Stryper has always stood apart from its peers, whether it was their yellow and black stage outfits or their Christian lyrics. These days, the yellow and black is toned down a bit, the lyrical message is still there, but what makes them stand apart from their 80s-era peers is that they are performing at a level that’s perhaps even better than their heyday. Stryper has been on a 40th Anniversary tour and, after a South American run, made a stop at the Wolf Den in the Mohegan Sun Casino.
Please scroll below for the MisplacedStraws Stryper live photos and review.
Stryper released its first full-length record Soldiers Under Command nearly 40 years ago to the day (August 23, 1985). Other than the addition of Perry Richardson on bass, the lineup (Michael Sweet on vocals and guitar, Oz Fox on guitar, and Robert Sweet on drums) is the same but the sound has transformed from a glam-based 80’s feel to a hard, heavy, modern metal band.
The night kicked off with the 1988 classic “In God We Trust” and you immediately felt a muscle behind the song that wasn’t necessarily there when it was first released. The band then jumped to 2013’s “Revelation” before an early play for their huge 1986 MTV hit “Calling On You”. This opening trio showed that, again, unlike most of their peers, a Stryper set will include material from their entire career, not just the early hits. Then again, it can easily be argued that Stryper has made some of their best music in the last 10-15 years, so I was very glad to see so much of the more current songs make the 40th Anniversary set list.
Musically, the band is firing on all cylinders. Michael Sweet has a voice that seems to only grow stronger and proves throughout the night what an underrated guitarist he is. Robert Sweet is an absolute beast on the drums. It has been a few decades since I last saw Stryper live, and I guess I didn’t realize what an incredible drummer Robert Sweet is. Oz Fox shared the lead guitar duties with Michael and provides the backing vocals that have been an integral part of Stryper’s sound from the very beginning. Richardson plays a solid bass and joins Fox on backing vocals.
As the night went on, Michael Sweet would address the crowd with memories of the band’s 40 years and seeing who in the crowd was even born when the band started. The venue was absolutely packed, and the audience spanned all demographics. The Wolf Den setup features seating on the venue perimeter, tables in front of that, and a large, open floor in front of the stage. There was not an empty seat or spot to be found. There were plenty of fans, like me, who were listening to this music when the band started, but there were also a lot of younger people who may have discovered the band with their later releases.
The setlist reflected the bands current, heavier sound. Songs like 2015’s “Yahweh” and 2018’s “The Valley” shook the crowd while older tracks like “Soldiers Under Command” and “More Than A Man” felt refreshed when played alongside the new material. The set was hard and heavy from the first song to the last, there were no ballads or slower songs, and the capacity crowd had no issue with that choice.
Nostalgia is big in the music business, especially 80s nostalgia. Venues across the country are always packed when rock bands of the era play, and I have seen many over the years. Often, you walk away with a weird sense of how much time has passed. While the songs still have the power to transport you through time, the band is usually a fraction of what it was back then, either because the lineup bears little resemblance to the classic era, or because the band simply can’t play the songs the way we remember anymore. Stryper is possibly the lone exception. Three of the four original members are on stage and looking healthy while sounding great vocally and musically. This may be a 40th anniversary tour, but it isn’t nostalgia, it’s modern, it’s memorable, it’s Stryper.
