Following several sell out shows in Russia in 2011, Skillet returned to country’s Black Sea last week [Aug. 7]  to play before over 35,000 fans at the Kubana Festival with System of a Down. Fan-filmed footage of that show can be seen below. While on the other side of the planet, the Grammy® nominated and platinum selling rockers garnered their second No. 1 hit from their critically acclaimed project “Rise” as “American Noise” hit the top spot on the Christian Hot AC Chart. “American Noise” follows their Top 10 Mainstream Active Rock and No. 1 Christian Rock single, “Sick of It.” “Rise” continues to be the No. 1 selling Christian album seven weeks after its release.

Following a spectacular debut on CONAN and recent performances at several major Christian and mainstream festivals, Skillet will hit the road with Shinedown on the Carnival of Madness tour. Kicking off August 13, the tour will also feature the touted prodigy band of John Cooper, We As Human. They’ll follow by heading overseas for their first-ever tour with Nickelback, a month-long jaunt that will see Skillet playing Milan, Paris, Vienna, London, and many more. Dates & locations are listed below.

“Rise”, the new album fom the two-time Grammy-nominated rock band Skillet, has been released June 25th. The album sold 60,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 4 on The Billboard 200 chart.

The CD’s explosive start was fueled by the success of a four-song rollout at iTunes which saw the first two tracks, “Sick Of It” and “American Noise”, both hit No. 1 on the iTunes Rock Songs chart (and at one point, were No. 1 and 2 on the chart), while the third and fourth-released songs,“Rise” and “Not Gonna Die”, each shot to No. 2. The band has also been building momentum with radio promotion, a social media blitz and festival show performances. The past two weeks Skillet hosted their first-ever VIP fan events titled “Road To Rise” in Nashville and Chicago. TheChicago Sun-Times heralded the event stating that it “redefines the VIP experience.”In the digital world, the platinum-selling band did an exclusive album stream and podcast premiere with Billboard, video premieres with Revolver and Guitar World and a song premiere with USA Today, to name a few. The high media profiles lead up to the band’s late night debut on “Conan” on July 11.

“Skillet has become increasingly deft at straddling the tricky line between faith-based idealism and secular universality,” wrote Billboard. “‘Rise’ takes the balance a step further, mixing new sonic flavors into the group’s hard-rock bombast.” USA Today gave the album 3 out of 4 stars,People praised the band for “taking their hard rock to higher ground,” and Loudwire gave “Rise” 4 out of 5 stars and wrote, “the songwriting has more depth, there’s added diversity and plenty of potential hit singles.”

Upcoming Shows:

‘Carnival Of Madness’
Aug 17 PNC at Riverbed, Cincinnati, OH
Aug 18 US Cellular Coliseum, Bloomington, IL
Aug 20 First Niagra, Burgettstown, PA
Aug 21 Jiffy Lube Live, Bristow, VA
Aug 23 First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre, Tinley Park, IL
Aug 25 US Cellular Coliseum, Cedar Rapids, IA
Aug 27 DTE Energy Music Center, Clarkston, MI
Aug 28 Tags, Big Flats, NY
Aug 30 Verizon Wireless, Charlotte, NC
Aug 31 Farm Bureau Live, Virginia Beach, VA
Sep 01 The Red Hat Amphitheater, Raleigh, NC
Sep 06 Night of Joy, Orlando, FL
Sep 07 Verizon Wireless Amphitheater St Louis, Maryland Heights, MO
Sep 08 Zoo Amphitheater, Oklahoma City, OK
Sep 10 Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Denver, CO
Sep 12 Spokane Country Interstate Fair, Spokane, WA

Sep 14 Discovery Park, Sacramento, CA
Sep 15 The Joint, Las Vegas, NV
Sep 18 Washington State Fair in Puyallup, Puyallup, WA
Sep 21 Six Flags Fiesta Texas , San Antonio, TX
Oct 08 The Big Fresno Fair, Fresno, CA

‘The Hits’ tour
Oct 26 Le Zenith Nantes Metropole, Saint Herblain, France
Oct 29 Mediolanum Forum, Milan, Italy
Oct 31 Stadthalle, Vienna, Austria
Nov 02 Torwar Hall, Warsaw, Poland
Nov 04 O2 Arena, Berlin, Germany
Nov 05 SAP ARENA, Mannheim, Germany
Nov 07 O2 arena, Prague, Czech Republic
Nov 08 Budapest Sports Arena, Budapest, Hungary
Nov 10 Hallenstadion , Zurich, Switzerland
Nov 11 Konig Pilsener Arena, Oberhausen, Germany
Nov 13 Forum Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, Denmark
Nov 14 Telenor Arena, Oslo, Norway
Nov 15 Scandinavium, Goteborg, Sweden
Nov 18 Ziggo Dome, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Nov 20 Bercy, Paris, France
Nov 21 Forest National, Brussels, Belgium
Nov 23 Echo Arena, Liverpool, United Kingdom
Nov 24 O2 Arena, London, United Kingdom
Nov 26 Hydro Arena, Glasgow, United Kingdom
Nov 27 Leeds Arena, Leeds, United Kingdom

Weblinks: Website / Facebook / Twitter

Video below Skillet Live @  “Kubana festival” 2013.

Related Articles:
‘Skillet’s’ ‘John Cooper’ on Touring Russia, Raising His 8-Year-Old Daughter [European Tour Starts Next Month] [Oct. 2011]
‘Skillet’ Previews New Song ‘Sick Of It’ Urging Fans to Post Photos, New Tour Dates [March 2013]
 ‘Skillet’ Releases Teaser Video For New Single ‘Sick Of It’, New Tour Dates [April 2013]
‘Skillet’ Releases Lyric Video For ‘American Noise’ [April 2013]
 ‘Skillet’ To Support ‘Nickelback’ On ‘The Hits’ European Tour [July 2013]
‘Skillet’s’ ‘Rise’ Cracks U.S. Top 5, European Tour With ‘Nickelback’ [July 2013]
Skillet – Rise [Album Review]