of pre-order VIP M&G packages are currently available here.
“We are thrilled to be returning to Europe for our headline tour. I can’t wait to share our new music from Victorious with the fans. I see a ton of comments from our international fans on socials, so I wanted to make it a priority to spend some time connecting with the Panheads overseas,” shares front man John Cooper. “Since we are going on our own tour, we’ll really be able to give the fans an incredible full set with our new songs and connect with Panheads, old and new, in our meet & greets.”
Tour dates:
November
6 – Aarhus, Denmark – Voxhall
7 – Copenhagen, Denmark – Amager Bio
8 – Hamburg, Germany – Docks
10 – Berlin, Germany – Huxleys Neue Welt
12 – Wroclaw, Poland – A2 – Wroclaw
13 – Warsaw, Poland – Stodola
16 – Minsk, Belarus – Prime Hall
18 – Kyiv, Ukraine – Stereoplaza
19 – Lviv, Ukraine – Malevich Club
20 – Kraków, Poland – Klub STUDIO
22 – Budapest, Hungary – Akvárium Klub
23 – Budapest, Hungary – Akvárium Klub
25 – Bratislava, Slovakia – Refinery Gallery
26 – Vienna, Austria – Gasometer
27 – Brno-Královo Pole, Czech Republic – Hala Vodova
28 – Praha, Czech Republic – Mala Sportovni Hala
30 – Linz, Austria – Posthof
December
2 – Munchen, Germany – Tonhalle
3 – Milano, Italy – Magazzini Generali
4 – Zürich, Switzerland – Komplex 457
5 – Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg – Rockhal
8 – Köln, Germany – Carlswerk Victoria
10 – London, England – O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire
11 – Paris, France – Bataclan
12 – Tilburg, Netherlands – 013
14 – Antwerp, Belgium – Trix
15 – Antwerp, Belgium – Trix
Every victory merits a theme song, and victory is exactly what Skillet hail as they announce the soundtrack to triumph on their tenth full-length album, Victorious, due August 2 (Atlantic).
The follow-up to the RIAA Gold-certified Unleashed (their fourth consecutive album to receive either a gold, platinum, or double-platinum certification), the new project continues to propel the band’s position as one of the best-selling rock bands of the 21st century, racking up over 1 billion streams in 2018 alone. Victorious is available for pre-order now with special merchandise packages.
“Victorious perfectly describes how the record makes me feel,” affirms lead singer John Cooper. “You wake up, face your own demons every day, and never give in. There’s an introspective side to it. We might’ve commented on the world explicitly on previous albums. This one is about looking inward. Perhaps, it’s because I’ve gotten a little older, and I’ve accepted struggle as part of the journey. When I listen to these songs, I want to fight for my life, I want to fight for who I am, and I want to fight for what I believe in.”
Coupled with the production strides made in the last full-length studio offering, John and wife/guitarist/keyboardist Korey took the reins for the bulk of production on Victorious – a career first.
“Unleashed recharged us, and we returned to what we love about writing,” continues John. “It was tight and electronic hard rock. We wanted to keep the sound modern and pull in influences from hip-hop drums and keyboards, while staying riff-y. Victorious started there. Our confidence was sparked by the last record and all of the other projects. We were feeling prolific. We thought, ‘We can produce our own Skillet album.’ It lit a fire. Korey and I have produced in the past, but nothing quite like this. It’s a brand new season.”
This season kicks off with the lead rock single ‘Legendary’, also the album’s first instant grat track available today, and impacting Rock radio on May 20. Otherworldly keyboards and wiry, blues-inspired guitar give way to kicking percussion before the song explodes with a hummable hook punctuated by hypnoticharmonies. See the lyric video for ‘Legendary’ below.
“The lyrics are a call to make your life matter,” Cooper goes on. “You’re realizing you have a chance for your life to count every day. In a sense, we’re all destined to be forgotten, so live the way you want and don’t turn your back on who you are. I drew the sentiment from my own career. We’ve always put our heads down and pushed forward when confronted with adversity.”
Skillet‘s first single for the Christian market, the melodic ‘Anchor’, will also feature a visualizer/lyric video and be offered as an instant grat on June 14. The track will impact radio on July 19th.
“I’ve been privileged to have worked with Skillet for the past 10 years and am constantly blown away by the music that John and Korey Cooper and this band create,” Pete Ganbarg, Atlantic Records President of A&R, said. “Every song on ‘Victorious’ is an example of what has made Skillet such an integral part of contemporary music for the past two decades. We are thrilled to get to share it with the world.”
Tracklist:
1. Legendary
2. You Ain’t Ready
3. Victorious
4. This Is the Kingdom
5. Save Me
6. Rise Up
7. Terrify the Dark
8. Never Going Back
9. Reach
10. Anchor
11. Finish Line
12. Back to Life
Lyric video for ‘Legendary’
Skillet‘s latest studio album “Unleashed” has been released In Aug. 2016 through Atlanticdebuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 album chart and has sold more than 160,000 copies in the United States.
“Unleashed” marked Skillet‘s third visit to the survey’s Top 10, following the No. 2 debut of “Awake” in 2009 and the No. 4 landing of “Rise” in 2013. “Unleashed” also entered the Top Christian Albums chart at No. 1.
Our review of “Unleashed” can be found here.
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